Bedroom planning Tips

Advice on planning the perfect master suite.

Architects and designers create spaces following a basic design rule: Take advantage of your room's good points. Use these ideas to help make the most of your space.

1. Plan for the bed. Provide a blank wall suitable for a bed and oriented toward the best view the room provides. Allow a wall 14 to 15 feet wide if you'll have a king-size bed flanked by side tables. Placing the headboard against an interior wall frees up exterior walls for ample windows.
2. Make the most of rooflines. Placing a master bedroom on a new upper level creates a private getaway, but it can create challenges when designing rooflines and integrating the space to maximize the impact. One alternative is to expose angular ceilings for added design interest. In this house, for example, careful planning gave the master suite four dramatic bisecting gables.
3. Control sunlight. Give adequate thought to managing daylight at different times of day and year. Movable daylight controls, such as draperies and shutters, provide flexibility, but you can also take advantage of awnings and deep eaves that shade windows.
4. Build it in. The architect regularly looks for opportunities to design custom built-ins. It's efficient storage space and eliminates the need to bump out into the room with furniture. Many people prefer built-ins to furniture as it gives a room an all-of-a-piece look.
5. Define spaces with storage. Use storage to separate spaces within a master suite. Try a configuration composed of a bedroom and a bath separated by a short hall fitted with two closets.

Bedroom Lighting

Bedside Basics
When lighting a bedroom, you want to create an atmosphere of quiet relaxation, while providing bright spots for reading and other activities. Develop a combination of general and task lighting based on these examples, and remember that dimmer controls let you vary the light to suit different moods and tasks.

Swing-arm or other bedside fixtures cast a peaceful light and illuminate bedtime tasks. If you want to add mood lighting without making the room too bright, supplement your bedside light with soft sources such as a fireplace or candles. A dimmer switch can also give you more control over the room's brightness.

When your bed is the focal point in the room, create drama with recessed downlights near the head of the bed. Separate controls allow snoozing and reading simultaneously on opposite sides of the bed. Table lamps elsewhere in the room will help make the space usefully bright.

Active people love a room awash in a bright, warm glow. This design combines an overhead fixture, which casts a wide beam of downward light, and uplight fixtures that illuminate shady corners. By wiring the overhead light and the uplights separately, you can have some or all of them on at one time.