How to Arrange Bedroom Furniture

Think of your bedroom like a blank canvas. Whether you have a small bedroom or a master bedroom suite, there are virtually endless ways you can arrange and style your room. However, not all of the methods will be a good blend of practical, functional, and stylish. The tips below offer some insight into arranging bedroom furniture, step-by-step, to ensure that your room looks cohesive and functions as you need it to.

How to Arrange Bedroom Furniture in 7 Easy Steps

1. Start with the Bed
2. Add Nightstands
3. Arrange Bedroom Storage
4. Add Balance
5. Make It Functional
6. Fill in the Gaps
7. Place a Rug and Décor

If your bedroom furniture makes your room look small, cluttered, or chaotic, it could be time to rethink your layout. When you walk into your bedroom, you want to feel relaxed and welcomed. Having the right furniture arrangement in place for your space’s shape and size can work wonders toward achieving that goal.

By breaking down the steps you need to take to arrange your modern bedroom furniture, you can tweak your design as you go, making the process feel more manageable overall. The tips above can help you create your ideal bedroom design that’s filled with practicality and personality.

Let’s Rearrange Bedroom Furniture

From a modern bedroom to a rustic design to a minimalist Feng Shui bedroom, your bedroom furniture is the most crucial part of your space. Room décor helps give your bedroom personality, but your furniture—bed frame, area rug, nightstand, dresser chest, and more—is what makes it functional.

Before you work to arrange your room, try to curb the clutter. Get rid of any furniture you already have that isn’t necessary for your space. Go through drawers, closets, and nightstands to clear any extras you don’t need. Minimizing what you have to work with can make for a smooth-sailing process.

Follow the steps below to arrange your bedroom furniture. You’ll want to start with the biggest furniture first (the bed) before moving on to smaller furniture, like your nightstand and storage areas.

1. Start with the Bed

Because your bed is the largest piece of furniture in your room, it’s often the focal point and the most powerful piece of your overall design and bedroom arrangement. Therefore, it’s usually a good idea to start the arrangement process with the bed.

Beds often end up on the wall that’s farthest away from the door to give the space an open feel. You should also try not to let it block any windows to ensure that you get plenty of natural light into the room during the day. Also, be sure to place the bed in a way that you can walk around both sides of it comfortably without bumping into other furniture, while leaving plenty of space for bedside tables on either side.

You can play around with your bed’s final resting spot a little more if you have a large room. For example, you might put the bed in a corner rather than flat against a wall or opt for a king bed frame that takes up more space. Your bed foundation and mattress size can also help you decide on a spot, as some will look more natural against a wall than in a corner.

2. Add Nightstands

Now that you know how much of the rest of your room you have available for furniture, you can start placing smaller items. Nightstands come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so you can make them fit into just about any space you have on the sides of your bed.

If symmetry is important to you, you can place a nightstand on either side of the bed. However, other bedroom arrangements have no nightstands or one on just one side of the bed. These options might work for smaller rooms to save space.

Still, you don’t need to forego the convenience of bedside tables if you have a small room. Instead, you might attach floating shelves on either side of the bed to hold books, glasses, and other things you need near your bed. If you still need a spot for a lamp, consider one that attaches to the wall and extends out over the bed to save space.

3. Arrange Bedroom Storage

Your bedroom’s storage space is an essential piece of its design. Dressers, baskets, closet organizers, desks, and other furniture pieces keep your bedroom from getting cluttered by small items. Still, by adding too many storage areas in your room, you could end up with a space that feels small and restrictive.

Your main dresser will likely be your largest furniture piece besides the bed, so place it first before other storage units. A dresser usually works well when placed on a wall opposite the bed or on a wall beside the bed. You can then work from largest to smallest with pieces like a desk, a console unit, and closet storage.

A bedroom idea for smaller rooms might be to make use of the space underneath your bed. Put shoes, out-of-season clothing, and other items you don’t always need in storage cubes to tuck away under the bed. You can always add a bed skirt to keep items hidden.

Find other places to hide storage, too, by taking advantage of the backs of doors, storage bins that you can tuck inside desks or dressers, or storing items on top of bookshelves or your wardrobe.

4. Add Balance

Now that you have your main furniture in place, you can work on balancing out the room with additional pieces or some rearranging tweaks. Balance in a bedroom simply means to create a cohesive design and a tranquil environment by placing furniture and décor in a way that leads to design stability.

For example, your room can look off-putting if you have only tall furniture pieces. Bringing in a few shorter pieces, maybe a console table or a seating bench, can balance the overall design. Similarly, some smaller pieces of furniture can help balance a lot of large, bold pieces.

