WHERE SHOULD THE BED GO?

Furniture layout can be tricky. Here’s expert advice from an interior designer on how to set up a bedroom.

Furniture layout can be tricky. Here’s expert advice from an interior designer on how to set up a bedroom.

Deciding where to put the bed can be difficult. This is especially true when the bedroom is oddly shaped or smaller than average. Bedrooms obviously feature a bed, but should it take up the entire room? Joanne Palmisano is an interior designer and the author of a new book, Rock your Rental: Style, Design, and Marketing Tips to Boost Your Bookings. We’ve asked her to share her advice on where to put the bed and how to optimize the space in smaller rooms.

MAKE ROOM

Every room is different, and bed size can run from twin to California king, but one thing remains constant. “Having enough space to move around the bed is important,” Joanne says. “For a queen- or king-size bed, make sure there’s room on both sides of the bed, with a minimum of two feet on both sides.”However, if you have a bedroom with two twin beds, Joanne suggests focusing on the space between them. Leaving enough space between the beds will give the impression that the room is larger, while allowing enough room for both occupants.

MAXIMIZE HEADSPACE

It’s also important to consider the bedroom’s comfort level for sleeping. A common mistake, Joanne says, is placing the headboard beside the room’s door. “It’s always better not to be walking into the head of the bed when you enter a bedroom,”she says. It makes the room feel crunched and minimizes the appearance of the headspace.

LINE IT UP

Another trick for maximizing headspace is keeping the foot of the bed away from angled walls. “Some people may assume the opposite is true, that it is better to keep the footboard close to an angled wall, because you want to maximize headspace,” Joanne says. But to truly maximize space, she instead suggests turning the headboard under the angle of the wall and using a thicker headboard. Make sure the headboard top meets the angle. This will make a vertical line and trick the eye into seeing a straight wall, even though the bed is next to a slanted angle. “Also, for smaller rooms with angled walls, I don’t use tall footboards,” Joanne says. While tall headboards against angled walls make the walls seems straighter, tall footboards give the impression of too many walls, which can make the bedroom feel even smaller.

"Having enough space to move around the bed is important.”

In her guest bedroom, Leslie Saeta of My 100 Year Old Home centered the bed against a window. She kept the headboard low so natural light can still come into the room. (opposite) The master bedroom in the home of blogger Maryal Miller Carter of Love and Specs is on the small size, so she positioned the bed in the middle of the room to leave the most walking space around it.

(top) In this bedroom, designed by Joanne, the main wall features wallpaper, which emphasizes the placement of the bed. The headboard stays low to complement the feature wall. (opposite) This master bedroom, in the home of Instagrammer Samantha Young of Rustic Home Momma, is large enough that the bed fits nicely between the two windows. You can also center a bed against a window to keep the room symmetrical.