Bedroom art guide · Updated
How to choose wall art for a bedroom
Key takeaways
- Choose something you can wake up to: soft colour, gentle contrast and a restful subject outlast anything loud on the wall you see first and last each day.
- Let the bed set the width: a canvas about two-thirds as wide as the bed, so a king bed carries roughly 120–140 cm (47–55 in) of art.
- Keep it clear of heads: leave 20–30 cm (8–12 in) between the top of the headboard, or the pillows, and the lower edge of the canvas.
- Take the colours from the bedding: a painting matched to the duvet, headboard fabric or curtains makes the whole bedroom read as one scheme.
What kind of wall art suits a bedroom?
Bedroom wall art should be quiet enough to fall asleep to and pleasant enough to wake up to: soft colour, low contrast and a subject that rests the eye rather than demanding attention.
A bedroom painting is seen differently from art anywhere else in the home. You look at it lying down or propped on pillows, often from one or two metres away, by lamplight at night and in early daylight. At that distance surface matters: palette-knife petals, brushed skies and plaster relief reward a close look, while a busy, high-contrast composition can feel restless in a room meant for rest.
Most people choose by mood. Peaceful and calming work is the natural fit for a principal bedroom, romantic florals suit a softer scheme, and cosy, warm or moody pieces suit a dark-walled bedroom built for cocooning. Many bedroom traditions, feng shui among them, also advise against art that feels turbulent or lonely, and favour calm water over storms and pairs over single figures. Whatever your view of those traditions, they point the same way as good design: choose something that settles the room.
How big should bedroom wall art be above the bed?
Aim for bedroom wall art about two-thirds the width of the bed, and never wider than the bed itself, unless the piece is meant to span the bedside tables too.
| Bed size | Typical bed width | Single canvas width | Or a pair, each about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single or twin | 90–100 cm (35–39 in) | 60–70 cm (24–28 in) | Better as one piece |
| Double or full | 135–140 cm (53–55 in) | 90–100 cm (35–39 in) | 40–45 cm (16–18 in) wide |
| Queen | 150–160 cm (59–63 in) | 100–115 cm (39–45 in) | 45–50 cm (18–20 in) wide |
| King | 180–193 cm (71–76 in) | 120–140 cm (47–55 in) | 55–65 cm (22–26 in) wide |
| Super king or California king | 200 cm (79 in) and more | 140–160 cm (55–63 in), or panoramic | 65–75 cm (26–30 in) wide |
For height, leave 20–30 cm (8–12 in) between the top of the headboard and the lower edge of the canvas. Without a headboard, measure from the top of the pillows instead, so that nobody sitting up to read leans into the painting. A tall upholstered headboard leaves less wall above it; there a lower, wider horizontal piece looks better than a tall one. In a room with a sloping ceiling, keep the top of the canvas at least a hand's width below the slope.
Every piece is painted to order, so these widths are a starting point rather than a menu. Measure the bed and the wall, tape the outline, and ask for the exact size. The composition is redrawn to those proportions, not stretched.
What kinds of bedroom wall art are there?
Bedroom wall art here falls into four kinds: soft florals and botanicals, calm landscapes and water, textured neutrals, and birds, feathers and butterflies. Each suits a different kind of bedroom.
Soft florals and botanicals
Peonies, poppies, roses, hydrangeas and wildflowers in blush, cream, lilac and sage, many knife-painted so the petals catch the lamplight. The most popular choice over a bed, because flowers feel gentle and personal without being sentimental.
Calm landscapes and still water
Misty lakes, willow-lined paths, quiet beaches, summer meadows and night skies. A long, low landscape over the bed reads like a horizon and suits coastal, country and transitional bedrooms. Choose still water and soft light; leave stormy seas to the living room.
Textured and neutral bedroom art
Ivory plaster relief, white-on-cream abstracts, soft grey marbling and weathered wabi-sabi surfaces. Almost colourless from the doorway, richly textured from the pillow. These suit Japandi, Scandinavian and minimal bedrooms, and any room where the bedding already brings the colour.
Birds, feathers and butterflies
Hummingbirds, peacocks, gold-leaf feathers and butterflies bring a light, decorative note. They suit a smaller bedroom, a guest room or the wall beside a dressing table, and they work well as a pair over twin bedside tables.
Which colours make the most restful bedroom wall art?
