I’ve encountered many homeowners who overlook a dark bedroom set for fear of creating a small and too dark bedroom. However, without understanding styling tricks like uplighting and lighter accents, rooms end up flat instead of richly elegant. I’m explaining key principles for balancing deep hues to prevent amateur, cave-like spaces.

Mesmerizing Bedroom Ideas With Dark Furniture

When using dark-colored furniture, use lighter, complementary paint colors to draw the eyes to the deep, rich hues of your main pieces. You may also coordinate light ceilings, inject metallics, layer lush textures, and incorporate natural elements.

Another idea is to use cherry wood colors across furnishings, install dramatic molding, and pair dark walls with bright-washed woods.

A photo collage of bedrooms with dark furnitures.

Paired with complementary pieces and lighter design elements, a bedroom designed with dark furnishings and walls. Welcome to my gallery featuring luxurious bedroom ideas that take full advantage of a dark color.

1. Coordinate the Ceiling

This room is richly decorated and features a variety of earth colors, patterns, and textures. The dark furnishings with a dark ceiling were a bold design risk. 

The beige walls and patterned carpeting draw the eyes around the room to appreciate the design details.

This room is richly decorated and features a variety of earth tones, patterns, and textures. While dark furniture with a dark ceiling was a bold design risk, the beige walls, patterned carpeting, and splashes of bright white of the cowhide throw and pillows allow your eye to be drawn in and around the room to appreciate the design details and allow for luxurious relaxation.

2. Design a Full Room Picture Moulding

Whenever I design dark bedrooms, I use a variety of patterns and moldings to create visual interest against dark-colored furniture and wallpaper. 

I kept the decor neutral to not compete with the wall detail and the dark wood furniture. A striking beige-gold pattern carpet coordinates beautifully with the molding details of the chair rail on the wall.

This interesting small bedroom is light and welcoming, with incredible attention to detail. The darker furniture blends in with the variety of patterns and mouldings commanding your attention. A striking beige-gold pattern carpet is mimicked in the gentle tendrils of the leather, wood, and metal settee, and is coordinated beautifully in the moulding details on the wall.

3. Pair Dark Walls With Light Wood and Window Lighting

Soften a dark wall color using a natural hardwood floor dressed up with a large, light area rug. Keep the upholstery style sleek and minimal.

This thoughtfully designed space with black walls ensures that window space allows sunlight to flood the bedroom from multiple angles. Wallpaper with light wood tones and dark hardware should match the soft wall color. 

This impressive primary bedroom features an extremely deep brown four post bed, leather chest bench, and coordinating end tables. The ornate metal lamps with light shades offer a soft ambiance, while a natural hardwood floor is dressed up with a large, light area rug. This thoughtfully designed space ensures that window space allows sunlight to flood through the room from multiple angles.

4. Create a Full Glam

This impressive bedroom has found the perfect balance using light walls. Blending a variety of deep browns, beiges, and other earth tones is one of the best bedroom ideas when using dark furnishings.

Mix in various neutral tones and modern furnishings with a fireplace as the focal point. Give the floor a rich texture by adding a strikingly patterned area rug.

This absolutely stunning room takes a bold and calculated risk with the numerous dark curtains. Thanks to the plush cream carpeting, light coffered ceiling, and gorgeous bay window, this room is light and welcoming regardless of the darker details. The furniture is luxuriously designed in an antique style, with the solid end table featuring incredible metal drawer pull rings. A six legged leather settee offers a suitable resting point, while a large equine sketching keeps a watchful eye over the entire room.
This impressive bedroom has found the perfect balance. Blending a variety of deep browns, beiges, and other earth tones and including a gorgeous stone fireplace, it would be almost impossible to not feel restful in this impeccably designed and cozy space. An outstanding floor to ceiling padded headboard competes with the fireplace as a focal point, and a rounded modern chair acts as the perfect midpoint between the two. A strikingly patterned area rug sits atop luxurious modern flooring while an open floor plan leads into a bathroom area.

5. Play With Textures

Dark, modern furnishings with clean lines and metal trim play second fiddle in this instance. A warm style can still bring a dash of personality to the room.

Snake-skin throw pillows and a cream and brown avant-garde arrangement offer impeccable contrast to the smooth, light, hardwood floor. I also used textured wallpaper, cream carpeting, and black walls to create a soft and airy room.

Plenty of windows in this room ensures a bedroom space that will never need for natural light. The dark bow-front dresser and end tables coordinate with the other dark features in the room including the ceiling fan and curtain rods. A deep burgandy padded headboard complements the soft richness of the comforter. Textured cream carpeting and light beige walls create a space that is light, airy, and inviting.
This bedroom space is all about texture! Dark, modern furniture with clean lines and metal trim play second fiddle in this instance. Uniquely textured cream walls, snake-skin throw pillows and comforter, and a cream and brown avant garde arrangement offer impeccable contrast to the smooth light hardwood floor, soft flowing curtains, and the sleek modern lines of the furniture.

