While decorating their home, most people give the highly used rooms special attention, except for one space: The bedroom. It’s most likely not intentional, but it may be thought of as a less important area to design because the average guest is never going to see it. However, the master bedroom can become a relaxing oasis if you consider decorating it — and the easiest way to start is by adding wall art.
Now, you may not think it’s a good idea to hang art above your bed, but there are safe practices to ensure that your wall hanging stays where it’s supposed to. Hanging hardware can include hooks, nails, felt pads, glue dots, command strips, double-headed screws, and other specialized products.
What Kind of Wall Art Should I Choose?
Even though you might spend the majority of your time in your bedroom sleeping, choose pieces to hang above your bed that you truly love. Here are some artwork ideas:
Pick your favorite art print
A fun option for decor in your bedroom is a rendition of your favorite artist’s work. It could be the ballerinas painted by Degas, or Monet’s The Water Lily Pond. Almost any piece of art that speaks to you can be made into a light and easy-to-hang canvas that will fit your bedroom’s overall design.
Hang a tapestry
If your bedroom boasts a boho look and feel, then a tapestry, cloth, or yarn design could be a nice fit. Tie your room together by using the colors in your artwork as inspiration, and use it in your bedding or any other products/ items in the space.
Create a gallery wall
If you can’t decide on just one piece of bedroom artwork, why not choose multiple images to hang? To create an effective gallery wall, it’s best to avoid making the wall look busy by mismatching patterns and styles. To bypass this, you could put up a bunch of family portraits with matching frames or pick neutral paintings to fill the space. When hanging a gallery wall, try to keep about two inches between each picture to give the art space to “breathe.”
Incorporate a shelf
Whether you want an extra place to put framed photos, or simply extra storage space, a shelf can be a great addition above your bed. Although it’s not artwork, it can be designed to display artistic charm through colorful knick-knacks or beautifully bound books.
Once you have a design idea in mind for above your bed, think about where exactly to hang your art. However, you must consider one major bedroom detail: Your headboard. Let’s lay to rest the untruth that you can’t hang items above a headboard. We’ll tell you how!
How to Hang Wall Art Above a Bed With or Without a Headboard
Any wall decor can live above your bed if it’s something you love, but not every piece of art should be hung at the same height. To ensure the wall that your bed is pushed against doesn’t look crowded, you must take the headboard and the amount of wall space into consideration.
For beds with a headboard
When hanging your artwork above your bed, you want to avoid hanging it too close to the headboard or too high. Either one of these scenarios can leave your wall looking awkward or empty. A good rule to follow is to use your hand to measure about 7 inches from the top of the headboard to the bottom of the painting you want to hang.
If you can’t fit a hand’s width between the headboard and the artwork, then the piece is too big for your wall and you should consider moving it to another space.
For beds without a headboard
Not everyone wants to have a headboard on their bed, but it does make it a bit trickier to figure out the height at which the painting should hang. Try propping your pillows up against the wall to mimic a headboard’s height. A typical headboard would extend about six inches higher than your vertical pillows, so measure that height and hang up the art. The total length from your bed to the bedroom artwork should be about 14 to 16 inches.
Avoid hanging the artwork lower than this because it can make your walls look very empty and awkwardly spaced. Also, if you ever prop up against the wall to read or watch TV at night, the artwork could become a problem.
These hanging best practices can keep you from making some pretty common bedroom wall art mistakes. Let’s take a closer look at some other errors that can be made when hanging art above the bed.
Common Bedroom Mistakes
As easy as it is to upgrade your room with hanging artwork and portraits, there is also a fine line between beautiful design and distracting clutter. Here are some common errors that people make when hanging art above the bed.
Hanging unsafe items
Since your bed is specifically designed for you to sleep on, hanging dangerous, sharp, or heavy objects on the wall above where you lie down is not the best idea. It’s best to hang a smaller piece of art rather than a larger work. If you do have a larger piece in a box frame or glass-front artwork that you must hang up, do so with strong reinforcements. The best hooks to use include a sawtooth hook or a strong screw. This will keep you safer and make it less likely that the artwork will slip off the wall.
Picking the wrong size and shape of wall art
The other main issue that people often create when hanging artwork on the wall above the bed is hanging an oddly shaped or weirdly sized decor. For example, if you decide to hang a very skinny canvas on a very wide wall, the piece will seem tiny and leave too much empty space. Pick horizontal art for shorter walls, and vertical pictures for taller walls, and avoid filling up every spare inch with art. Your master bedroom really should be a sanctuary so adding appropriate wall art is just the first step. Check out these Top Tips on How to Get Your Beauty Sleep.
Contact Room Reimagined Design
If you’re not sure where to start or are in need of some help, contact the Interior Designers at Room Reimagined Design in Lino Lakes, MN at (651) 387-3861. Set up a consultation to determine your personal needs and project requirements. We look forward to working with you!
