Blue Bedroom Ideas
Blue bedrooms feel calm and fresh, but blue can turn cold quickly. The key is to pick a blue with the right undertone for your light and then warm it with sand, wood or a touch of orange. Choose art that repeats your blue next to a warm colour so the room feels balanced.
Below: choosing a blue, blue-grey and other combinations, bedding and headboard ideas, and how to pick art for blue bedroom walls.
Prints for this look
The colour palette
Pick your blue
- Powder and sky blue feel airy and suit small bedrooms and bright rooms.
- Blue grey is soft and grown-up, and one of the easiest bedroom colours to live with.
- Cobalt and mid blue are confident and cheerful, good on one wall behind the bed.
- Navy and ink are deep and cocooning. See our navy bedroom ideas for more.
Undertone matters. Blues with a touch of green or grey stay warmer in north-facing rooms, which get cool light. Pure, clear blues look best in sunny, south-facing rooms. Try a large sample in both morning light and lamplight.
Colours that go with blue
Crisp white and blue is the classic pairing and always looks fresh. To make it feel warmer, swap white for sand, oatmeal or natural linen. Natural oak, rattan and cane add warmth without competing with the blue.
For contrast, use orange's softer cousins: terracotta, rust, ochre or mustard. They sit opposite blue on the colour wheel, so a cushion or a print in one of them makes the blue look richer. Blush pink is a gentler alternative.
Aim for a 60-30-10 split: 60% blue, 30% white, sand and wood, 10% warm accent. Our decorating rules page explains how.
Bedding and headboards
White or off-white bedding is the easy choice with blue walls. Stripes and ticking in blue and white suit a relaxed, coastal-leaning bedroom, while plain linen in sand or oatmeal feels calmer. A rust, ochre or mustard throw at the end of the bed is all the accent most blue bedrooms need.
A cream upholstered or natural wood headboard keeps a blue room soft. Against a darker blue-grey wall, a caramel or tan headboard adds welcome warmth.
Art for blue bedroom walls
Choose prints that include your blue plus one warm tone: seascapes with sandy beaches, botanicals with ochre flowers, abstracts in blue and terracotta. On pale blue walls, a print with deeper blue gives the wall some depth. On mid and dark blues, prints with white or cream backgrounds stand out best.
Above the bed, go for one A1 above a double, or a pair of A2 prints above a king size, with the bottom of the frame 15 to 25 cm above the headboard. Browse our blue wall art collection for prints that suit blue walls.
Sizes at a glance
| Size | Centimetres | Inches | Works for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A4 | 21 x 29.7 | 8.3 x 11.7 | Shelves, desks, small gaps, sets of 3 |
| A3 | 29.7 x 42 | 11.7 x 16.5 | Hallways, side walls, pairs |
| A2 | 42 x 59.4 | 16.5 x 23.4 | Above a sideboard or small sofa, the anchor of a gallery wall |
| A1 | 59.4 x 84.1 | 23.4 x 33.1 | Above a standard sofa or bed |
| A0 | 84.1 x 118.9 | 33.1 x 46.8 | Large walls, open-plan rooms, statement pieces |
All our A sizes fit standard off-the-shelf frames, and every print is made to order on museum-grade matte paper.
