mall bedroom? No problem. These ideas, design and storage ideas from the world’s top interior designers will make all the difference, so don’t let your room’s diminutive size put you off. What small bedrooms lack in space, they can more than make up for in charm and atmosphere.
How to decorate a small bedroom
A small bedroom can be the perfect place to go bold with colour and pattern. Try out a wallpaper with a large pattern, or experiment with a strong paint colour. We’ve seen some spectacular examples of bedrooms where the same pattern is used on the curtains, walls and even the eiderdown; it’s a strong look, but it can be beautiful when done properly. Using one print across all the surfaces can create a sense of infinite space.
If your concern is to make the room feel lighter and brighter, make sure you incorporate some mirrors. When placed opposite or adjacent to a window, they are perfect for bouncing light around, and also create interesting glimpses of the room from unexpected angles. In terms of lighting, this is where wall lights really come into their own. Built into the walls next to the bed, or even into the headboard, they save valuable space on a bedside table.
The bed
As the most important piece of furniture in the room, make sure the bed does as much space-saving work as it can. If you’re buying a divan bed (and investing in a new mattress too), choose one that incorporates storage; this is an excellent place to keep bedding and linens. If you have the budget for bespoke joinery, we love the idea of building a bed into the wall, which works particularly well in a room with a pitched roof. Adding decoration to this joinery is also a great way of incorporating a decorative element and blending the bed seamlessly. Taking the opposite approach, some designers like to completely fill the room with the bed, on the principle that using small furniture in a small room simply makes everything look a bit sad. If you’re feeling brave, consider a four poster bed; it’ll certainly make a statement. In a children’s bedroom – bunk beds are also an option.
Storage
For a really small bedroom, bulky wardrobes and chests of drawers can be the last thing you want. If you need a reasonable amount of clothes storage, consider an open hanging rail instead of a wardrobe. If it’s a spare room, some simple hooks may suffice for hanging guests’ clothes. Again, if budget allows, building the wardrobes in can make the room feel much more streamlined. If you build them on either side of the bed, you can also construct nooks in the sides to serve as bedside tables, eliminating the need for another piece of freestanding furniture. Make the most of any alcoves, building in shelves or rails to hang clothes. Installing shelves above the bed can be another helpful option for creating storage, and allowing space to add some personality into the room with books and decorative objects.
If your room is blessed with tall ceilings, be sure to make the most of them. This means building upwards, not outwards. Add shelving to the walls for extra storage, and hang plenty of artwork.
Small bedroom ideas from the House & Garden archive
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Milo BrownThe theme of charming practicality continues upstairs in the spare bedroom, which houses a pretty box bed. “We positioned the bed underneath the sash window to maximise floor space, because we couldn’t afford to lose any space around the bed. We also created a shelf behind the headboard which actually lifts up to reveal storage for clutter or extra books.” In the same room, Lonika designed a wardrobe that “appears to be freestanding, but has decent drawers and the depth of something built-in.”
In Daniel Slowik and Benedict Foley’s Hackney flat, mirrors hanging on the wardrobe cleverly expand the space.
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Boz Gagovski3/87
Each space in their diminutive Hackney flat is multitasking (including an ingenious convertible table, which can change from dining table height to coffee table height with the removal of a segment of the legs). In their small bedroom, artwork hangs on the cupboard doors on each side of the bed.
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Tom Griffiths4/87
In Kate Cox of HÁM Interiors’ charming flat in Bristol, tall walls are covered in Jean Monro’s ‘Clover’ wallpaper in Flower Pot. Thanks to the room’s generous ceiling height, the wallpaper adds a sense of infiniteness. Not wanting to crowd the room with too much pattern, Kate chose a neutral fabric for the Studio HÁM headboard: ‘Ismaelia’ Pierre Frey.
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Paul Massey5/87
A London flat designed by Henrietta Fitzwilliam Lay features patterned bedcovers are balanced by a headboard and blind in ‘Rabanna’ cotton and valances in linen in the perfect fool colourway, both from Fermoie. The prints are by Paul Peter Piech.
