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21 blue bedroom ideas that prove it's the most versatile colour around
Blue paint is perhaps one of the most versatile around – there are myriad shades, tones and strengths of blue and each convey a different mood on a room. Blue can be uplifting if you choose a sky blue and add in notes of yellow and coral; it can be calming in the form of palest powder blue; and it can be cocooning in strong, dark tones. In short, whatever it is you are trying to achieve in a room, blue can do it. As interior designer Edward Bulmer puts it, “we find blues incredibly versatile and often a great choice with the warmer tones of wooden floors and furniture.”
When it comes to blue bedrooms, one thing you'll probably want to avoid is a clinical feel. There's an easy way to do that; do not simply browse the 17 blue bedrooms below, see one you love and copy it. You must consider the aspect of your room, where the light hits it and when and what times of day you spend in there. Being a bedroom, you'll want a blue that looks good in lamplight as well as on a summer morning when you throw the curtains open. If you work from your bedroom when working from home, then daytime is most important so take inspiration from the schemes below and test the colours before you dive headfirst into a blue bedroom.
Boz Gagovski1/21Inside one of the bedrooms in her Somerset house, Joa Studholme chose ‘Inchyra Blue’ as the main colour for a cocooning feel and ‘Light Blue’ as a softer alternative to white on the top quarter of the wall. The headboard in this bedroom is upholstered in a striped Ian Mankin fabric by Somerset-based soft furnishing specialists No Naked Windows. The door is coated in Farrow & Ball’s Picture Gallery Red. The bedside table was a flea market buy.
Astrid Templier2/21This bedroom in a Herne Hill house decorated by Pandora Taylor is painted in ‘Selvedge’ by Farrow & Ball. The bed is by ‘The Original Bed Co.’ and is upholstered in Beata Heuman's ‘Palm Drop Fabric.’ Matching the headboard to your curtains or blinds can be a good idea in a small bedroom.
Christopher Horwood3/21‘Brighton’ from Paper & Paints is on the walls of the master bedroom in this Cotswolds house. To bring in more colours and a feminine touch, the owner layered the room up with pretty colours in other ways.
Helen Cathcart4/21The walls are painted ‘Pale Egyptian Blue’ by Papers and Paints in the main bedroom of this Georgian house in London by Octavia Dickinson. The fabric for the bed tester is Penny Morrison’s ‘Begum’, the ottoman is upholstered in Lerio by Namay Samay; the antique oval mirror is from Lorfords. The wall lights are from Vaughan and their accompanying shades are from Robert Kime.
James McDonald5/21Decorator Chloe Willis' own London house is not just a showcase of her skills, but a marvel in creating a comfortable country feel in the heart of the city. In the main bedroom, she makes an easy case for blue, covering the walls in Papers & Paints 7-077. It was in fact the antique Sumbanese Ikat weave, bought from John Gillow, that was the starting point for the room and dictated a scheme of blues and oranges. The kilim is from Seref Ozen in Istanbul; the headboard and valance are made from Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler’s Zig Zag print. The indigo throw is from the Chapel Collection. The blue Chinese indigo cushions are from Penny Worrall. The long bolster cushion is made from Santander by Rosa Bernal.
Helen Cathcart6/21In this bedroom of a house in Hove by Isabella Worsley, walls painted in Edward Bulmer's ‘Aquatic’ provide a moody backdrop for patterned fabrics, including ‘Thebes’ by Katie Leede on the headboard, and curtains in Lewis and Wood's ‘Oaksey linen with Samuel and Sons' Flanders Border in Raspberry on the leading edge. Of the colour, Edward says, “‘Aquatic’ is a great example of a colour that has weight and drama but hovers between blue and green. It’s the changing colour of water and provides a great backdrop for all sorts of pieces. This colour has a muddiness to it which allows it to hold court in rooms of grander proportion or create warmth in smaller rooms.”
Paul Massey7/21Emma Grant painted her bedroom walls in a strong blue gloss – chosen to provide a foil to the dim north light at the back of the flat – and added a seagrass carpet from Naked Flooring Company for neutrality, bringing in more bold colour via the headboard, which tones with the suzani bedcover.
Paul Massey8/21In interior designer Marie-Louise Sjogren's house on the Stockholm archipelago, this bedroom is painted in a pale powder blue, with curtains in Josef Frank’s ‘La Plata’ and rugs from Svenskt Tenn layering more blues over the top. The green on the bed and door add a lovely contrast.
