It is almost standard to place the bed at the center of one of the four walls of the room.
There’s a reason for that – to make the bed the focal point of the room.
To some people, however, this is yet another old rule that needs to be ignored.
So, Is It Bad To Put The Bed In The Corner Of The Bedroom?
In one word – “No.” It is perfectly okay to install the bed in the corner of the room although there are a few things you will need to do to get an experience similar to the traditional mid-wall position. If your bedroom is large enough, placing your bed somewhere in the corner may come across as a bold statement.
When you place your bed in a corner, you box the area behind it, rendering this area unusable. Fortunately, you can easily dress up the unused area and brighten the room. Adding upward-facing lights can instantly bring life into the tiny space boxed in by your bed.
Four Ways To Position The Bed In The Corner
This arrangement isn’t the easiest thing to pull off. If you want to place your bed in a corner and still end up with an attractive design, consider these helpful designer tips:
1. Keep It Functional
As you position your bed, remember that you will need a clearance zone on each side of the four sides.
The clearance helps ease the process of making the bed every morning.
Insufficient space on these sides can easily turn the normally easy morning routine into an ordeal.
Typically, a clearance of 24” between the wall and the bed on each side gives you enough space to even walk around the bed with minimal obstruction.
As you make up your mind which of the four corners is perfect for your bed, try to leave between 36 – 40” between your bed and cabinets or dressers. This space ensures easy access to doors and drawers.
2. Ground the Bed
It is perfectly OK to place the bed in the corner of the bedroom provided you ground it.
Pulling the bed from the corner is never easy no matter how big the room is.
To get around this hurdle, interior designers recommend grounding your bed.
A grounded bed will certainly make this arrangement work for you as it makes the bed appear like it is floating in the bedroom.
If you want to ground your bed and keep it the focal point of the bedroom, get yourself a curtain or appropriate sheet of fabric and drape it from the ceiling downward behind your bed.
Alternatively, you can install a clean folding screen behind the bed.
By adding large items like screens, curtains, and other fabrics behind your bed, you are basically highlighting the bed to be the focal point of the bedroom.
This maneuver eliminates the floating effect that often accompanies this arrangement.
3. Light It Up
As mentioned earlier, when you put a bed in the corner of the room, it ends up boxing in the area behind it, essentially rendering it unusable.
However, this space can be dressed up to help brighten the rest of the bedroom.
There are two ways to achieve it –
- either add a brightly colored wallpaper on the walls in this space
- or install an upward-facing lighting fixture or both.
Better yet, you can bring more life and texture to the room by installing a large plant somewhere in the corner to complement the lamp.
4. Accessorize your Bed
Another way of putting the bed in the corner and preventing it from looking out of place is accessorizing the bedroom.
The nightstand is the first thing that comes to mind if you think of bedroom accessories.
However, remember that you are installing the bed in the corner of the room, meaning the space is limited in areas you’d traditionally put your nightstand.
For that reason, you may not be in a position to use heavier and larger accessories on those sides of your bed. Instead, go for smaller and/or slender nightstands that won’t overpower your bed (remember that the bed needs to remain the focal point of the room).
Even better, you can forego nightstands for shelves if you find the latter more useful in your situation (storage of your socks and all that essential clutter you’d find in the bedroom).
Get yourself a few decent shelves and install them close to the base of the wall in such a way that they are reachable from the top of the bed.
Another option worth choosing when you have a bed in the corner of the room is to completely forego the idea of the nightstand completely and go for a small secretary or chest.
Positioning the bed in the corner the right way (Feng Shui way)
Just because you are free to place the bed in the corner of the room doesn’t mean every style of installation would be appropriate.
Here is how to approach it if you want to have a good experience in the new position.
1. Let the bed assume a commanding position without facing the door directly
You want the bed to be located in such a way that when you are lying in it, you can clearly see the door leading into the bedroom.
But you don’t want it to be in direct line with your door either. The best way to achieve this is to place the bed diagonal relative to the door.
If this is impossible in your situation, keep the bed in the corner of the room but find out if you can correct it with a mirror.
A freestanding mirror is recommended because it is easier to place and make adjustments on the angle.
2. Positioning the bed relative to your bedroom door
Other than the aforementioned commanding position, there’s a list of more guidelines to bear in mind when it comes to positioning the bed relative to the door.
You should avoid your door opening up directly on any part of your bed.
For example, chances are you will have frequent headaches if the door opens up in direct line with the position of your head because you will keep straining to gaze at it.
Or if the door opens directly onto your feet, there’s a likelihood you will have foot problems with time, especially in the winter.
Also, don’t position the bed in a corner in such a way that it hampers the smooth opening and closing of the bedroom door.
3. Never place the bed on the bathroom wall
Whichever corner you choose to place the bed, ensure there’s no toilet on the other side of either wall.
One of the worst mistakes you could do is to make the headboard of the bed share a wall with a bathroom or toilet.
The reason for this is obvious – you don’t want to put up with all the sounds coming from the toilet.
4. Keep the bed away from the window
As you place the bed in the corner of the room, let the length of the bed lay parallel with the wall without the window.
Or avoid the windows completely even if you have one very close to the corner on either wall.
There are several reasons for this – windows ensure you hear everything taking place outside and may also permit drafts to flow it the room.
Conclusion
Is it bad to put the bed in the corner of the bedroom? In one word – “No.”
As long as you take measures to leave a clearance zone on each of the four sides, light the room, and ground the bed, you are good to place the bed anywhere you want.