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Paul Massey6/87
Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Beetlenut’ on the ceiling is paired with Galbraith & Paul’s ‘Tile’ wallpaper in coral to bold effect in this bedroom in a riverside house designed by Nicola Harding. An armchair in George Smith’s ‘Mohair’ in auburn provides a pleasing contrast with the blue kantha quilt from Toast.
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Paul Massey7/87
In this house belonging to Adam Ellis, a striking display of artwork above the bed picks up on the colours featured on furniture and textiles in the room.
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In this London house designed by Nina Litchfield , wall space has been taken full advantage of. Open shelving provides a space to put toys, while lighting and a display of artworks adds a pretty, decorative layer.
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Paul Whitbread9/87
A spare bedroom in this house in Oxford decorated by Charlotte Boundy is papered in Morris & Co’s ‘Meadow Sweet’ pattern. An Uzbek suzani from Nushka pairs with a cushion by Penny Morrison. The overall effect is soft and comfortable.
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Photos: Owen Gale, Styling: Rachel Moreve10/87
In her son’s bedroom, Polly Ashman opted for a fun half-painted wall instead of wallpaper, with pattern introduced on the headboard and blind.
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Elsa Young11/87
Though small, this bedroom in Gregory Mellor’s Cape Town house has tall ceilings. They are emphasised by walls in Whiteman & Mellor’s ‘Florence’ in mulberry, and the windows are dressed in a corresponding fabric.
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Simon Bergström12/87
In Sebastian Bergstrom’s compact Stockholm flat, an internal window opens from the bedroom into the kitchen, making the room feel brighter and more spacious. A clever shelf behind the bed and deep windowsills provide space for plants and to set down a cup or glass.
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Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave13/87
The beds in Max Sinisteden’s beach cottage came from Max’s childhood home. On the master are sheets by D. Porthault and a multi-coloured sham bought at auction from the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford. The ink drawing below the window is Patrick Procktor and Max details “it was left to me by our first and most special client after he passed. He bought it from the Redfern Gallery in London.”
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PETER DIXON14/87
Eye-catching collages by Ben Jones (left) and Eduardo Paolozzi are displayed on battens bringing interest to walls in ‘Salix’ by Little Greene in this small bedroom in Chester Jones’ house. The plain wooden bedframe from Peter Jones – ‘its modesty suits the room’ – was chosen to complement the simple bead-and-butt boarding. A walnut bedside cabinet by Chester holds a lamp that is a reproduction of an antique French candlestand
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Mark Fox15/87
Although the owner and designer of this London house, Katie Glaister, prefers to avoid wardrobes in bedrooms themselves, they were necessary in this case due to the room’s size and proportions, and upholstering them in Isle Mill fabric has made them feel soft and peaceful. All the doors are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Oval Room Blue’ with a border and handles that hark back to the 1930s.
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Mike Garlick16/87
In a spare room in the attic of this gloriously restored house in the Cotswolds, the white floral headboard is upholstered “Bowness” by Jean Monro. The lamp on the bedside table is a stoneware lamp from Max Rollitt Antiques and covered by a custom shade made using Claremont’s “Nathalie”
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Chris Horwood17/87
This nook with the day bed in the daughter’s room in this Mayfair apartment is the ideal place for her to have some downtime watching television or reading. Hope & Hunt made the custom hand-stitched needlepoint which includes fun English references.
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TARAN WILKHU18/87
In the small bedroom in Jo Bibby’s lovely country house in Wiltshire, the oak bed was made locally by Alex Argo of Burr Woodworks. The glorious sunshine that streams into the room every day bounces off of the room’s softer colours and off-white walls, making the room seem larger.
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Mark Anthony Fox19/87
A small studio, created by the previous owners of artist Haidee Becker’s house, is reached through the garden. It is a calm space, featuring a wooden-panelled interior, and the ultimate small room inspiration.
