Bedroom Wall Art Ideas: Calm Palettes, the Right Size and What to Hang Above the Bed

Bedroom art has a different job from living-room art. In the living room a canvas can be loud, witty or dramatic. In the bedroom it is the last thing you see before sleep and the first thing you see in the morning, so it should feel like a deep breath. That does not mean boring. It means choosing colour, scale and subject with a lighter hand. Here is how we think about it in the workshop, with examples from the collections customers come back to most often for bedrooms.

Start with a calm palette

The quickest way to make a bedroom feel restful is to keep the artwork within two or three soft colours that already exist in the room. Think of the bedding, the curtains and the wall colour as the palette, and choose art that sits inside it rather than fighting it.

• Warm neutrals: sand, oat, terracotta and ivory. Pairs with linen bedding and oak furniture. Our boho and neutral collection is built around exactly these tones.
• Soft greens and sage: botanical prints, misty landscapes, leaf studies. Relaxing without feeling cold.
• Dusty blues and greys: seascapes, foggy mountains, Japanese waves in muted ink. Cooling, good for bright south-facing rooms.
• Black and white: line drawings, monochrome photography. Calm by restraint rather than by colour, and the easiest to match with any bedding.

What to avoid: saturated reds and oranges in large areas, high-contrast patterns that create visual noise, and very busy compositions with many small elements. Save those for the hallway.

Sizing art above the bed

The bed is the largest piece of furniture in the room and the art above it should match its scale. Use the same rule we use for sofas: the artwork or group should be 60–75% of the bed width. Measure the bed frame including the headboard, not just the mattress.

• Single bed, 90–100 cm (35–39 in): aim for 55–75 cm wide. A 60×90 cm landscape canvas or a 50×75 cm portrait.
• Double bed, 140 cm (55 in): aim for 85–105 cm. A 70×100 cm landscape or a 60×90 cm with a little space either side.
• Queen bed, 160 cm (63 in): aim for 95–120 cm. A 90×120 cm landscape or two 50×75 cm portraits side by side.
• King bed, 180–200 cm (71–79 in): aim for 110–150 cm. A 90×150 cm panoramic canvas, or a pair of 60×90 cm pieces.

Hang the bottom edge 15–25 cm (6–10 in) above the headboard. If you have no headboard, the bottom edge should sit about 20–30 cm above the top of the pillows. Beds are low, so artwork above them almost always hangs lower than eye level; that is correct, not a mistake.

Orientation: landscape over the bed, portrait beside it

Above the bed, landscape and panoramic sizes follow the horizontal line of the mattress and make the room feel wider and more settled. Portrait sizes above a bed tend to look like they are reaching for the ceiling. Square sizes are the exception: a single large square, or a pair of squares, sits comfortably above a double or queen bed.

Save portrait orientation for the walls beside the bed, above bedside tables, or the narrow wall between a wardrobe and a window. A 40×60 cm or 50×75 cm portrait above each bedside table, in matching frames, is a classic arrangement that frames the bed without competing with it.

Three subjects that work in almost every bedroom

Botanical

Leaves, grasses, eucalyptus, vintage botanical plates: these are the gentlest subjects you can hang, and they suit both modern and traditional rooms. A single large botanical in soft green above the bed, or a trio of small plates above a dresser, rarely goes wrong. Browse our botanical prints for examples in both muted and vintage styles.

Abstract

Soft-edged abstracts in two or three tones are the modern bedroom's best friend. They bring colour without a subject to think about, and they scale beautifully to large sizes. Look for pieces with gentle shapes and plenty of empty space; a single 90×120 cm abstract in oat and clay above a queen bed is as calm as a blank wall but far more finished.

Japanese

Japanese woodblock prints have been used to create calm interiors for centuries. Hokusai's and Hiroshige's landscapes, with their flat colour and quiet horizons, are especially good above a bed in a hanging-canvas presentation, which echoes the scroll format they were designed for. Our Japanese wall art collection includes muted editions that suit bedrooms better than the brighter originals.

Frame and finish for bedrooms

Choose frames that recede. Oak floating frames are the bedroom default for a reason: they match most wooden furniture and add warmth without weight. White frames suit coastal and all-white rooms. Black frames work with monochrome art and darker, moodier bedrooms. A gallery wrap is a good choice above the bed when you want nothing at all between the image and the wall. The matte surface of our canvas also helps here: unlike glass-fronted frames, it does not reflect bedside lamps or morning light into your eyes.

A simple bedroom plan

Pick your palette from the bedding, measure the bed, choose a landscape or panoramic size at 60–75% of its width, and hang it a hand-span above the headboard in an oak or white floating frame. Add one smaller portrait beside the bed if the wall allows. Then stop. Bedrooms look best with less.

For more ideas organised by colour and subject, visit our bedroom wall art collection, where every piece is available in all nine sizes and made to order in 1–3 business days.