Your bedroom is a private, personal retreat where you can shut the door on the world and be yourself. When planning color schemes for this space, aim to create a warm, mood-enhancing look that whispers relax, take it easy, wind down.

Tip: Don't neglect the practical side in planning out your bedroom. The most well thought-out color scheme won't overcome piles of clothes (due to insufficient storage space), stacks of books and magazines, exposed wires, unflattering lighting, or cold floors.

Cool Hues
Cool colors (see The Creative Power of the Color Wheel feature) such as blues, greens, and lavenders, are perfect for bedrooms. Psychologically, these colors are calming, evoking deep-seated feelings of peace and tranquility.

As an added bonus, painting with cool colors (especially the lighter values) can make smaller rooms appear slightly larger. Cool colors appear to recede visually—making rooms painted in these hues seem more spacious and airy.

Warm Hues
Although cool colors do tend to be the most satisfying choice for bedrooms, warm colors—when used properly—can also be used to create a peaceful, serene environment (see The Creative Power of the Color Wheel feature).

For a warmer look, use soft shades of subtle, buttery yellow, misty peach, or sweet, delicate pink to create a restful, soothing ambience.

Neutrals
Neutral (see The Hidden Power of Neutrals feature) colors are also an excellent choice for bedrooms. Neutrals are very soothing—quietly elegant, these subtle hues are calm and understated.

Using neutral colors also offers a lot of flexibility for décor. Since neutrals go with everything, it's possible to make subtle changes—bedding, artwork, and window coverings, for example—to give the room a new, updated look, without having to repaint the entire room.

Bedrooms are highly individual, allowing for more personal and expressive décor. Because of this, they are an excellent place to experiment with a decorative faux finish (see Faux Fantastic feature).

Choose a technique that reflects your taste and complements your furnishings. From looks that range from subtle to dramatic to whimsical, faux finishes can add a complexity and interest that's difficult to achieve with paint alone.

Give bedroom walls an illusion of depth and dimension by applying a faux glazing technique such as ragging, sponging, or colorwashing, using BEHR Premium Plus with Style™ Faux Glaze.

Or use BEHR Premium Plus with Style™ SandWash or Venetian Plaster to give your walls a unique and alluring textural finish.

An inspiring ceiling might not make getting up any easier in the morning, but at least it will be pleasing to look at while you're delaying the inevitable.

The ceiling (see Design That's Over Your Head feature) is looked at more often in the bedroom than in any other room. Decorating this area is an excellent way to give your bedroom a complete, well-designed look.

To give the room a soft, serene atmosphere, add a subtle tint of the wall color to your bedroom ceiling.

Tip: Use a shade lighter than the wall color to make rooms with low ceilings appear more spacious. Use a shade darker than the walls to make rooms with high ceilings appear more intimate.

For a more dramatic look, use the ceiling as a place for artful expression—create an overhead vista of wispy clouds and brilliant blue skies, or stencil your ceiling with colors and shapes that coordinate with your décor.