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Dean Hearne20/87
In the spare bedroom of this lovely house on the Deal seafront, Ottoline’s ‘Improvisation Number 1’ wallpaper provides the pattern, along with a quilt that belonged to the owner’s grandmother. The clever placement of the side table is the perfect, multi-purpose solution for a small room: move the chair to the right of the bedside table, and it is transformed into a vanity or writing desk.
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Miguel Flores-Vianna21/87
In Jasper Conran’s Greek island house, framed collections of religious Muslim calligraphy adorn the primary bedroom’s walls. Though small, the room’s muted, simple colour palette of mostly whites, beiges and blacks help to ground the space and add a sense of airiness to it. This was originally a room from which the ship’s captain who originally built the property could keep an eye on the comings and goings in the harbour below.
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Sam Frost22/87
In a child’s bedroom in this San Fransisco home, a canopy in Penny Morrison’s ‘Kalindi’ blue/yellow linen tones with walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Cromarty’ and plays up the room’s tall ceilings, which creates an effective distraction from the room’s size.
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Alexander James23/87
In one of the tiny bedrooms in a London pied-à-terre, the colours are relatively muted, which helps to create a sense of calm in the small space. The pops of colour from the rug and red chair across from the bed, however, add levity, which is needed. The wall covering is Mecox Straw by Colefax and Fowler, which is paired with joinery in Camo 7 by Papers and Paints. The curtains are by Studio Four NYC.
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In one of the bedrooms of the same lovely London pied-à-terre, designer Sarah Peake has packed a lot of decorative spirit into the small space. The curtains are in Milas Embroidered Linen by Vaughan and hang next to an Alfred Newall bedside table. The lamps were the client’s existing ones, but are now painted in Blues Blue by Paint and Paper Library with lampshades in Zeimoto Colour: Ming by Namay Samay. The bedspread is bespoke by Hollie Ward.
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Read McKendree25/87
The bedroom in this small flat on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is a calming oasis. Instead of paint, designer Lilse McKenna upholstered the walls in a French blue Mosca silk linen, which “adds texture to the little room” and allows for the serene colour to be read differently from different angles. The headboard is upholstered in a Robert Kime fabric “not too dissimilar-looking from a suzani” and infuses the room with a subtle pinkness without being overly feminine. The bed rail fabric is by JRB Silk.
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Paul Massey26/87
In this project by Laura Stephens, two beds are separated by a tiny antique stool which acts as a bedside table. The shelf above the tongue and groove panelling is a clever way to create a place storage and display without using up valuable floor space.
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Owen Gale27/87
On the top floor of Charlotte and Angus Buchanan’s house is a tiny spare bedroom, with panelled walls painted in Atelier Ellis’ ‘Bell Pink’.
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Paul Massey28/87
Annabel Bevan thought up the design for the bed in her daughter’s room, and Russell Taylor carried it out. It is painted in ‘Pale Egyptian Blue’ by Papers & Paints and Farrow & Ball’s ‘Calamine’. Annabel found the Italian coverlet while on holiday in Greece.
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Sarah Griggs29/87
On the top floor of this house by Tiffany Duggan, a tiny bedroom has been carved out with the addition of this built-in bed. Red accents lift the space.
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Owen Gale30/87
One of the guest bedrooms in Georgina Cave’s house has a bed with drawers designed by Georgina to maximise storage. The handmade patchwork quilt was designed and sewn by Anouska using leftover scraps of fabric from the eiderdowns she makes. The blind fabric was sourced from Namay Samay and the rug from Warris Vianni.
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Helen Cathcart31/87
At Isabella Worsley’s mews house, the attic bedroom is wallpapered in the ‘Mr Men’ pattern from Howe London.
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Simon Brown32/87
At Victoria Gray’s Cotswold farmhouse, the attic bedroom walls in ‘Bancha’ provide a backdrop for beds in ‘Hay’, both from Farrow & Ball.
