If the word ‘shoebox’ comes to mind when you think about your bedroom, then choosing the best furniture and design features to maximise your space is all the more important.
As the place we spend most of our time, a bedroom’s design should welcome serenity (not stress). And, aside from sleeping, it needs to work as a multi-use space that functions as a dressing room, a place to work and more.
But from choosing the right bed frame and wardrobe, to bedspreads and lighting, it’s overwhelming to know how to start your boudoir revamp. Enter the interiors experts, who I’ve consulted for their top tips and the best products to buy to make your small bedroom palatial rather than poky. From storage hacks to paint choices, lighting, mirror and more, here’s how you can make the most of your small bedroom.
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Meet the experts
Tabitha Organ started the London-based interior design studio Tabitha Isobel in 2023. With more than a decade of experience at leading practices including Conran + Partners and Tatjana von Stein, Tabitha brings her refined style to residential, hospitality, and workplace interiors. Her work combines historical depth with contemporary design, prioritising individuality, sustainability, and timelessness.
Bee Janaye is the founder and creative director a South London-based interior design studio, JANAYE, which aims to redefine luxury through playfulness and personal storytelling. Rooted in neuroaesthetics – the connection between design, well-being, and emotion – JANAYE crafts immersive, personality-driven spaces that challenge traditional notions of exclusivity.
Jo Hamilton, creative director at Jo Hamilton Interiors, is one of the UK’s leading interior designers, known for her confident grasp of colour, intelligent use of space and luxury aesthetic. She is also a respected writer, public speaker and broadcaster. Jo has led her own interior design consultancy since 1995 and has been involved in many prestigious developments in the UK, USA and UAE, among others. She’s worked on everything from exclusive city apartments to stylish country retreats; from bars, clubs and restaurants to homes, offices and hotels.
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Beds
“Beds with integrated storage or ottoman bases are invaluable”, says Jo Hamilton. Style wise, she suggests an ottoman with a wider headboard can bring more presence to a small bed. “Those longer horizontal lines visually widen the room and frame bedside tables more elegantly, helping the overall composition feel more balanced,” she explains.
When it comes to beds with storage space in the base, Tabitha Organ agrees. It’s a “perfect place to store suitcases, boxes of old bits and bobs if you’re a hoarder, excess bedding,” she says.
“A bespoke headboard will elevate the simplest of spaces”, says Bee Jayane.
“My favourite trick for smaller budgets is to purchase a solid timber bed frame without a headboard. I always recommend Get Laid Beds products and then add a little luxury and have a bespoke headboard made in your dream shape and fabric.”
Get Laid Beds the low down
For beds without a headboard, Bee Jayane recommends Get Laid Beds. The low down style is a platform bed frame, which comes in 17 textures across solid pine and hardwood.
Buy now £315, Getlaidbeds.co.uk
Dusk Ascot ottoman storage bed - sage stripe
Dusk’s Ascot ottoman storage bed in sage stripe is Tabitha Organ’s choice for a bed with storage. Available in three sizes – double, king and super king, the bed features a curved headboard in a linen fabric with a wooden-sprung base.
Buy now £299, Dusk.com
Drift Interiors the haven bed
Drift Interiors’s haven Bed is “a perfect example” of using an ottoman with a wider headboard explains Jo Hamilton. “It is practical, but with enough visual weight to anchor the room,” she says. The haven bed features a textured fabric headboard from a wide choice of fabrics, which is framed with a finely crafted wooden edge.
Buy now £1749, Driftinteriors.co.uk
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Colour palette
“Wrap the whole room in a warm colour – walls, skirting and ceiling,” says Organ. “This will make the small space feel bigger and also comforting”.
“Colour has a huge impact on how a space is perceived, particularly in smaller rooms,” advises Hamilton. “High contrast can visually break a room up, making it feel more fragmented and, in turn, smaller.”
For a smaller bedroom, Hamilton says a “cohesive, tonal approach allows the eye to move more freely across the space”. She adds, “Keeping walls, joinery and larger furniture within a similar palette softens visual boundaries and creates a much calmer, more expansive feel.”
While she says it’s not about everything completely matching, it pays to work within a throughout spectrum of tones to add a sense of unity. “You can then introduce subtle variation through texture and materiality rather than strong colour shifts.” “This adds depth and interest without interrupting the overall flow of the room,” Hamilton explains.
