With the tumultuous 2020 coming to an end, there’s a good chance you’re looking to freshen things up at home a little for the coming year — and Sleepify has some great ideas for you.
Whether you’re looking to bring in some added character to the bedroom, or wanting to tone things down a little, there’s something for everyone on our list.
If you’re not too sure where to begin, or want a little guidance, we have all the design-oriented help you need to make sure you’re not making any mistakes that might leave your room a little worse for wear.
That said, let’s get into our list of wall decor and art ideas for next year!
Dark Neutrals and Raw Materials
At the top spot on our list, are the dark and raw tones.
Poised to be a trend in the coming year, our dark and neutrals are perfect for getting a cozy and cave-like feel in the bedroom that significantly helps with the day’s wind down.
Our biggest tips here are to pair your floor rug, bedding and lamps to a single colour tone and work to adapt your walls to the darkest shade. If you’re able, have raw material artworks or even wallpaper installed and go through your style board and integrate a few decor items such as cables, pendant lighting and other elements to really tie off the raw and dark look.
In all, reduce your lighting, keep the walls as dark as possible, throw up some raw material texture artworks and for a dash of colour consider a bright throw or pot plant with a light-coloured pot.
Black, Yellow and White
To the complete opposite of the spectrum now, the back and yellow palette is the best option for those who want bright, fun and powerful.
Our top tip here is to work with yellow-toned wallpaper or yellow undertoned wall paint and go from there. Even though it may come off a little risky to paint walls yellow, you can balance out these with black feature lines, a feature wall as well as a few art decor items that work to counteract the bright yellow.
With a yellow-ish wall, pair white artwork, pillows and rugs and throw plenty of black accents around the room in the form of pot plants, lamp shades and wall art. You’ll see an overall winning colour palette that’s bright and welcoming, though toned down with the use of black.
An Ocean-themed Space
Bringing a little of the outdoors in, the shabby-chic seaside vibe is making a comeback for next year.
Our biggest tip is to always start off this wall-decor project with baby blue or sky blue walls and go from there. Deck out these walls with framed objects such as star fish, shells and other ocean-inspired elements and you’re halfway there!
To counteract the possibly overpowering light blues and whites, consider a darker bed frame and floor rug in a deep-sand colour and you have the perfect blend of bright seaside colour, and reserved earth tones.
A tip here is to stray from the use of red, bright green and pinkish tones.
The Harsh Metallic Style
Not only a winner from the past decade, the metallic tones are leaking into the 2020s too.
If you’re a fan of the metallic colour palette then we have the wall decor tips for you to go all-out this year. First, start off your project by finding wall hangings to kickstart the style, whether these be contorted metal or even clocks, they’ll be the first place to start.
From here, consider painting your walls in a complementing light, metallic-under-toned colour and work to pair your bedding, furniture and other decor with this.
Finally, for your wall art, if time and budget allows, consider a silver-toned timber slat feature object to tie in all the metallic tones through a slightly warmer artistic element and you’ll have the metallic room of your dreams.
Remember, always do your best to start off a metallic project with the wall hangings as your base. They’ll help guide you to the correct colour palette.
The Wall-art-only Idea
For our readers who would prefer to keep their room, style and wall as it is, we have the perfect tip for you.
Go for ultra-large wall art that spans the entire height or width of the wall behind your bed head and you’re good to go. When it comes to a little cohesion, be sure that the artwork or wood work, or whatever style you’ve chosen, is in a similar colour to the accent decor in your room and you’re all set.
If you’d like a little extra, you could pair matching-coloured lamps to this wall art and be done with your wall decor makeover in just an hour or two.
The Single Artwork Piece
Our readers with minimal bedrooms will love this tip.
We know that minimal all-white decor and walls work wonders for sensory deprivation and the appearance of a clean and tidy room — and we don’t want to disrupt this.
To stay in harmony with this style in the bedroom, we would suggest just one piece of oversized printed artwork that has just two or three tones that perfectly match with either your bed frame, bedside table or any accent throw pillows you own.
With this artwork, you’ll be adding a touch of originality to the bedroom, but ensure things are kept simple and clean.
The All-out Floral
Another wall decor trend coming right from the 80s and 90s are the floral pieces.