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Jonathan Bond33/87
At Katharine Paravicini’s Wiltshire cottage, the tiny spare bedroom is papered in Howe’s ‘Folies Bergère’ pattern, with a matching blind and valance.
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Mark Fox34/87
At the bedroom of Alfred Bramsen’s London flat, a wall hanging from Norlha Atelier adds a pop of colour that is picked up in the Asafo flag draped on the bed. The ceiling lampshade and lamp by the window are both Hay, while the other is a Noguchi piece.
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Line Klein35/87
At Josephine Akvama Hoffmeyer’s Copenhagen apartment, the main bedroom, featuring hand woven and painted curtains by File Under Pop in collaboration with &Drape; lamp by Astep; Dux bed and vintage chair.
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Paul Massey36/87
While not as compact as some of the other bedrooms in this gallery, this room in Rosi de Ruig’s house offers up a multitude of ideas; built-in shelving above the bed, a skirt under the bed to hide away storage, and a pelmet with curtain to create a cosy sleeping nook. The bed’s position adjacent to the window is also a different approach to bedroom layout.
Ottoline’s ‘Chintz Constance’ wallpaper in light blue and marigold extends onto the wooden trim above the bed, which was inspired by a design by Veere Grenney. Bed curtains in an inky velvet from Tinsmiths contrast with Cathy Nordström’s ‘Marianne’ linen in red, chosen for the curtains at the window.
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Transforming this tiny attic room into a children’s room for two required some ingenuity. Enter Kate Earle of Todhunter Earle who designed these overlapping bunk beds as a clever space-saving solution for a glamorous chalet.
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Simon Brown38/87
The smallest bedroom offered Salvesen Graham the chance to go ‘all out’ in this clock house. Nearly every inch is covered in Salvesen Graham ‘Great Check Fabric’ in moss creating a cosy feel. The bed cover is an Etsy find. The bed sheets are from Cologne and Cotton.
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Davide Lovatti39/87
One of our favourite small room ideas. Known for their restoration of historic buildings in Scotland, conservation architects Nick Groves-Raines and Kristin Hannesdottir relished the challenge of saving Lamb’s House in Leith, where they now live and work. In an attic room, the box bed is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘India Yellow’.
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Simon Brown40/87
If the small room in question is a guest room that is multifunctional then a day bed is a great option, like Sims Hilditch chose for this Chelsea townhouse.
The cushions were made bespoke by Sims Hilditch, with fabrics used from Mimi Pickard, Teasel England, and Colefax and Fowler. The wall is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Pigeon’. The wall light in this room is a Clemente Double Sconce with Black Shade from Visual Comfort.
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A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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Alexander James41/87
This tiny box room in a south London house by Studio Peake has a severely sloping ceiling, making it difficult for anyone to stand up at one end. Sarah Peake’s solution was to put in a single bed below the window, and build out a nook up to the angle of the ceiling, using the space efficiently and making the room feel more spacious. Ottoline de Vries’ ‘Chintamani Trellis’ wallpaper lines the inside, while the red is picked up by the Habitat lamp.
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Simon Brown42/87
In Alexandra Tolstoy’s Chelsea house, bunk beds have been designed to provide space for three children this bedroom. The room is full of charming things to engage young imaginations, but free of the whimsy and bad design that so often characterises nursery furniture.
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Paul Massey43/87
The perfect solution for a tiny box room. The original maid’s room in this converted London mansion flat designed by Johnny Holland was the smallest, and considered the short straw when it came to designating bedrooms. However, by moving the door, Johnny was able to transform the space; he also designed a mezzanine bed reached by its own private staircase. On the top deck is a wall mounted TV.
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Rachel Whiting44/87
This built-in niche bed with shelves and a curtain was designed by Beata Heuman, who was asked to create a spare bedroom that was dark and cosseting. To achieve this, Beata designed a built-in bed complete with curtain and ‘Fretwork’ bedcover from Oka. The small space is made even more inviting by the contrast between the rust-red interior, which is painted in ‘Drummond’ by Little Greene, and the dark blue exterior in Dulux ’90BG 10067′.
