Best Colors For a Relaxing Bedroom You Should Try

We often think of bedrooms as our getaway space. They’re where we go when we want some space from our roommates or family. As our own private spaces to unwind, their appearance is deeply personal and meaningful. And as appearances go, your room’s color can strongly affect your mood and, in some cases, impart the calm that bedrooms need. Below, learn more about the best colors for a relaxing bedroom and how you can incorporate them in your room without applying a single coat of paint.

Why relaxing bedroom colors are important

Relaxing bedroom colors are important for a few reasons. These include:

• Positive mood effects. The idea that color schemes can improve your mood isn’t just some abstract notion—there’s science behind it. There are some studies that suggest red, green, and blue light in particular may have a relaxing effect, as we’ll explain in greater detail later. And presumably, you’d like to feel relaxed as you tuck yourself into bed, turn off your lights, and catch some Z’s.
• Better sleep. Stimulating colors are, by their very definition, not conducive to sleep. With relaxing bedroom colors, you can instead create a sense of tranquility for yourself before bed. This calmness can lead to quicker, easier sleep onset.
• More stress relief. Often, when we get stressed, we retreat to our rooms and soak up the privacy and serenity of our personal sanctuaries. However, certain bedroom colors are associated with anger and overstimulation, meaning they’ll pose roadblocks to this de-stressing. Bedroom walls painted in soothing shades can help smooth over this problem.

13 best colors for a relaxing bedroom

Among the best colors for a relaxing bedroom are:

1. Lavender

Lavender is often seen as a healing, mind-clearing color1. Additionally, as a light shade of purple, lavender may feel light-hearted or romantic to some2. These effects make lavender color palettes ideal for serene bedrooms – try them as your new wall color, or buy lavender blankets or pillows for your room.

2. Purple

Speaking of purple: As just stated, purple can convey romance or lightness. It can also evoke spirituality3, which is great when you want a bedroom relaxing enough for meditation or yoga.

However, purple isn’t always great for relaxation. Since purple is the lowest-wavelength visible light color, it can stimulate the parts of your eye that perceive light. Overstimulating these parts can make you feel roughly the opposite of relaxed.

3. Pink

According to the experiments recounted in Adam Alter’s 2014 book Drunk Tank Pink4, several experiments conducted in the 1980s have shown that pink light can calm people acting aggressively or angrily. Alter also tells stories of charities seeing donations increase after using pink promotional materials, perhaps because calmer people are more open to donating. Additionally, he notes that one study found buses with seats painted pink to be vandalized less frequently than others.

To harness pink’s calming effects in your room, try a pink light or a pink bedspread. Pink walls could be too intense, but pink secondary touches could be just right.

4. Beige

Beige makes for a relaxing bedroom color because it’s – and this isn’t a bad thing – bland. The plain, unpretentious vibe5 of beige won’t stimulate you when you’re trying to relax. Its simplicity does mean that, for those moments when you want your room to pop instead of soothe, you might need to break out a more colorful throw blanket or pillow.

5. Tan

Tan is often conflated with beige, but they’re not quite the same. Tan is to brown what beige is to white: A neutral, non-stimulating version6 of its parent color. That said, tan may more strongly evoke an earthy vibe than beige, so if wooded forests are your safe space, you may prefer tan color schemes to beige ones.

6. Gold

Perhaps the most obvious connotation of gold is that of money and wealth. Other attributes may include stability7 and confidence8, two qualities associated with a balanced, calm mind. That said, an overabundance of gold home decor can feel overpowering – relegate it to minor interior design touches such as picture frames and side tables.

7. Light yellow

In lighter hues, yellow can be stimulating and cheery9. The lightness is key – bright, intense yellow colors can be overstimulating and elicit strong negative emotions. Stick with light yellows instead of highlighter-bright shades for a subtly uplifting mood that works wonders in living rooms and creative spaces.