For this idea, we’d go for a suite of floral artworks, around three to four and pair these with frames that match the tone of a bed frame or rug. From there, either work on pairing a set of flowers and pot plants that match the species of flowers in your artworks.
In doing this, you’ll create a subdued sense of cohesion as well as a tonne of colour and ‘happiness’ to the bedroom.
The Warm Tones
Although typically reserved for fall time, the oranges, reds and yellows can be a year-long style if you do it right!
You’ll need accent colours in the living space or bedroom that are in the earth tones and browns for this to work best. Once you have these, move ahead to give yourself an orange feature wall, and white walls with yellow undertones elsewhere.
Pair this new paint job and accent decor with artwork that has splashes of orange that match your feature wall exactly and you’ll have a visually cohesive warm-toned living or bedroom that works all year round, not only during autumn.
Geometric Patterns
One of Sleepify’s favourite wall decor and art ideas for this year has to be the geometric patterns.
If you’re a fan of your check shapes, or any other pattern for that matter, and want to go full steam ahead on these, then we suggest quite literally having an entire feature wall dedicated to the pattern. Whether you wallpaper this, or you have a few picture frames side by side, you’re able to get the look you’re going for, without too much trouble.
One thing to note, when it comes to patterns, they don’t need to match! You can have a specific wall pattern, paired with a pillow pattern and different pattern on the bed. As long as they all share a similar colour tone or warmness, you’ll be good to go.
The Peacock Paintings
One fan favourite is the peacock artwork that is easily painted or adhered to the wall.
As one of the more elegant patterns out there, this pattern and wall decor option will work best for those bedrooms that are styled accordingly. Have your pattern adhered to the wall and work to set up a vase or a framed peacock feather to amplify the style and meaning behind your wall decor.
To cap off the wall art, work to incorporate a few decor items in the room that match the style and colour, or just consider a throw cover change.
The Vintage Portrait Artworks
One of the most unique, but most stunning wall decor trends for 2021 are the portrait artworks.
For this, you’ll want a framed set of some old portrait photos in black and white or sepia, whether they’re family or famous inventors is up to you. Pair these with some elegant old mirrors, vases and lights from the same time period and you have a wall decor and artwork suite that is beautiful and unique too.
Be sure to keep everything as cohesive as possible with regard to colour, as the sepia images will need to be the standout features here. That said, keep bright colours to a minimum.
The Outback or Countryside Theme
For those who crave the rural outback style, this one is for you.
This wall art works best with two types of walls; either single coloured brown or dark toned walls, or an all-out timber cabin look.
Once you have this wall as a base, we suggest hanging up rugs, plenty of linens and other fabrics on these walls that have a clear country style to them. Pair these elements with artwork of either landscape, horses, other related animals and you’re almost set.
After the walls are done, incorporate a few vases with some native grasses and you’ve completed the outback bedroom look.
The Seaside Space
There are two primary colours and materials that come into play here; ocean blue and weathered timber.
With those two factors out of the way, you’ll want to paint your walls in an ocean blue colour and work to find plenty of artwork that is framed in drift-wood-style frames. This wood will make a perfect frame for ocean-inspired artwork. To really amplify the look of these rooms, you could even slat together a few timber planks and install them above the bed head.
To end, a mirror and a few surf-related items might do the trick to really tie the entire look together.
The Vibrant, Bright and Colourful Space
As we all know, getting the vibrant bedroom to work out in our favour is often difficult, so we’re here to help.
This wall art works best when you have a room that’s relatively subdued and not too bright, aside from your decor items. Picture an all-white and grey bedroom with a bright red set of throw pillows, for example.
Find artwork or even wall LED strips that match these pillows and you’re almost there, once you have these strips up, pair them with either paintings or neon-inspired art and you’ll be well on the way to your vibrant wall decor.
Adding Decor with Glass
Our favourite decor companion for the elegant and professional bedroom is glass.
We won’t suggest pinning up a single sheet of glass here, but rather ask that you consider windows and wall separators as part of your wall decor. The framing for these should be dark, and match your room, of course, though they’ll add a dash of reflectivity.
When it comes to the walls, drape light coloured curtains over a section of these by the bed and you’ll have a glass-inspired wall art set.
Gold, Yellow and Fur
A second wall art idea for the professional room are your gold and fur accents.