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Michael Sinclair45/87
A small space can be a great opportunity to go bold with colour. Sanderson‘s ‘Mimosa Yellow’ paint brightens this tiny bedroom in Audrey Carden’s London house.
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David Oliver46/87
Bed curtains and a pocket of patterned wallpaper give the feeling of a cosy room-within-a-room in a small bedroom at a modern country home designed by Veere Greeney. The bed curtains are in a wool felt from Holland & Sherry.
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Paul Massey47/87
The architect and designer Giles Vincent has reconfigured the rooms of his west London town house to set off a rich mix of inherited and collected antiques. The smaller of the two spare rooms has a day bed upholstered in a discontinued Galbraith & Paul fabric. The bed’s headboard wraps beneath the window, padding the whole side of the bed, and making a deliciously cosy nook.
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Ngoc Minh Ngo48/87
In a spacious Hamptons home, the spare bedroom features a tricky sloping ceiling. The designer built a bed underneath it with in-built storage to create a cosy nook.
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Paul Massey49/87
The spare room in shop-owner Alastair Hendy’s restored Tudor home has beds under the sloped roof, creating a perfectly cosy small bedroom.
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Christopher Horwood50/87
In the small main bedroom of this flat in a converted tannery, a long, low chest provides storage as well as a helpful surface for ornaments and toiletries. A throw from Lisa Corti covers the bed in the main bedroom. The paintings on the right are by the Finnish artist Håkan Brunberg; the owner inherited them from her grandparents.
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Christoper Horwood51/87
Lucy Williams reused her old bed from a previous flat in her west London home, breathing light into it by adding a vintage wall light and a big cushion by Howe. The quilt is a Toast piece. The rattan bedside drawers are vintage and display a Zara Home lamp. The painted carafe is Petra Palumbo.
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Tom Griffiths52/87
In the other bedroom in her cottage, Victoria has brightened the space and highlighted the beautiful old roof timbers of the house by covering the ceiling in wallpaper by Molly Mahon. The bed was designed to sit beneath the beams, and the headboard and frame are upholstered in 36 Bourne Street’s ‘Little F’ linen in ‘Tutti’.
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Why you should be making do and mending at home, according to Philip Hooper
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A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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Martin Morrell53/87
In the bedroom of Adam Bentley’s Yorkshire cottage, walls in Little Greene’s ‘Celestial Blue’, inspired by an old paint fragment, make for the backdrop to a 20th-century copy of a 17th-century bed. The curtains were made from a hanging from a church furnishings dealer and ‘took a lot of washing to get the smell of incense out’, Adam says.
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Simon Brown54/87
Each area of this small west London flat has its own distinct atmosphere, thanks to the inventive details introduced by interior designer Beata Heuman, who relished the creative challenge of making every inch count. A headboard designed by Beata Heuman Studio features the cotton ‘July Throw’ by James Daw from Slowdown Studio. It is flanked by ‘Oban Rise and Fall Wall Lights’ from Vaughan. The cotton ‘Indian Cut-work Bedspread’ is from Howe.
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Simon Upton55/87
Interior designer Flora Soames found solace – and the focus to design her first fabric collection – in decorating this former gamekeeper’s cottage in the West Country and filling it with her most treasured possessions. In the master bedroom her dogs Humbug and Coco sit on the bed with a pair of ‘Enid’s Garland’ cushions from Flora’s collection. A watercolour of her father as a young boy hangs on the wall with two Norfolk landscapes by Harry Cory Wright. The curtains are in Belgian linen from Flora’s friend Nicole Fabre.
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Simon Upton56/87
Another view of the designer Flora Soames’ bedroom in her cottage. The ‘Fleurs de Mai’ wallpaper is from Pierre Frey.