8. Pale orange

Like yellow, orange exists on a delicate line between calming and overstimulating. Bright orange colors can be as intense as bright yellows10, but pale orange hues can be relaxing. That’s because pale orange is closer to red than yellow, and red has potential soothing effects that we’ll explain later.

9. Light gray

Most gray paint colors are neutral11, making them great for all kinds of rooms in your home, bedrooms included. Just as gray can provide a strong foundation from which to build out your common area’s decor scheme, its neutrality can make it among the best colors for relaxing bedrooms. That said, gray is so neutral that you might want to balance it with other objects – perhaps plants or wall art – so that your room doesn’t become full-on dreary.

10. White

Technically, white isn’t a color – it’s how our eyes perceive an object when it absorbs no light waves of any colors. Its most common use in interior design is to make spaces appear larger12, and the lack of claustrophobia you might feel in white spaces may help you feel more relaxed.

White is also a neutral, blank color that can help to clear your mind and ground you. That said, as with gray, you should balance it with other colors so your space doesn’t feel too dreary.

11. Soft green

Soft green colors may have sleep-enhancing and soothing effects. A 2016 University of Oxford13 study found that green light may interact with a sleep hormone called melanopsin14 (which is not melatonin, a far more commonly known sleep hormone) in ways that induce quicker sleep. Additionally, a 2009 Canadian Medical Association Journal15 survey of green light’s use in Canadian hospitals found that green light proved soothing for most patients.

For best results when using green for calming, try soft green hues like those in the auroras that the BlissLight Ark Ambient Aurora Light emits. As these green auroras vibrate gently on your ceiling, your bedroom will become a vast, open field under the northern lights, a truly serene setting. And the best part is, you don’t have to move an inch to get there – these green lights bring relaxing views into your home from thousands of miles away.

ARK Aurora Light

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Transcend reality with a moving abstract aurora.

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12. Red

Just as purple can be overstimulating since it’s a low-wavelength color, some scientists believe that red is relaxing since it’s high-wavelength16. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)17, among other entities, has endorsed this theory.

That said, red walls can be a bit intense – even if staring at red might help put you to sleep, it’s now a color we might associate with social media notifications. However, deliberate and intentional use of red light, such as plugging in a StarPort Laser USB at night before bed, can impart relaxing, comforting effects. Your unstimulated eyes might just transport you to one of the best destinations of all: a full night of replenishing sleep.

StarPort USB Light

$14.99

One tiny light. Thousands of stars!

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13. Blue

Different shades of blue can have notably different impacts – especially if you’re using shades of blue lighter or darker than the standard rainbow hue. Light blue, for example, can be energizing, as it resembles the color of the sky under daylight. The thing is, daylight is known to be stimulating – if it weren’t, we’d spend our days feeling sluggish and unmotivated – whereas other blues may be calming.

A 2017 study reported in the scientific journal PLOS ONE18 found that blue light exposure can relax people experiencing stress three times faster than standard white lighting. Additionally, blue light can potentially lower your blood pressure, in turn leading to lower stress levels and thus more relaxation.

When you immerse your master bedroom in deep blue light, you set yourself up for an easy journey into tranquility. The blue light of the Sky Lite Evolve Galaxy Projector, for example, paints your room in a whole new light – an engrossing, calming one. Its multicolor nebula clouds and stars are a celebration of comfort that transforms your room into an intergalactic experience – and as you float through space, you’ll find it easier to float through life.

Sky Lite Evolve: Smart Galaxy Projector

$49.99$39.99

The latest evolution in smart galaxy lighting.

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BlissLights make your bedroom more relaxing

All kinds of colors can make your bedroom relaxing, but it’s understandable if the notion of painting all your bedroom walls turns you off from making the change. That’s where lights come in – they’re a much faster, low-maintenance way to fill your bedroom with the best relaxing colors.

If red, blue, or green are your calming colors of choice, then BlissLights might be just what you need to transform your space into a relaxing, healing spot. Browse our collection to find laser lights that make tranquility easy – all it takes is the flick of a switch, a pair of open eyes, and an open mind.

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