How To Create A Focal Point In Your Bedroom
Focal points are integral to interior design. Spaces need a focal point because the human eye needs a resting place. Focal points draw the eye because they are the room’s star, giving off a clear sense of style and purpose.
Creating a focal point in your bedroom will anchor your space and inspire your interior design choices. There is no better way to design a bedroom because you can build around the focal point, keeping everything else on point.
Here’s how to create a focal point in your bedroom:
Stick to one focal point – your bed!
First of all, don’t make the mistake of having two focal points in a bedroom. Bedrooms should have one focal point and no more. Otherwise, the viewer’s eye will be drawn to more than two places, creating conflict.
With focal points, we want clarity and direction. We want the viewer’s eye to be drawn to one thing first to emphasize your style.
In a bedroom, the bed is always the focal point. After all, a bed takes up significant floor space and has a specific purpose.
Beds come in all shapes and sizes, from a divan bed with a fabric base and no protruding frame to metal beds with ornamental detailing and ottoman beds with a lift-up base (handy for storing bedding, shoes, and clothes).
Match your bed to your interior design style, or if you don’t have one, match the bed frame to the color scheme you want to use.
Highlight/emphasize your bed
Once you have the bed sorted, you need to highlight it (if you don’t do this, you run the risk of drawing people’s eyes to other areas of your bedroom).
Hang a picture
Hang a picture above your bed to instantly highlight it. Go for something colorful, bold, or abstract to create a sense of playfulness. You can hang anything above your bed, so feel free to hang a clock, a sculpture, or anything else you like.
Create an accent wall
An accent wall is a great way to highlight your bed or create a separate focal point in your bedroom. You could paint it in a contrasting color, use textured wallpaper, apply a wooden or faux stone finish, or stencil it in graphics.
Accent walls are a quick way to liven up a bedroom. We love them because they can be used as a backdrop for statement furniture, as a showcase for artwork, to liven up a space, and direct attention to one area of your bedroom.
Use contrasting textures
Contrast is an interior design principle where we use two or more design elements with opposing but complementary characteristics.
For example, crushed velvet bedding and wooden beds have contrasting textures yet go together perfectly. Likewise, wooden bedside tables go well with grey metal bed frames because the colors are complementary.
Try using light vs. dark colors, smooth vs. rough textures, and shiny vs. flat materials to build contrast in your bedroom and highlight your bed.
Build rhythm into your design
Now that you have a focal point and have emphasized it, it’s time to build rhythm into the design to move the viewer’s eye in the way you want to.
Rhythm is an interior design principle concerned with moving a person’s eye by creating a sense of movement and transition within a space.
For example, when a person looks at your bed and sees lots of yellow cushions, they will look at anything else yellow next. To use another example, horizontal patterns in wallpaper can lead people to scan a room in a specific order.
To create rhythm, try hanging pictures on the wall from your bed to your wardrobe to use gradation, placing a rug leading from your bed to the door to use transition, and balancing and repeating items around the focal point using radial flow.