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Simon Upton57/87
In this tiny bedroom in Flora Soame’s cottage, the room was decorated this before she knew it was destined for her daughter Lily Hope, but it turned out to be the perfect nursery. She made the lampshade from a treasured piece of antique silk.
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Simon Upton58/87
The ‘Dahlias’ wallpaper is Flora’s own design and is paired with a curtain in a Soane stripe.
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59/87
The scalloped, timber detailing around the ceiling of this room in Cap Ferret, designed by Guy Allemand and Jonathan Tuckey, adds an eye-catching detail to this small space.
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60/87
On the other side of the room is a concealed wardrobe with a sliding door – perfect for smaller bedrooms, where traditional hinged doors can cause an obstruction. The lights are from Emery et Cie.
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Why you should be making do and mending at home, according to Philip Hooper
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A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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Christopher Horwood61/87
In the main bedroom of this London house designed by Natasha Howard, walls papered in Nina Campbell’s ‘Pamir’ are combined with blinds in Bennison’s ‘Wabi Sabi’ design. A patchwork quilt from the Antique Quilt Company adds to the mix in the main bedroom, sitting alongside an Ensemblier headboard and table lights by designer Viola Lanari.
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Alicia Waite62/87
Grounded in a respect for tradition and love of old buildings, Emma Ainscough has brought a refined playful spirit to her London flat, using her favourite colours and patterns throughout. The bedside table is an antique that Emma found on Instagram. The lamp is from Pooky. The headboard is covered in Bennison’s ‘Jungle Colors on Oyster’ fabric, piped in linen by Hackney Draper.
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Martin Morrell63/87
For their latest house, a 19th-century barn with outbuildings in Oxfordshire, Mark and Georgie Rowse have drawn on their extensive renovation experience – and their address book of specialist artisans – to create a characterful and welcoming home for themselves. A small bedroom in the rustic Hermitage provides charming additional accommodation for family members and friends. Made by a local blacksmith, the traditional-style iron bed is a copy of the one slept in by Leo Tolstoy – of whom Georgie is a great admirer. Walls painted in a specially mixed blue set off the Indian block-print bedcover from Faro Home.
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STEPHAN JULLIARD64/87
Take inspiration from Marianne Evennou’s creative use of colour and choice of flexible furniture to enhance the proportions and maximise space in this Paris apartment. A striped blanket and decorative ‘Raana’ cushions in rooibos from Caravane give a graphic flair to the bedroom. This room also features an element Marianne integrates into many of the small flats she decorates: a built-in desk. ‘They take up less space and are also practical. Plus, they create a separate workspace, which enriches even the smallest apartment with another distinct zone.’
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A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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Paul Massey65/87
In this small guest room at Rita Konig’s farmhouse she has gone big on the decoration. ‘Usually it would be a single adult in this room, and I think where space is lacking you can afford to have a bit more fun with the decoration. I love the pink walls and striped lamps, and heart cushions.’
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Paul Massey66/87
Elsewhere in this room at Rita Konig’s farmhouse, bookshelves are set in to the wall to save floorspace while adding character.
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Michael Sinclair67/87
Since he was a child, Russell Pinch’s family has been restoring a sleepy hamlet in western France. Now he and his wife Oona Bannon have transformed the last building, an old cowshed, into a holiday house filled with their elegant furniture. In one of the bedrooms a sculpture by Russell’s father John looks over a Pinch ‘Moreau’ bed. On the ceiling, Farrow & Ball’s ‘Peignoir’ paint in modern eggshell reflects light.
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Sophia Spring68/87
In this attic bedroom at the home of interior designer Anna Haines pale blue walls and ceiling are teamed with a bobbin chair and a Susan Deliss cushion.
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Natalie Dinham69/87
Tara Craig also chose to use the same fabric throughout this bedroom, covering the walls, small sofa and bed in Pierre Frey’s ‘Sans Papillons’. A plain curtain fabric, by O Ecotextiles from MM Design, offsets the pattern, while pleated shades on a pair of crystal lamp bases pick up on the pink of the pretty floral design.