6. Pair Dark Furnishings With Warm White Paint or Cream Walls

A cream wall color and a stunning dark hardwood floor coordinate with the furnishings beautifully. Bold splashes of turquoise and bright white complement the dark sectional, coffee table, black bed, and other furnishings. 

The dark gray bed, end tables, and television stand work perfectly with the light blues and browns of this simple yet elegant space. I also like putting artwork above the dresser for a warm and inviting backdrop.

Blues, browns, and charcoal bedroom furniture highlight a small bedroom that is both stylish and attainable. The dark gray bed, end tables, and television stand work perfectly with the light blues and browns of this simple yet elegant space.
This bedroom features cream walls, ample natural light, and a stunning dark hardwood floor that coordinates with the furniture beautifully. A light textured area rug breaks up a look that might otherwise be too dark. Bold splashes of turquoise and bright white are made all the more apparent with the contrast of the dark sectional, coffee table, bed, and other furnishings.
The above room is a great example of how you can mix and match furniture colors within your bedroom. While the four post canopied bed is in ivory and bedecked with ivory and sage linens that echo the rest of the room, the nightstands, dresser, and desk offer a stark contrast to this otherwise light space. The designer wisely mixes light and dark decorative pieces and lamps, which add further lightness to the room.

7. Incorporate Earth Tones as Accents

Sage, beige, and navy blue are popular color choices for bedrooms with darker furnishings, and color blocking spaces using a chair rail help create a polished look. 

Varying shades of lighter earth hues and whites ensure this space never becomes too dark and cramped. I used several mirrored wall hangings on the beige walls for an additional feeling of spaciousness.

"Sages and Beiges" are popular color choices for bedrooms with darker furniture, and this bedroom showcases that beautifully. The deep espresso sleigh bed is just the right size for this smaller bedroom space. Coordinating end tables and a mirrored chest of drawers with simple metal knobs tie the entire look together. Varying shades of lighter earth tones and whites ensure that this space never becomes too dark and cramped.
The chocolate brown sectional with patterned throw pillows ties the room together by matching the decorative pillows on the espresso four post bed and settee. Natural light is allowed to flood in when the dark drapery is pulled back, while the lighter, sage trimmed curtains as a room divider when pulled together. Dark modern lamps with light shades sit atop the black end tables with decorative gold drawer pulls. Several mirrored wall hangings on the beige walls add an additional feeling of spaciousness.

8. Add Metallics to Style a Dark Space

I punch up a darker bedroom set by incorporating metallics. This bedroom is another great example of choosing colors with a stark contrast between the decor and surroundings.

A four-post bed with an ornate metal headboard and footboard works beautifully with the antique look of the rest of the furnishings. Add calming shades for the dresser, artwork, curtains, bedding, and pillows.

This bedroom is another great example of using light colors and utilizing the stark contrast between the furniture and surroundings to great effect. The carpeting, walls, lounging chair, and lighter linens almost blend together. A darker patterned duvet cover and throw pillows complement the various shades of light beige throughout. A four post bed with an ornate metal headboard and footboard work beautifully with the antique look of the rest of the bedroom furniture. Modern table lamps seem almost out of place, yet somehow work perfectly with this simple yet opulent bedroom.

9. Opt for Dark Cherry Hues

I used rich, dark cherry hardwood in this bedroom design for a sense of classic elegance. A matching dresser sits at the end of an intricately carved four-post bed. 

The glossy black hardwood flooring of this room is unusual and eye-catching beyond compare. Brighter-colored bedding, warm-colored curtains, and a couple of green throw pillows would also add texture.

The rich, dark cherry tones of the hardwood in this bedroom offer a sense of classic elegance. A matching chest sits at the end of an intricately carved four post bed. A row of white shutters open to reveal a flood of natural light, while a white vaulted ceiling and eggshell walls draw your eye back to the snowy white linens atop the bed.
The glossy black hardwood flooring of this room is unusual and eye catching beyond compare. Were it not for the vivid white wall for contrast coupled with the bold crimson linens on the bed, the ebony bed frame, door, and night stand details might otherwise be somber. Instead, we have a striking and cohesive bedroom perfect for a good night's sleep.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Goes With Dark Bedroom Furniture?

Lighter wall colors, flooring materials, bedding, and accessories like lamps or window treatments help balance dramatic dark wood furniture and keep bedrooms feeling open rather than cavernous.

How Can I Brighten My Bedroom With Dark Furniture?

Strategically placed lighting elements like accent lamps, accent wall sconces, mirrors, and plenty of natural light from windows brighten up spaces featuring furniture with dark colors.

How to Update a Bedroom With Dark Wood Furniture?

Shift bed placement to balance new lighter area rugs or linens, repaint the chair rail on dark walls in brighter hues, and add metallic touches with nightstand lamps or pillow accents. You may also incorporate contemporary mixed-media art to modernize rooms with a black wall or existing dark wood pieces.

Conclusion

From strategic lighting and layered textures to neutral backdrops, a carefully curated mix of elements lets dark-colored furniture anchor rooms with upscale sophistication. Keeping darker finishes well integrated and avoiding monochromatic schemes results in welcoming spaces perfect for sleeping.

Related Posts