Picking the right wall art to highlight the area above your bed is so easy! I’ll show you my tips and tricks so you can easily style your bedroom to become your oasis of dreams.
Read on to find out where you should put art (Spoiler: yes, it goes above the bed), how big it should be, what kind and style is best for your space and what pitfalls you need to avoid.
Can I put art above the bed?
YES, YES and YES!
I already gave it away in the intro – the most powerful place to put art indeed is above the bed. That’s the area your eye goes to naturally when walking into a bedroom. Wouldn’t it be great to smile every time you walk into your bedroom?
You can add one or more pieces of art and you can add other decor as well! There are many options to choose from to find the perfect one for you.
How big should art be over the bed?
In general art above the bed looks best if it is either a bit larger, covering the same space or a be bit smaller than the bed / headboard and incorporates other design elements as well. When you hang a set of pieces I recommend not doing more than 3. While hanging treat the set as one. Make sure you center your art or set above the bed.
Examples for Bedrooms with Wall Art Sets with 3 pieces
My favorite style for bedrooms is a set of 3 – also called triptych. An odd number of elements is a great idea for any space. Below are two ideas – one covering an area larger than the bed, the other covering the are just above the headboard.
This room has very prominent night stands and a small bed. To incorporate everything into the design the art is larger than the bed to draw in the eye from the night stands in a bow over the bed to the other side.
In this small room, where the night stands almost touch the side walls, the art is only taking the space above the headboard to not make it look too crowded. Using soft colors in this bright space also helps getting a cohesive look.
Examples for Bedrooms with Wall Art Sets with 2 pieces
Should you fall in love with an artwork set in two pieces the best look is making them as wide or a little smaller than the bed.
This feminine bedroom is perfect for displaying a wall art set of 2 posters as the space between the lamps, the ceiling and the bed is quite high and narrow.
The lamps are an additional focal point – the frames are hung at lamp level to give a line, the frames are high to cover for the high ceilings of this room.
This is a very high room, but the hallway going off of it gives a natural cutoff. The two pieces artwork looks great as a lengthening focal point above the headboard if it is a little more narrow than the bed. In this case a black frame was chosen to emphasize the art even more and have some contrast to the more neutral tones of the bed.
Examples for Bedrooms with a single artwork
While I prefer sets of 2 or 3 – a single artwork can look amazing on a wall too if it matches the room layout.
When you find a poster or artwork that’s almost as wide as the bed a single artwork can look very pretty. It will become even more of the focal point because there’s no composition of frames that could distract from the art itself.
This bedroom is a great example with a structured wall and other design elements. here a single portrait style artwork works beautifully with the lines of the background while still drawing attention to the center of the wall.
The factors that determine the size of art above the bed
The size of your bed
When you have a small bed such as a twin your art doesn’t need to cover as much space as in a case where you have a king bed.
The style of your headboard
Should you have a really high headboard there might not be a lot of space between where the headboard ends an where the ceiling starts. If this space is very narrow but wide landscape hung sets of 2 or 3 with wide spacing might look best. In this case I also recommend frames close to the wall color or poster frames to only make the art pop while not cluttering the wall with too many objects.
If you have a low headboard or none at all you can freely design the space like in the pictures shown above.
The height of your room
Vaulted ceilings and extra high rooms are beautiful but often hard to design. When the space above your headboard to the ceiling is higher than it is wide consider hanging your art a little higher too or helping out with a high headboard. Portrait hung art sets of two might be a good idea for such spaces as they cover a similarly shaped area. Also consider using other objects to help design the room such as lamps, plants, shelves or wall paneling.
The type of ceiling you have
Bedrooms on the top floors sometimes have slanted ceilings where the roof already starts. In these cases only consider the area of the wall before it angles off. I cannot recommend hanging posters or art on the angled wall.
Other elements on the wall
If you have windows, shelves or paneling on the wall the available space above the bed changes. The last picture above is a perfect example where one portrait style picture above the bed makes the room more complete. Incorporate existing design elements by lining up windows with frames and picking similar colors.
What kind of art is best for a bedroom?
Depending on the interior style of your home different styles of art can work.
Here’s my list of DOs and DON’T:
✔️ DOs for art in the bedroom
- Abstract art in two or maximum three different colors matching your bedroom decor
- Minimalist Wall Art or Art Sets in two or three colors
- Calming Scandinavian Wall Art with Mountains or Forests and other natural landscapes
- Line Art – often persons drawn out of just one line
- Geometric art sets in calming colors such as blush pink, greys and earth tones
- Calming objects on the art such as circles – my favorite is the moon or moon phases
- Simple Frames in white, black or wooden tones, sometimes even metallic such as gold and silver.
- Center Pictures or compositions over the bed
❌ DON'Ts for art in the bedroom
- Family Pictures. I know, I know, you like them, but I think they’re better presented in an area where guests can see them too and where you don’t think of “that one perfect day back then” or a beloved relative that went to heaven. It doesn’t promote great sleep when you end your day with heavy feelings, reminiscing about the past.
- “His” and “Hers” Signs or “Mr” and “Mrs”. I just can’t.
- Neon Colors or many different and bright, bold, competing colors
- Style Mixing such as one photograph of you on a beach at sunset and a black and white geometric piece next to it.
- Thick Colorful frames or heavy golden medieval frames that belong around portraits in a castle in Austria
- Busy Gallery Wall Layouts – while I love a good gallery wall – save them for a living room.
Summary and FAQ
How big should art above the bed be?
The factors that determine the size of art above the bed are:
- the size of your bed
- the style of your headboard
- the height of your room
- the size of the room
- the type of ceiling you have
- other elements on the wall such as windows
What is the best art for the bedroom?
The best art for the bedroom is:
- Complimenting your decor, not the single most attention point.
- A single artwork or a set of 2 or 3 pieces.
- Art in calming colors, no neons or bright competing colors.
- Art with simple shapes in minimalist or abstract styles
- Art showing relaxing landscapes such as mountains or forests
- Framed in uni colored frames in white, black or wood tones or if matching to the decor - silver or gold