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Owen Gale70/87
In her Notting Hill bedroom, Rose Mann (founder of Farm Girl) sourced the red chest-of-drawer bedside tables from Kempton Antiques Market. On them sit Viola Lanari lamps with Matilda Goad scalloped-shades. A charming window seat makes the most of a bay window in Rose’s bedroom.
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Jake Curtis71/87
In designer Ben Pentreath’s flat, both bedrooms are papered. As Ben explains, ‘I like using wallpaper because I love the layers of pattern and colour that it brings to a room.’ Soane’s delicate ‘Seaweed Lace’ wallpaper contrasts with the bold blanket from Pendleton in the main bedroom. A Marianna Kennedy ‘Spring’ lamp in blue adds a different colour to the room.
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‘Make the city guest room a place where people can have an escape of sorts,’ suggests designer Veere Grenney, the creator of this jewel of a room. ‘The fabric-covered walls and tented ceiling feel luxurious and exotic; it is hard to remember you are in the middle of London. A shelf full of good books is an imperative; here it is built in to the wall at the foot of the bed as there was no room for a standing shelf. It is the easiest way to give a room life and character.’
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Why you should be making do and mending at home, according to Philip Hooper
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A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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73/87
The best thing about having a small or strangely shaped room is the opportunity it presents to use your space imaginatively. The alcove behind the door, in the home of designer Patrick Williams of Berdoulat design, has been turned in to a charming sleeping nook. Enclosed behind the curtain are shelves, and a lamp for reading. The room is painted in Farrow and Ball’s ‘Lamp Room Gray’; while the random-width floorboards were bought on eBay. Reclaimed drawers are used under the bed as storage.
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Paul Massey74/87
On the edge of a Gloucestershire meadow sits a tiny barn filled with varied treasures collected by the antique dealer and designer Christopher Howe, providing its owners with an idyllic country bolt-hole. Timber-clad walls and oak floors complement a pleasingly unpretentious mix of well-designed objects that bear the scuffs and bruises of a well-lived life.
A sixteenth-century bed from Yorkshire and a Fifties Serge Mouille three-arm ceiling lamp are striking features of the bedroom. The Murano light above the nineteenth-century folding bed once illuminated Jean Paul Getty while he ate his breakfast at Sutton Place, and Christopher bought the faux rock-crystal light that is outside the bathroom 25 years ago. ‘It’s such a dated old thing that I’ve always loved, but it never found its way off the shelf,’ he says ‘I knew it was just waiting to find the perfect spot in the right humble dwelling.’
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Rachel Whiting75/87
Small rooms are totally able to take large pattern, as this example by Stephen Eicker proves. The vibrant Le Manach fabric (‘Concini L4201 Fleur Rouge’) is a classic, which cleverly mirrors the colours of the owners Fifties, Norwegian abstract-expressionist paintings.
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76/87
In this modern city flat that has been transformed from a stark new-build to a characterful home, the use of a natural palette full of texture and earthy tones continues in this bedroom, creating a calm and peaceful space.
Naomi Paul was commissioned by Studio Ashby to make the beautiful hand-woven, offset wall and table lights. The wrap-around headboard takes on the appearence of luxurious wall panelling and makes the small space look bigger.
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A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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Tim Beddow77/87
Sarah Vanrenen updated a drab Victorian house by loading it up with colour and texture. The main bedroom is a rhapsody in green, with art adorning the space above the headboard. She has given the room a cosy feel by introducing the throw and rug.
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Michael Sinclair78/87
This basement bedroom features a canopy bed that was bought on Ebay for £100; an invoice found later revealed it had cost £10,000 originally.
