Did you know the average American home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 1,800 square feet of space?
Does this sound familiar to you? With all of those rooms, you might be left wondering the best ways of decorating a bedroom.
First, you have to start by identifying what types of bedrooms you have in your home. Once you know how you plan to use them, you can bring your vision of interior decor to life!
Whether you’re moving, redecorating, or suddenly finding yourself as an empty nester, here’s everything you need to know about identifying the bedroom styles in your house.
Master Bedrooms
One of the most telltale signs of a master bedroom is an adjoining bathroom. This usually isn’t a half bathroom, either.
The master bathroom typically comes with a toilet, sink, and either a bathtub or shower. A half-bathroom or “powder room” only contains a sink and a toilet.
The master bedroom is usually the biggest bedroom in the house — ranging between 180 and 250 square feet. However, master bedrooms in smaller homes can also occupy around 120 square feet of space.
Master bedrooms are usually big enough to include a closet and even a triple sofa or other seating for relaxation. While you might commonly associate these kinds of bedrooms with couples, that’s not always the case.
A women’s master bedroom might be decorated in brighter colors, with special attention to smells and sounds. This is no coincidence! Studies have shown that women are more sensitive to these factors than men.
But if you’re a man trying to figure out the best way of designing a bedroom, you can use these to your advantage, too.
Start with the right bedding to establish a solid foundation for your color scheme. Sites like VisionBedding.com are a great place to start.
Children’s Bedrooms
Contrary to master bedrooms, children’s bedrooms are much smaller and lack a private bathroom — making them trickier to decorate!
Sometimes, siblings close to each other in age might share a bedroom. But children of the opposite sex typically stop sharing a room as they get older.
Still, what makes a children’s bedroom design effective? For ideas, you might consider:
- Ample storage for clothing, books, and toys
- A small study desk with adequate lighting and comfortable seating
- Safety measures to prevent injuries, such as mounting furniture to the wall
If you’re not sure where to begin, ask yourself how you can make your child’s personality shine through their room.
You can paint the wall their favorite color and add decorations that reflect their interests — whether it be outer space or prehistoric dinosaurs!
Remember not to over-crowd the design of the room. You want to give your child plenty of space to think, play, work, and simply be themselves.
Additionally, a simplified design with plenty of storage will encourage them to take personal responsibility for tidying and organizing at the end of the day.
Teen Bedrooms
As your child gets older, you’ll find that they spend more and more time in their bedroom. As such, their personality becomes all the more important in an effective bedroom design.
While you might not have the luxury of upgrading them to a bigger room, there are some ways you can revamp an old design they might’ve outgrown.
If your child didn’t have a study desk or seating before, now is the perfect time to add one. They need a quiet, distraction-free area where they can study. Also, consider upgrading the size of their bed if you notice it’s getting a little small for them.
Additionally, closet and dresser space will become more essential as they continue to accumulate belongings.
Encourage them to periodically clear out their closets of any clothes, toys, or shoes they no longer use. They can donate these to Goodwill or other local thrift shops, or they can sell them online or at yard sales.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to let your teen take the reigns with decor, either! Depending on whether you rent or own your home, it may be okay for your teen to hang photos and posters and even change the color of the walls.
Dormitory Bedrooms
Dorm bedrooms are among some of the most resented bedroom types. After all, who doesn’t groan at the notion of sharing a living space with a stranger? But for residential college students, it’s usually inevitable.
Dorm bedrooms come in several varieties. Single-sex dorms only allow students of the same sex to share a dorm, while co-ed dorms do the opposite.
Suite dorms consist of two or more separate bedrooms joined by a shared living area. This can include a living room or partial kitchen with a refrigerator, stove, and/or microwave.
Doubles, triples, and quads refer to how many beds occupy each dorm. These can be suite-style accommodations with separate rooms, or they can involve multiple people sleeping in the same room.
Regardless, when it comes to decorating a dorm bedroom, you want to know which accommodations are included and which ones you’ll be on the hook for providing. In addition to the necessities, you might decorate a dorm bedroom with:
- Personalized sheets and bedspread
- LED or string lights
- Posters, paintings, photographs, or tapestries
- Accent rugs
- Additional storage solutions, like trunks or drawers
In addition to asking which kitchen and laundry amenities are included — if any — it’s important to note whether each roommate will have their own bathroom, share a bathroom, or use communal bathrooms on the same floor.
This will help you plan bathroom storage and hygiene accordingly.
Guest Bedrooms
If you find yourself with an extra bedroom, you might be torn between converting it into a home office or a guest room. Why not both?
An effective guest bedroom should be both functional and inviting. You can achieve this by incorporating:
- Multipurpose furniture, like a Murphy bed that doubles as a sofa
- Ample storage for clothing (think closets, dressers, or trunks)
- A desk, chair, and bookshelves
- Warm decors, like plants or paintings
- Amenities for productivity, like WiFi, a desktop computer, or an alarm clock
A guest bedroom will allow you to open up your home to long-distance friends and relatives when they come for a visit.
Additionally, you might consider renting out your guest room to short- or long-term guests. Maybe you want to sublease a room, or maybe you just want an extra stream of income through platforms like Airbnb or VRBO.
And when your guest room isn’t in use, you’ll already have everything you need to use it as a home office!
Explore More Types of Bedrooms Today
Ready to give your bedroom a new look? Whether it’s a master bedroom, kids’ room, or guest room, knowing how to identify these types of bedrooms will give you the launching pad you need to get started.
Did you find this article helpful? If so, check out our household section for more design inspiration.