Paul Massey9/21A recessed bed creates a cosy, cocooning atmosphere in this Georgian house by Ben Pentreath, heightened by panelling painted in ‘Asian Blue’ by Emente, which offsets walls papered in Morris & Co’s ‘Marigold’ from Style Library. It may not be a blue bedroom in its entirety but it serves as an example for how to add a touch of strong blue if painting the whole room seems too much.
Tom Griffiths10/21Melinda Stevens' bedroom in her west London house is a dramatic space with glossy turquoise panelling and a riot of patterns on the bed. It is a large room – complete with a bath on the other side – but the moody dark turquoise on the walls helps to make it a contemplative space.
Simon Brown11/21A headboard in ‘Beaucaire’ linen by Nicole Fabre Designs from Tissus d’Hélène blends with walls in ‘Pavilion Blue’ by Farrow & Ball in this bedroom by Samantha Todhunter. This delicate green blue is a soft and sweet colour choice for a soothing space.
Paul Massey12/21In Alexandra Tolstoy's bedroom, a sky blue with dark undertones has been used as a base for a layering of wonderful textiles and collected finds. The antique bed, dressed in linen and fabric from Volga Linen and Robert Kime, is placed in the window to make space for a 20th-century Irish wardrobe and embroidered Uzbek coats, which recall the allure of the Central Asian steppes. The blue works wonderfully well with the pink, red and orange tones throughout and creates a holistic sense for the bedroom.
Alicia Taylor13/21Shades of white and green sing against powder blue walls and make for a bright but serene scheme in the spare bedroom of Cameron Kimber's house in New South Wales.
14/21For those wanting to go very bold with their blue, consider this vivid blue bedroom in Audrey Carden's northwest London house. The mood is luxurious here, with blue, paper-backed, suede-effect fabric on the walls and a tray ceiling painted in the same shade. There are emerald-green silk curtains and honey-toned mid-century furniture. It works because one wall is practically all windows and on the other side is the marble-clad bedroom, so the blue takes over three walls, not five.
Paul Massey15/21The bedroom of Octavia Dickinson's home is painted in ‘Lulworth Blue’ from Farrow & Ball, a choice of which she says, “blue can be a cold colour but when used in the right way, it can feel completely the opposite. It can be incredibly calming and also invigorating. I have had Farrow & Ball ‘Lulworth Blue’ in my last two bedrooms, which seems incredibly bright at first, but once layered with curtains, furniture and pictures, has been on the right side of invigorating. It’s an incredibly happy colour to wake up to.”
James McDonald16/21The main bedroom in a London project by Kate Guinness has walls and woodwork in Edward Bulmer's ‘Sea Green’ (a green blue). The fabrics in the room balance it out with shades of pink and darker blue.
Chris Horwood17/21‘River Stone’ by Fenwick & Tillbrook sets the tone in one of the spare bedrooms of Sophie Warburton's house, where the headboard is made from a vintage indigo wrap from Adire African Textiles. The throw on the bed is a vintage Chinese indigo hand-loomed weave, sourced by Sophie's mum. As for the orange chair, Sophie bought it at Kempton Antiques market and upholstered it in a mud cloth that she bought in Morocco and it adds a vibrant contrast to the blue.
Paul Whitbread18/21If a full blue is daunting, consider this bedroom in a house by Charlotte Boundy. Morris & Co's ‘Seaweed’ wallpaper forms an enveloping backdrop for this spare room, and the white and yellow in the pattern break up a sea of blue, making it a strong but not overwhelming look. The blind is in Claremont's ‘Straub Twill’ and works wonderfully to break up the wallpaper.
Michael Sinclair19/21If you want to fully embrace blue in all its tonality, look to this playful composition by Pandora Taylor at her London house. The headboard is made up of wooden disks covered in Lewis & Wood’s ‘Rooksmoor Velvet’ in blue boy, toning with the ‘Aurora’ azure wallcovering from Calico. It's about as striking as it comes.
Alexander James20/21In this child's bedroom in a south London project by Studio Peake, sky blue acts as a base for all the colours in the Ottoline de Vries' 'Chintamani Trellis' wallpaper, which lines the inside of a built-in box bed. Pale blues are a wonderful foil for stronger colours.
Paul Massey21/21In the spare room of this Cornish cottage by Paolo Moschino, blue and white stripes have been painted on the wall – in colours custom-mixed by paint specialist Dawn Reader – to create a soft, nautical take on a blue bedroom.