Look at your arrangement as it is now. Is there any furniture piece that might look better when swapped with something else that is a different shape, size, or style? Or, maybe your desk might look better in another corner that’s not as crowded. Now is the perfect time to make changes before adding the finishing touches.

5. Make It Functional

Next, ask yourself, “Is my bedroom functional?” Your current bedroom furniture arrangement could look just like what you imagined, but it might not be practical for everyday use. Do a thorough walk-through of your room and mimic what you’d do for your regular sleep and morning routines. If you find that your current arrangement feels awkward, cluttered, or unpractical, you might need to try a few other placements.

You can also add functionality to your room with shelving units, more storage, and better lighting. For small spaces, consider using furniture that has multiple purposes, like a storage bed with a pull-out drawer or a bedside table with a storage rack for magazines and books.

6. Fill in the Gaps

Your room should now have a bedroom makeover that works for you. After finding a spot for everything, you might still have some space that would look better filled. If that’s the case, consider making a living room area or cozy nook. Not only will this space give more definition to your bedroom, but it will also add another functional spot where you can read, relax, and enjoy your room.

A nook can work in bedrooms of any size if you get the right furniture for the space. Add just one chair and a small end table with a lamp to save space in a small room. Larger rooms might be able to hold a loveseat or two chairs and a bookshelf.

Further define the space by placing an area rug, floating shelves, an ottoman, and some throw pillows and blankets. A gallery wall or accent wall can also draw attention to the area. Finish up with a few modest décor pieces to tie in colors and textures with your overall design.

7. Place a Rug and Décor

A rug and other decorative pieces pull a room’s design together, so they’re best left until the end of the arranging process. This is when you can look at the room as a whole and decide where you might be able to add some decorative pieces to create more balance in the room, add color, or draw attention to an area.

Start with a rug if you’re adding one. A rug can help define a space and draw the eyes into an area of the room, so they usually work well underneath the bed or in a corner nook. Don’t be afraid to play with color and texture!

Next, add wall art, fresh flowers, throw pillows, and other décor to the room. Try to add balance to the room by being mindful of the colors, shapes, and sizes of your décor pieces and where you place them.

Is Matching Bedroom Furniture Outdated?

Matching bedroom furniture is something that a lot of people assume is a must if they want to achieve a cohesive design in their space. However, one quick look on Pinterest or interior design Instagram feeds will tell you differently.

While matching bedroom furniture was once the more popular option for master bedroom decorating, that’s no longer the case. Bedroom decorating ideas have transitioned into being less cookie-cutter and more unique. In fact, designing rules have somewhat gone out the window as more and more people choose to make their bedrooms one-of-a-kind.

Still, matching bedroom sets aren’t a thing of the past, and they can still be the right choice for your room if that’s the style you prefer.

The Pros of Matching Your Bedroom Furniture

You can often purchase matching bedroom furniture as a set, making the process straightforward and, sometimes, more affordable. When you find a style you like, you can buy your bed, dresser, nightstands, and other matching pieces as a full set at one time to avoid having to hunt down separate pieces to bring your whole look together.

Matching your bedroom furniture can also make your room look cohesive and put-together without much effort. Buying matching furniture is best for people who want to simplify the designing process and know that, in the end, their bedroom will look great. It’s also helpful for people who have a blank slate to work with and want to fill up the room with furniture quickly without a lot of fuss over the design.

The Downsides of Having Matching Bedroom Furniture

One of the most significant cons of having a matching bedroom set is that, in a few years, your furniture might already look outdated. Look back at popular styles from just five years ago, and you’ll probably notice a difference between then and now. Matching sets sometimes don’t stand the test of time well, leaving you considering buying an updated set to keep up with the trends.

A matching bedroom furniture set also doesn’t lend well to uniqueness. Hundreds of thousands of other families might have the same bedroom furniture set as yours. You can switch up room décor and use bedding, wall art, and other décor to make the room’s overall vibe something special. Still, you’ll have the same furniture as others, and these pieces are often the primary focus of a room.

Is Mix-and-Match Furniture the Way to Go?

The truth is that your personal preference is what’s going to dictate how your room should look and what kind of furniture to bring into it. If you like your furniture to have the same finish and style, then buying a matching set is the way to go, but if you prefer to have a mix of pieces representing your different design interests, a mix-and-match set of furniture can help you achieve that.