Soft blues, sage greens, blush pinks and warm neutrals make the most restful bedroom wall art; deeper navy, forest green or plum suit a bedroom designed to feel enclosed and cocooning.
| Colour family | How it feels in a bedroom | Sits well with |
|---|---|---|
| Pale blue and grey-blue | Cool, airy, quiet; like an open window | White linen, pale oak, grey upholstered headboards |
| Sage and eucalyptus green | Fresh and grounding; brings the garden in | Cream, rattan, natural wood, terracotta pots |
| Blush and dusty pink | Warm, soft and romantic without being sweet | Greige, brass, velvet, walnut |
| Ivory, cream and greige | Calm and tonal; texture does the work | Boucle, linen, limewash walls, Japandi furniture |
| Navy, forest and plum | Enclosing and intimate under lamplight | Dark painted walls, gold frames, warm bulbs |
Start from what you see on waking. If the bedroom faces east and fills with morning light, pale paintings stay fresh and deep ones can look heavy. If it is used mostly at night, deeper tones glow under warm bulbs. Browse by colour with the filters, for example blue, green, pink or white and cream bedroom art, or read the guide to blue wall art for a deeper look at one colour.
One piece, a pair or a set: which bedroom layout works best?
One horizontal canvas over the bed is the simplest bedroom layout; a matched pair suits a wide bed with bedside tables either side, and the wall facing the bed deserves a piece of its own.
One canvas over the bed
Calm and balanced, and the best choice when there is no headboard, because the painting takes the headboard's place as the focal point. Centre it on the bed, not on the wall.
A pair over the bed or the bedside tables
Two canvases of the same size bring symmetry, which most people find restful. Hang them over the bed with a gap of 5–8 cm (2–3 in), or one above each bedside table, slightly wider than the table and with their lower edges level even if the tables differ in height. Vertical canvases work best beside the bed; square ones work well as a pair above it.
The wall facing the bed
This is the wall you actually look at from bed, so it is often the better place for the piece you love most. A larger canvas here, hung at standing eye level over a chest of drawers or a bench, gives you something to wake up to.
Small bedrooms
In a small bedroom, one medium canvas in a pale or tonal palette keeps the room open; several small frames make it busy. A long panoramic piece over a narrow bed stretches the room visually.
Which bedroom wall art suits the principal suite, guest rooms and children's rooms?
The principal bedroom gets the most personal piece, guest bedrooms suit welcoming and neutral work that most visitors will like, and children's bedrooms can take brighter colour and animals that grow with them.
Principal bedroom
The room most worth a commission. Size the piece exactly to the bed wall, take its palette from the headboard or curtains, and choose a subject that means something to you: a landscape from a place you love, or a flower from a garden.
Guest bedroom
Guests should feel welcome without feeling they have walked into someone else's taste. Soft landscapes, gentle botanicals and textured neutrals do that well, and the same choices suit holiday lets and hotel guest rooms.
Children's and teenagers' bedrooms
Brighter colour suits a child's room, and animals, birds and colourful florals can stay on the wall as the child grows. Hang it securely and at a height an adult can reach.
How do designers, stagers and villa projects plan bedroom wall art?
Trade buyers plan bedroom wall art room by room from the bed widths and fabric schemes, then order the bedrooms as one family of related pieces so each room feels distinct but the house feels planned.
Residential interior designers usually brief the bedroom piece from the headboard fabric and the curtain sample, and change a catalogue work's palette rather than search for a perfect match. Home stagers need calm, broadly appealing bedroom art that photographs well in a listing. In show homes and sales suites, every bedroom is photographed and walked through, so the pieces are fixed to the marketing palette and must arrive before launch.
On villas and whole-house projects, four to eight bedrooms are planned at once. A good approach is one composition painted in different colourways, one for each bedroom's scheme, or a set of related subjects that never repeat. Order a sample first, approve it in place, then roll out the rest. Each piece is approved from progress photos before it ships, and each takes about 10 days to paint and 5–7 days to arrive by DHL, FedEx or UPS express. Volume pricing starts at 10 pieces.
How do you order bedroom wall art matched to your bedding?
Send the bed width, a photo of the bedroom and a swatch of the bedding or headboard fabric, and the painting is sized and coloured to them before you approve each stage.
Pick a catalogue work or describe the piece you want on the custom page. The palette can be warmed, cooled, softened or changed outright to follow a fabric, a paint code or a wallpaper. Photograph textiles in daylight near a window, because lamplight distorts colour. You then see progress photos or video at each stage; nothing continues until you approve it, and a final photograph is approved before dispatch.
Bedroom paintings are hand-painted in acrylic on canvas as standard, with oil paint on request. They ship rolled, stretched ready to hang, or framed in gold, silver, black, white or wood. A frameless stretched canvas is the lightest option for hanging above a bed. Each canvas takes about 10 days to paint, and delivery is by DHL, FedEx or UPS express in 5–7 days, on the route iHomeArt finds best for your address. Request a quote with the bed and wall sizes.