This will work best on a dark grey wall, so consider this when going into the project. You’ll want to opt for artwork frames that are an obvious gold colour, as well as some twisted and contorted metal gold-coloured wall art pieces.
Pair this with floor or bed furs that have yellow or golden fibres and you’ll have amplified your existing style and tied it together with golden undertones.
Timber and Branches
Working well in both casual and professional bedrooms, styling your walls with branches and timber is a winner for the coming year’s trends.
This style will work best for bedrooms and living spaces that have a primary colour of grey, white and brown. With those tones, you’ll be on your way to an eco-inspired wall art style.
Our top tip here is to keep the sticks and twigs free from framing and to have them adhered to key open wall spaces in the room. Whether it be above the bed head, or any random space in the room, it will work.
Pair these twigs or artistic elements with timber planks vertically for low ceilings and horizontal for high ceilings and you’ll have an elegant and sophisticated wall decor style.
Simple Timber Wall Art
For our readers who want just one or two small timber elements, we have a tip for you.
Go with the most minimal and reserved timber planks, boxes or other wall-friendly artistic objects and DIY a few LEDs to them. Backlit is by far the best option, so make sure the art pieces you choose have small slits or transparent spaces for light to shine through and you’re all set.
Adhere these to your wall above the bed head or by your entry and you have a space that’s welcoming, warm-toned and well lit to boot.
Amplifying Reflection and Room Size
Our wall art and decor for small rooms is going to focus on reflection and light.
As you’ll know, mirrors work wonders when it comes to increasing the size of a room, and so, we suggest having two to three mirrors integrated into your space. You’ll need to determine whether rectangular or circular is best for you, and work on installing these side by side one another.
Once you have your mirrors installed, add a lamp beneath that offers uplighting and you’ll have a room that’s better lit and feels bigger too.
ZigZag and Criss-Cross Artwork
An elegant look comes in the form of clean zigzags or criss-cross wall art.
These elements work best as whole-wall features, though smaller will work for the bedrooms that have a slim feature wall, for example.
We suggest opting for timber, and having it painted or cut from lumber that is faded, shaded or stained to match the colour of the decor in your bedroom. Have these installed in a zigzag or criss-cross shape and you’re almost ready.
These elements will help distort and amplify the size of your room too, so if the mirror trick above isn’t up your alley, these certainly will be.
Polished Timber Planks
One of the most elegant wall art ideas on our list are the bed-frame-matching timber planks.
This wall decor idea is best suited to above the headboard of a bed rather than standalone, so be sure you have some space above the headboard.
Work to have all these timbers sanded down to be perfectly flush with one another and install them so they over-run behind your bed around 60cm either side. Run them from the floor all the way through to roughly 1/3 to halfway up the wall behind the bed frame.
This will perfectly frame your bed as the centre point of the bedroom and maintain a nice, earth-toned and warm feeling for the bedroom.
Mismatched Objects, Art and Cabinetry
When it comes to wall decor, not everything has to be so matchy-matchy and we’ve got an idea for the bohemian bedrooms that demand something less cohesive.
Consider an array of picture frames, of all different sizes and frame types and intelligently lay these out on a wall behind a bed, or any free wall. With these up, consider adding a cabinet for a few hanging plants and decor items such as books and artwork.
With these items, you’ll be adding a touch of flair to the room, but keeping in style with your rather mismatched and relaxed bohemian style.
Straight Line, Contemporary Art
For the minimal bedroom that demands clean lines, this is for you.
To get the most out of this look, you’ll need a few elegantly designed wall art pieces that are designed from single lengths of steel and are as clean and well-finished as possible.
Pair these with pendant lights of a similar look and feel.
From there, add a floor rug that, again, has a pattern from single lines and is as minimal and tidy as possible. In doing this, you’ll have a suite of wall art that matches your contemporary style, as well as keeps the bedroom as clean and minimal as possible.
Double Framed Artwork
A unique wall art idea, is the double framed look. This will generally work in all room styles, though you will need an ultra-large frame with a backing colour that contrasts the wall you’re installing it on.
With an ultra-wide frame, have smaller artworks framed within this and you’ll be keeping your artwork nice and orderly, no matter how unique and ‘out there’ the art within the frames is.
The best suited rooms for this style is the elegant or professional look, however, it will work quite well for the ocean-inspired bedrooms too.