One perk of having mismatched furniture is that you can continue to swap out and update individual pieces as you see fit. If you want a bit of a design change, you can always get rid of your rustic nightstands and replace them with the sleek, modern ones you found at the store. Mixing and matching your furniture gives you a lot of room to play around with your space’s look and feel.

Ultimately, there are many ways to make your bedroom uniquely yours, regardless of the bedroom furniture you buy. Use an accent wall, off-the-cuff color scheme, a floating shelf arrangement, and other interesting styling ideas to create a distinctive space.

How to Mix and Match Bedroom Furniture

If you decide that mixing and matching bedroom furniture is something you want to try, following these tips can guide you through the process:

Start Small

A mixed and matched bedroom can look chaotic if you go full speed ahead and change up everything in the room without thinking about how the individual pieces will look together. You should consider starting small by swapping out just one piece of furniture at a time.

For example, keep your platform bed but change your nightstands. Do you love the look or not so much? Taking baby steps toward a bedroom of mixed furniture can help you see each step of the process and decide how to proceed with your design. It can also be a little less scary for you to change up bits and pieces of your room than doing it all at once if you’re not quite sure if mismatching furniture is for you.

Play with Colors

Using furniture with different colors can be a simple way to start mixing and matching. The great thing about mixing up colors is that it can add fun pops of color into your space without compromising your overall design and style. You can stick with a fully contemporary bedroom and still keep it from looking too matched by playing with the color of your furniture.

Add an ivory trunk to the foot of your deep brown bed. Place a mint green chair in the corner of your room that matches a throw blanket on your bed. You can also pull colors together with an accent bedroom wall with paint or wallpaper, a throw pillow assortment or bed shams, or even a floating shelf. Even fresh flowers can play with mismatched furniture.

Play with Textures

Bedroom furniture comes in a wide selection of textures, like wood, steel, upholsters, and more. Mixing up your textures creates an interesting vibe in your space instead of a more cookie-cutter style. You might have glass-top nightstands paired with an upholstered bed and headboard or a wood bed with an upholstered chaise lounger at the foot of a queen bed.

The thing with textures is that there are so many ways to mix and match them in your room. Once you’ve settled on furniture you love, you can continue to work with textures in throw pillows, window treatments, blankets, bedding, and even wallpaper.

At first, try to focus on just two or three textures you want to work into your room with furniture. Then, pull in some new texture with your finishing décor, piece by piece, to avoid overwhelming the design.

Play with Styles

Yes, you can even mix and match styles of furniture. In fact, it’s encouraged in today’s interior decorating trends. Try the 80/20 rule: Keep 80% of your bedroom one style and 20% of your bedroom another style or styles you really enjoy.

Let’s say your current bedroom style leans toward cottage, and you love the style. You might keep your bedroom bench, headboard, and wall colors the same. But you really want to pull in some eclectic style, too. This is where you might swap out your armoire for one that matches that eclectic style and add in décor pieces with fun pops of color and textures.

Mix and Match Walls and Bedroom Décor

After you have your furniture figured out, you can move on to mixing up some decorating ideas that can make everything look cohesive (in a perfectly mismatched way, of course!). This is the fun part. From making a gallery wall to creating a corner nook, you have tons of possibilities for pulling in more textures, colors, and styles to your space.

Think of the finished product rather than how bedroom decor pieces fit together when you buy them. Rustic, modern, contemporary, and other styles can all look beautiful together in a space. It’s just a matter of working with the styles you like and being strategic about placing décor.

Use What You Already Have

Don’t feel like you need to buy all new furniture to hop on the mismatched trend. You can make your old furniture feel completely new with stain, a new coat of paint, or a reupholstery.

DIY makeovers can be the perfect solution to mixing and matching your bedroom without spending tons of money. You can search thrift shops for hardware to add to a repainted dresser or transform old pieces into something new. For example, an antique desk might become two beautiful bedside tables when you cut it in half.

Arranging Your Bedroom Furniture for a Calming, Functional Space

Whether you have a large master bedroom or a small, cozy bedroom, your furniture placement can make a difference. With larger rooms, it’s important to take advantage of the space you have by creating defined areas of a room to make it feel relaxed and functional. For a small bedroom, maximize your space with strategically placed furniture, bright walls, and plenty of storage to keep your room from getting cluttered.

With the right furniture arrangement in place, your bedroom can become the perfect blend of practicality and tranquility. You might choose to stick with a matching bedroom set or opt for more of a mix-and-match design for a master or guest bedroom. There are ways to make either style work, depending on your style preferences, when arranging furniture the best way for your space.