10 Small Bedroom Ideas to Make Your Space Feel Bigger

Decorating tricks to make a small bedroom feel larger using quick, budget-friendly projects and decorating sources to get the designer look for less.

This post is sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart

We’ve learned a thing or two about tiny bedroom ideas over the years. The bedrooms at our house aren’t spacious by any means. 

Our own primary bedroom and oddly shaped guest bedroom were quite the challenges for deciding the right layout due to size constraints. 

After Robert’s buddy from high school moved into a new house this summer, we decided to give him and his wife (Richard and Ashlee) a housewarming gift in the form of decorating their small primary bedroom. 

small primary bedroom with black poster bed and gray walls 

Look at the difference! It turned out so much better than what was there before! (To be fair, the photography is better too, but you get the gist.)

The best part is we were able to make it happen on a small budget using decor and paint from Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart.

This one made me brainstorm all of the small bedroom ideas possible to make it feel larger than it actually was.

If you have the same predicament, hopefully these help you. (You can see how to make small rooms look bigger in the rest of the house too.)

10 Small Bedroom Ideas to Make Your Space Feel Bigger

small bedroom with tv on dresser and collected gallery wall decor

Bedroom Art

Go large and vertical with art! Hanging art in a gallery style all the way up to the top of the wall naturally draws your eyes up to the ceiling to make the space seem bigger. Or choose one large piece of statement art to create the illusion of a larger room.

I created this gallery wall using mismatched gold wall frames and wood wall frames with vintage prints for a more collected look. The statement art beside the bed is an old discontinued piece we used to have in our dining room. It seemed perfect in here.

small bedroom with tv on blue painted dresser and gallery wall decor

Bedroom Paint Colors

Opt for very light or very dark shades on walls. Generally, the paint color at the very top of a paint sample strip or the very bottom of a paint sample strip are your best bets. Stay away from mid-tones as they create the appearance of a smaller space.

Contrary to popular belief, very dark colors on walls in a bedroom can create the illusion of more space. Bonus: dark paint colors in bedrooms can even improve sleep! (I’ve never slept better since we painted our black bedroom walls.)

To keep the tight space between the bed and the dresser feeling open, I painted the old dresser with Better Homes & Gardens paint in the color Summer Fog.

Black Furniture Paint for Contrast

A little bit of black adds contrast and depth, so we painted the existing bed with Better Homes & Gardens paint in Obsidian. It went on so smooth! Not a single brush stroke to be seen!

small primary bedroom with black poster bed white bedding blue rug and brass lamps

Bedroom Mattress Height

One simple change that made a huge difference in creating the illusion of a larger bedroom was lowering the mattress. You can do this by swapping your traditional box spring with a 3 inch low profile box spring. If a bed sits up high in a small room, it can overwhelm the space.

Bedroom Rug

Incorporate a rug under the bed to define the room. In this bedroom’s case, a rug helped soften the space and add a little pattern for interest.

black poster bed in small bedroom with large wall decor

Bedroom Window Treatments

Go high and wide with curtain panels. Be sure to buy curtains long enough so that they just “kiss” the floor. I like to hang curtain rods just 2-3″ below the crown molding and extended about 12″ from either side of the window frame so that the entire window is visible when the curtains are pushed open.

It creates the illusion of larger windows, taller ceilings, and it lets more light in! I love the texture of these curtain panels.

curtain panels hung high and wide in a small bedroom to make it look bigger

Simple Bedding

Simple white bedding is your best friend to make a bedroom feel clean, bright, and inviting. I love the textured pattern on this chenille duvet set, and I added a little more texture with these gray fringe pillows and super soft throw blanket.

black painted poster bed with white bedding

Bedroom Wall Mirror

Use a mirror to reflect light around the room, especially on walls opposite from a window. You can never go wrong with a classic round mirror sitting atop a wood dresser.

wood dresser with mirror on top mirror on top of dresser

Bedroom Lighting

Candles and lamps make a cave-like bedroom feel more cozy. I painted these ceramic table lamps with antique brass spray paint to help add some warmth and create ambience. A few candles sprinkled around the room makes the room feel more intimate.

candle with wooden beads and book stack on dresser

Indoor Plants for Bedroom

A few plants can go a long way to add life to a small room. So I incorporated a few including this pothos in this cute white planter. I used some simple eucalyptus stems in these vases I painted to add life to the dresser too.

I have a bad track record for keeping houseplants alive, but I’ve managed to discover over the years that the best indoor plants for bedrooms are…

  • Snake Plants
  • Pothos
  • Philodendron
  • Aloe Vera
  • Spider Plant
  • Rubber Plant

nightstand decor in small bedroom with plant table lamp and candle nightstand decor 3 vases with stems on dresser decor in bedroom

Declutter the Bedroom

Eliminate clutter as much as possible by having drop zones to keep items out of plain sight. I used a tray on the dresser top, a couple of small trinket bowls on the nightstands, and provided drawer space with these nightstands.

nightstand decor in small bedroom with black poster bed and white bedding

 That’s it! This bedroom really came together SO well, and I think we knocked this one out in record time!

Do you have any other tricks for decorating a small bedroom? These are just what have worked for us, but I’m sure there are plenty more.

Bedroom Sources

More Bedroom Decor Ideas

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70 Comments

  1. Did you purchase the knobs/pulls for the blue dresser? If so, where did you find them? I have 20 year old unfinished pine furniture in the bedroom and am thinking of doing an update and painting everything and changing out the hardware and really like what you have!

  2. All these tips will be so helpful when I finally update my small master bedroom. The tip about using a low profile box spring to lower the mattress – so good! I had never thought about that. I also learned about going either dark or light on the walls is better than a mid tone. Thanks so much – I love that you show these smaller projects that are still so impactful!

    1. Yes! Lowering the bed makes such a difference. We did the same thing in our bedroom. I’m so glad it helped, Raquel!

  3. My ideas for small bedrooms is small furniture! that bed is too huge, but I get that you worked with what they have. The best part is the light wall color – really opens and refreshes the room. I’m not a fan of the wall gallery AND decorating a dresser – too much stuff. Less stuff opens up the room. Love that wooden dresser, I can’t tell if that one you painted is suppose to be blue – but I like the softer, cohesive of both dressers being wood. I suspect they didn’t match so you painted the one. The black paint modernizes that headboard,. (and I see that bed frame a LOT! – must have been a popular buy!) lol.
    As always, amazing what a can of paint can do to a room! Great job.

    1. I love everything about your wonderful thoughtful gift of creating a special place for for your friends’s master bedroom. . Also love the bed. Adds so much character to the room and creates warmth. Kudos!

      1. Thank you, Holly! We feel so fortunate to work with companies we love, and we feel called to spread the love to others instead of always focusing on our own home. 🙂 There’s no better feeling to us than gifting these makeovers.

    2. This isn’t our bedroom, and the couple prefers a king sized bed, so lowering the bed felt like a compromise. I totally get not wanting to squeeze into a queen sized bed when you’re used to a king. And I prefer the look of mis-matched furniture since it feels more eclectic, but that’s just me. You and I have different styles and decorate in different ways, and that’s okay. 🙂 The world is made more beautiful with different styles.

    1. Thanks, Tonya! We didn’t paint the walls, the owners did. But it looks to be Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray.