How to Choose a Color Scheme for Your Bedroom

Some people just absolutely love every aspect of decorating a bedroom. For others, however, the process can leave them feeling lost and confused about where to start. If you fall into the second category, the answer might be as simple as settling on a color scheme to give yourself an idea of where to go. Here are some ideas of how to start.

What Are You Working With?

First, take a look around the bedroom. Are there any features that you’ll be unable to change like carpeting, the color of hardwood floors, trim, or doors? If there are, this is the base color that you are going to have to work around. Make note of the main color it is—for example, medium-colored hardwood floors tend to have a red/orange undertone to them, while lighter wood floors have a pale yellow or off-white. For unchangeable features, you’ll have to work those colors into your final color scheme.

Decide on Furniture You’re Keeping

Next, decide which furniture you currently own that you’d like to keep in the room. If you are planning on replacing any furniture, move it out of the room so that you can get a good look at how the furniture works with the permanent fixtures. 

Find the Color Scheme

Your next step is to move any furniture that will be in the room near any permanent fixtures. Add in any decorative pieces or bedding that you like. Take a photo and be sure that the colors in the photo stay true to the real colors in the room.

To find out what the main colors in your room are—and therefore which shades you should stick to when choosing paint colors, bedding, decorative items, and the like—you’re going to upload your photo to an online color extraction tool like Adobe Kuler. Kuler will build a color palette for you based on the colors in the photo. If you don’t have a lot that you’d like to use in your room, it’s also a great site to browse around and find examples of color palettes made by designers.