With a characteristic respect for the fabric of this eighteenth-century house in Bath, designer Patrick Williams has carefully transformed it into a welcoming home and B&B. For Patrick, whose company Berdoulat specialises in the reinvention of period buildings, ‘the building itself is the most important client and should dictate what is done to it’. Such is his respect that he did not begrudge the request from the local conservation officer to preserve the original peg joints between the floor joists and beams, even though new steel sections would provide the structural support – a detail that, once covered by floorboards, nobody would see. He delights in the ‘hidden beauty’ of the building – details like the pie-crust-edged chimneypots that ‘can be seen only by Father Christmas’.
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Simon Brown79/87
The owners of this west London house employed a skilled team to restore its original features, and create a home with a feeling of permanence after a lifetime of moving. The house is a tall, mid-nineteenth-century white stucco building that they wanted to work well for twenty-first-century family life. ‘We were determined to avoid beige “banker chic”,’ the owner explains. The daughter’s diminutive bedroom is hung with Cole & Son’s ‘Hummingbirds’ wallpaper.
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80/87
We know this is one of the most overused interior design tropes, but the tiniest room in the house is the place where you can be most experimental. Small rooms look fantastic washed wall-to-wall in pattern; and if the worst happens and you don’t like it, it won’t take a Herculean effort to change. Take this little jewellery box of a bedroom in Belgravia by Roger Jones. Colefax and Fowler‘s ‘Bowood’ chintz has been used for walls, blinds and bedhead; with a final decorative flourish added by the Regency corona canopy. ‘If we have a guest over to stay, they cosy up in here and they love it’, says the owner. We can see why.
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25 things you can do at home to help the planet, from quick hacks to renovation ideas
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Simon Upton81/87
A wooden built-in wardrobe and matching bed panelling are the stars of this small bedroom, which has a wonderfully cosy feel. The style gives the impression of a cabin room or ski chalet.
Interior designer Hugh Henry was tasked with transforming this much-loved historic eighteenth-century house into a modern family home. Hugh worked closely with the owners who he recalls were, ‘incredibly organised, loved the house and knew what they wanted’.
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Simon Brown82/87
It can be difficult to know how to decorate a strangely shaped bedroom. Ann-Marie Midy and Jorge Almada who own design company Casamidy take advantage of the sloping attic ceiling by hanging a curtain to screen off the bed, adding a cosy feel to the small space.
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Lucas Allen83/87
This small white and grey bedroom, on the houseboat of Plain English founder Katie Fontana, is painted in Farrow & Ball paint. The light colours make the space feel bigger while the navy bed linen adds an appropriate nautical touch to the scheme.
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Lucas Allen84/87
Wood panelling is painted white in this small bedroom belonging to Plain English founder Katie Fontana. The gingham bedspread and red throw lend a warm and cosy feel to the room.
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Why you should be making do and mending at home, according to Philip Hooper
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25 things you can do at home to help the planet, from quick hacks to renovation ideas
-
A rare house on a cobbled Kensington mews has gone on sale – see inside
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Tim Beddow85/87
When thinking about her own house, decorator Sarah Vanrenen made the most of a small bedroom by installing a niche bed behind a curtain, in a room that also acts as a dressing room. By tucking the bed away, the rest of the room is freed up for wardrobes and a dresser.
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Rachel Whiting86/87
In Gabby Deeming’s Bloomsbury flat, the bed takes up the width of the room. The window has a linen half-curtain made from a vintage tablecloth as a concession to privacy. The lack of other curtains or blinds mean that the attractive curved tops of the windows are still visible. Of the canopy bed she says “it feels so self-contained, a bit like a ship that’s going to set sail with me in it, which I love. It’s a very good bed for daydreaming.”
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Paul Massey87/87
Bespoke joinery goes a long way when it comes to maximising space in a small room. This boys’ bedroom has a custom-built desk and seating area with storage below for toys, all in Paper & Paint Library’s ‘Blue Blood’. ‘It’s very important to have a space for everything,’ says Todhunter Earle co-founder Kate Earle. A George Spencer Designs ‘Wide Straight Edge Braid’ was used to create the illusion of a higher ceiling. See more of this Todhunter Earle designed Victorian townhouse.
