How to Make a Large Bedroom Feel Cozy
Large Bedrooms are something we often wish for, aren’t they? We see them as a sanctuary, a place to escape when we need time away from the rest of the family or when we are a little under the weather with the sniffles. Whether you have high ceilings or not, a large bedroom can feel cavernous and chances are, you have lots of windows and square footage that makes it feel a little…cold. The following tips will help you make your large bedroom – or any large room, for that matter feel cozy.
Step 1: Define Zones
In a large bedroom, it’s important to know where you want the bed, if you want a seating area and where, and how you will separate the two. In a recent post, we touched on space planning. This is the same as defining zones, except we do it in a digital format to avoid wasting time by moving furniture around. You can define a zone by strategically placing a piece of furniture in the room to break up the square footage. In most homes, people add a wall with twin pocket doors but if you can’t do that due to given perimeters, opt to use a sofa, a sofa table, a couple of chairs, maybe even a chaise lounge. Just remember: no one likes to look at the back of a sofa so add something to cover at least one-third of it.
Step 2: Consider Painting Either the Ceiling or Walls (or both) a Recessive Color.
Ah, Recessive colors, we meet again. We touched on the topic in another post to make a small room look larger but with a large bedroom, a recessive color does just the opposite. By painting the ceilings or wall (or both) a recessive color, by this I mean a saturated color, it just so happens that the room will look smaller and cozier. It’s an illusion of color played by light that makes it this way. Don’t be afraid to try it and if you are hesitant or afraid to commit, opt for only one accent wall can ultimately help you decide.
Step 3: Create a Reading Nook
A reading nook, contrary to popular belief, is not common seating in a large bedroom. Made up of occasional chairs or another sofa, this is an area that merits a throw, blanket, a place you can put your feet up and glance outdoors if you wish to. While this can be part of the seating area, it is not always near the sofa you may have placed in the room. It can face away from the rest of the room, distinguishing itself as a private area just for you or face the rest of the seating.
Step 4:Â To Fill Empty Wall Space or Leave it Bare: The Decision is a Dare
Large Bedrooms usually have either lots of windows or a large amount of wall space. Once you have your bed, dressers, night stands and other furniture in place, it’s time to decide what you’ll do with the wall space. This is where it gets tough for some because they love to cover every inch of wall space as if it were an art gallery while others opt for a few key art pieces. The decision is yours , however – I beg of you – don’t do this:
Step 5: Use Grounded Furniture
Large bedrooms need heavier pieces. This doesn’t mean furniture that requires an armada of moving men but pieces that have visual weight. The bed should have some weight to it, be it with plump bedding and the right number of pillows. If you aren’t certain how many pillows you should have on your bed, you can read this recent post about the right number, based on your style. The furniture, however, should have some height, depth, and character, like this example from Bernhardt Furniture:
Step 6: Add Drapery
Large windows come with large bedrooms. Adding drapery makes the room feel cozy. Amongst my colleagues and I, draperies are the finishing touch to making a large room feel cozy. We see that it makes the room feel much more balanced when the drapery goes up. It adds a warm comfort that cannot be denied especially in bedrooms.
Step 7: Don’t forget the Greenery
Large bedrooms wouldn’t be cosy without the right greenery. From potted orchids to tall, sweeping, room-height silk trees, adding greenery brings the outdoors in and adds a little life and energy – not to mention a subconscious warmth – to any room. Place them where you need them, use sparingly because you aren’t growing a forest in the room, simply trying to make it inviting.
Step 8: Lighting
In large bedrooms, lighting is the one most important factor you will ever come across. It is the difference between the room feeling blah, or it feeling perfect at any and every time of the day. In the office, for main lighting, we say “Go big or go Home”: In other words, make a big impact or don’t make one at all. To be fair: choose wisely. We then pair that with recessed cans to help illuminate dark corners. I mean, who likes dark corners? Honestly, some bedrooms need more than three layers of lighting: Overhead (main) lighting, recessed on dimmer switches, and lamps. Larger rooms need at least four lamps, especially if there is a seating area within the room itself and finally, the necessary nightlight because as much as we want to believe that our bedrooms are solely our private sanctuaries, our little ones – including Fido or Fifi [in my case Lili and Bella] – will make their way into the room to share the same warmth and coziness we designed for ourselves.
I mean, who can say “No” to these precious faces? 😉 Not I, my friends. Not I.
Have you tried decorating a large bedroom? If so, I would like to hear how it turned out! Please share your experiences in the comments below!
*Featured Image by
Victoria Heath
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