Farrow & Ball colour school house white
“Colour-washing the room can be particularly effective,” says Hamilton. “Taking the same tone across walls, skirting, cornicing and woodwork creates a seamless envelope that visually expands the space.” She says the Farrow & Ball colour school house white is a “beautiful option” to achieve this as it’s “soft, warm and incredibly versatile”.
Buy now £59, Diy.com
Little Greene French grey
“If you want something slightly moodier while still keeping that cohesion, a deeper tone such as Little Greene French grey works beautifully colour-washed in the same way, creating a more enveloping, grounded feel without visually shrinking the room,” explains Hamilton.
Buy now £36, Littlegreene.com
Coat duvet day
Duvet day by Coat is “a lovely neutral cosy colour”, says Organ. The soft sheen finish also means it is wipeable.
Buy now £30, Coatpaints.com
Lighting
“Free up surface space with integrated bedside lighting,” is Hamilton’s takeaway when it comes to how to light a small bedroom. “Bedside lighting is often an afterthought, yet it has a disproportionate impact on both functionality and visual clarity. Table lamps, while familiar, occupy valuable surface area and introduce additional visual clutter, particularly in more compact rooms.”
She says removing your light source from a surface by installing a pendant or a wall-mounted fitting “immediately simplifies the composition”. Plus it clears up your bedside surface, making the room feel organised and throughout.
“From a spatial perspective, this also helps to frame the bed more deliberately. A pair of pendants, for example, introduces a vertical rhythm that draws the eye upward and gives the bed a stronger sense of presence without adding bulk at floor level.”
Hamilton says the positioning of a pendant is “critical”. They should be hung low enough to feel “connected to the bedside zone” (this is around shoulder height when sat up in bed), but not too low that they make movement awkward.
“Wall lights offer a slightly more contained alternative, particularly where flexibility or adjustability is required,” she explains.
Organ also suggests using a lighting choice to reduce the size of furniture. She says choose a “plug in wall lamp as a bedside lamp, so you can have a smaller bedside table”.
Pooky the Hartley pendant
“More pared-back lights from Pooky, such as the Hartley pendant, provide a simple, elegant solution that integrates easily into a wide range of schemes,” says Hamilton. “The overall effect is a quieter, more resolved bedside arrangement, where function is fully considered but visually unobtrusive”.
Buy now £88, Pooky.com
Curiousa classic bowl
“For a softer, more atmospheric approach, glass pendants from Curiousa introduce colour and materiality without visual heaviness,” recommends Hamilton. The classic bowl is a hand blown to order and is available in three sizes.
Buy now £395, Curiousa.co.uk
Original BTC Hector small dome wall light plug
Organ suggests this dome wall light from Original BTC to maximise space. The light features a braided flex and moveable shade, and is available in three different colours (natural white, light blue and light green), varying sized shades and with the option of a switched base.
Buy now £245, Originalbtc.com
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Mirrors
Organ suggests a mirror with a shelf if you don’t have space for a dressing table. “Having a shelf integrated into a mirror gives you a little extra space for your skincare products or make up you are using to not end up on the floor beneath your mirror,” she explains.
“Use mirrors with intent, not as an afterthought,” suggests Hamilton. “A mirror should be treated as a compositional element within the room, not simply something added at the end. When used well, it can extend sightlines, amplify light and subtly shift how the proportions of a space are perceived.”
Positioning a mirror opposite or adjacent to a window allows it to bring natural light deeper into the room, “softening shadows and creating a greater sense of openness”.
At the same time, if a mirror reflects a point of interest like a piece of joinery, artwork or a bed , it “reinforces visual rhythm rather than introducing distraction”, Hamilton says.
“Larger, leaner mirrors tend to feel more architectural and less decorative. A single, well-scaled piece creates continuity and calm, whereas multiple smaller mirrors can fragment the wall and interrupt the flow of the space.”
Cox & Cox aurum brass full length mirror
“A full-length mirror with a refined frame, such as those from Neptune, can sit comfortably against a wall and read almost as an extension of the architecture,” says Hamilton.
