How to stop a small bedroom feeling like a hotel

Plenty of rental bedrooms come with white walls, a built in wardrobe and a ceiling light, and then get filled with white bedding and not much else. It’s tidy, and it also looks like somewhere you’re staying, not somewhere you live.

What makes a room read as a hotel

Four things do most of it: bright white bedding, a very narrow range of colours, bedside tables and lamps that match exactly, and bare surfaces. None of those is wrong. Together, with nothing personal in sight, they say "temporary". The fixes are mostly about adding a few specific things back.

Bring colour in through the bed

The bed is the largest thing in the room, so it’s the easiest place to add colour. You don’t have to repaint anything.

• A headboard in a colour or texture. It gives the wall behind the bed something to do.
• Bedding in one strong colour, with a throw and a couple of patterned cushions that aren’t the same shade.
• A rug that reaches out from under the bed on both sides. Bare floor around a bed makes a room feel cold.

Don’t rely on the ceiling light

A single light in the middle of the ceiling lights everything evenly, and that’s what makes a room feel flat. Designers often talk about three layers of light: general light, light for a task such as reading, and accent light. A lamp on each side of the bed covers the last two. They don’t have to match: a different lamp on each side looks more like a room someone lives in.

Choose a warm white bulb, and a dimmable lamp if you can. Bright light late in the evening can hold back the body’s sleepiness signal, so softer light is kinder at night. Warm light isn’t guaranteed to help you sleep, but it’s pleasanter to be in.

Curtains, not blinds alone

Curtains hung close to the ceiling and falling to the floor add height, softness and colour in one go. If you’re renting, check your tenancy contract before you fix a rail to the wall.

One thing with character

Pick a single object that’s obviously yours. It could be a chair in the corner, a big mirror, a framed print leaned on a shelf, or a wooden bedside table with a bit of history. One interesting object does more than several matching ones.

Make use of the space under the bed

Storage under the bed frees up the floor. A proper frame also lets air move under the mattress.

Keep the walkway

Colour and layers are only worth adding if you can still move around. Leave about 60 cm down each side you get out of. If that means one side goes against the wall, accept it. The spacing rules for a small room have more on this.