The Written Wall Decor
Offering the best look for the bedrooms with a minimal style, the written decor or wall art is a great way to add some meaningful artwork.
You’ll want to make sure you room’s style is of a single colour or two for this to work out the best. On your open walls, have word art written in a colour that contrasts the wall it’s written on and ideally matches your decor.
On dark walls for example, a light toned text will stand out best, and you’ll then be able to pair this with throw pillows or lamps of the same colour. Do the same with light coloured walls — dark text and dark decor elements.
Lastly, to go hand in hand with your wall text, have some framed hand-written letters installed on the walls and you’ll be creating the ultimate reader-friendly bedroom.
For the Animal and Insect Lovers
We’re not going to suggest you frame dead bugs, don’t worry.
To make the most of the wall art for animal and insect lovers, work on incorporating the shabby chic insectarium feel. You’ll be able to do this by framing artwork of butterflies, bugs and animals in shabby chic frames that have paintwork peeling off of them.
When it comes to amplifying the wall art, match the frame colours with bedding and the animals with small ornaments of those animals in the room. You’ll subversively create an atmosphere inspired by the animals framed on your walls.
The Cohesive Baby’s Bedroom
When it comes to children’s bedrooms, cohesion is imperative when it comes to wall art and all decor.
While we won’t push for a style, it’s a good idea to tie your wall art, cupboards, rugs and bed frames to the same theme. Whether you’re going with elephants, Winnie the Pooh or Thomas the Tank Engine, it’s imperative to have the same style throughout the room.
For an elephant room, for example, have elephants incorporated into as much of the decor as you can and also pull colour palettes from the elephant images themselves. That said, an elephant-grey or blue floor rug paired with an elephant wall art work.
For a Micky Mouse-inspired bedroom, pull the colours from Micky himself and flood them through the wall, bedding, rugs and more.
As you’ll know, when it comes to the kids, the more cohesion the better for creating a welcoming and friendly bedroom that will keep night’s free for mum and dad.
Styling with Only Colour
Our readers who aren’t too keen on adding framed artworks to their walls, you can style a room with colours only.
To make this work, pull out your colour wheel (or Google it) and select a few contrasting colours and work these into the room. You can paint strips of colour on the wall in geometric shapes in one colour tone, and more in another.
To weave all the colours together, allow your newly painted walls to influence the rest of the styling and decor in the room and you’ll have a winner when it comes to visual cohesion.
The Pretend Window Decor Idea
One modern and fan favourite wall decor idea you’ll see online a tonne is the fake window frame idea.
For making this work out best, choose an ultra-large painting of a landscape or city view that is large enough to give the feel of a window. This will be your base decor element. From here, work to flood your bedroom or living room with decor, colour, paint and items that are inspired by what’s outside this ‘window.’
If you’ve chosen New York, for example, exposed brick wallpaper may be on the cards, as well as some art deco inspired art pieces.
Overdo the Shelving
Where practically meets style, the wall decor shelving style is for you.
From IKEA or any other retailer, you’re able to go all-out on investing in shelving that is minimal and stylish enough to work as decor in its own right. The shelves themselves won’t need to be of any particular style for this to work, as you’ll be able to deck them out with decor that suits your room’s style on its own.
Find a clear wall, or consider the space above the bed head for this and you’ll be able to get a tonne of practicality our of this wall decor idea.
The Takeaway
With all of those great wall art ideas out of the way we’re sure you’ll have everything you need to get the most out of your bedroom re-style for 2021.
Our biggest tips include being as pedantic about cohesion as possible. Always do your best to choose decor and wall art items that work best with the style and colour palette you have — or you might end up adding something that you’re not totally in love with.
Another good tip is to work with what you already have, and consider styling your bedroom to suit the decor items you’ll see sitting around the house. Use these as a benchmark for your new wall decor ideas, and you’ll not have to spend too much on purchasing new items.
To end, it’s always good to consider the size of your room and whether your wall art will impact the size and feel of the room. Remember that bright colours, mirrors and open-design decor elements will make a room feel larger. Whereas, your dark tones and solid items and closed-faced shelving will make it feel a lot smaller, which might not be something you’re looking for.
And there you have it!
All of Sleepify’s awesome wall decor and wall art ideas for 2021, happy decorating!