“For something slightly more contemporary, the softened edges and minimal framing of designs from Heal’s or Cox & Cox work well, particularly where you want the reflection itself to take precedence over the object.” The Cox & Cox aurum brass full length mirror fits the bill, with its soft square shape crafted from rounded edges and a slender brass frame.
Buy now £125, Coxandcox.co.uk
Form & Refine rim wall mirror
Organ suggest the rim wall mirror from Form & Refine. Designed by Herman Studio, the mirror features a small shelf for accessories and small objects with a groove at the front of the shelf keeps the items securely in place.
Buy now £284, Finnishdesignshop.com
Soho Home Colwick wall mirror full length
Hamilton also suggests “a full-length mirror with a refined frame, such as the Colwick mirror from Soho Home, works particularly well against a neutral backdrop”.
“Its tonal restraint allows it to sit quietly within the scheme, while the softened, flowing shape introduces a layer of sculptural interest without disrupting the overall visual calm,” she explains.
Buy now £695, Sohohome.com
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Furniture
“Given that in smaller bedrooms, every piece of furniture needs to work harder, a bedside table is often underutilised in that respect,” Hamilton points out. Replacing it with a chest of drawers introduces meaningful storage without increasing the footprint, while still providing a usable surface beside the bed.”
A taller chest of draws can feel more balanced next to the bed, “particularly if it aligns more closely with the mattress height or sits just above it,” she explains. “This reduces the visual drop you often get with low bedside tables, which can make the bed feel heavier and more dominant within the room.” Leaning into the vertical space also works well if floor space is limited.
It also brings a sense of organisation to a room. “A well-proportioned chest allows you to keep surfaces clear, storing books, chargers and everyday items out of sight, which in turn supports a calmer visual rhythm across the room,” Hamilton says.
Opt for a bedside table with drawers and shelf so you have the drawer for your skincare, painkillers, hair bands and all the stuff you don’t want out, is Organ’s tip. You can use the shelf for books or magazines.
Jayane suggests using a room divider if you can’t part with your bedroom TV. “Nobody wants to see a television in the bedroom, but a lot of us want the option to watch television from bed,” she says. “I love to include a beautiful room divider within a scheme – it adds an opportunity for more interest and dimension into a space - and hides your television away without too much fuss.”
Her second top tip is to deal with the ‘laundry chair’ eye sore. “I talk about it on social media often (@diaryofahomedesigner) – we find that most of our clients need a functional way to manage their ‘worn once’ or ‘about to wear’ pile of clothing”. Her solution? “We’re bringing back the valet stand”.
Sklum aluminum and rope screen tunas
To break up the room (and hide your TV), Jayane recommends the aluminum and rope screen tunas from Sklum. The tunas screen features a synthetic ribbon design which is UV-resistant, ensuring its colour over time if placed by a window.
Buy now £289.95, Sklum.com
Zara Home acacia wood valet stand
Jayane’s stylish solution to the inevitable ‘laundry chair’ is a valet like this one from Zara. The valet stand is made of acacia wood and has bottom shelf with drawer, a central hanger and two horizontal bars for the trousers.
Buy now £239.99, Zarahome.com
Hübsch noir bedside table green/ off white
Organ recommends this bedside table from Hübsch. The stylish noir bedside table offers practical storage with a drawer and a shelf.
Buy now £214, Andlight.co.uk
Neptune Frome large oak chest of drawers
Hamilton says to “look for pieces with a refined silhouette and minimal detailing so they sit comfortably in close proximity to the bed”. She suggests this timber chest from Neptune or a more tailored design from The White Company as they “feel intentional rather than improvised, particularly when finished in tones that relate back to the wider scheme”.
Buy now £1495, Neptune.com
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Curtains
“I believe that bedrooms should have a certain softness that makes you relax,” says Jayane.
She says the best way to achieve this is a floor to ceiling soft wave curtain – plus “a reliable ceiling mounted track will make all the difference”. “Don’t forget to plan ahead and hide your track in the ceiling or behind your covering if you can,” Jayane points out.
Tracks Direct silent gliss 6870
For a curtain track that won’t let you (or your curtains) down, Jayane suggests the Tracks Direct silent gliss 6870. For small bedrooms, this is idea as its design ensures a compact curtain stack.
Buy now £76.79, Tracks-direct.com
Interior designers love this homeware brand for its timeless striped upholstery
