Zen Bedroom Ideas for a Calmer Room

The zen bedrooms on Pinterest tend to have a low bed, one plant and a floor you could do yoga on. They photograph well. Most of us still have a charger, a stack of books and a laundry basket to deal with.

We design bedroom storage at SICOTAS, so that's the angle we take here: lower furniture, more drawers, natural materials and warmer light (in roughly that order of importance).

Quick answer: two changes do most of the work in a zen bedroom, an empty nightstand top and 2700K bulbs in the lamps.

 

What Zen Means Here

Britannica traces the word back through the Chinese chan to dhyana, which is Sanskrit for meditation. None of that is required to get the look, which mostly comes down to five choices.

Principle	In Your Bedroom	Skip
Low	Platform bed, nightstands level with the mattress	Tall beds, high headboards
Hidden	Drawers, closed doors, lidded baskets	Open shelves packed to the edges
Natural	Wood, rattan, linen, cotton, clay	Gloss, chrome, shiny polyester
Empty space	A clear floor and one display spot	Filled corners, crowded walls
Warm light	Lamps with 2700K bulbs	One bright ceiling light

 

Clear the Surfaces Before You Buy Anything

There's research behind starting here. In a study of 60 dual income couples, wives who described their homes as cluttered or unfinished had flatter cortisol curves over three weekdays. Their mood also sank as each day went on.

Clearing up is also free. We usually tell people to take everything off the nightstand and the dresser top, leave it on the bed for an evening, and only put back what they actually reached for. Three items per surface is a good ceiling.

Keep the Furniture Low

A lot of this look comes from Japanese inns. If you've stayed at a ryokan you'll know the routine, which Japan Guide describes too: futons stay in a closet all day and get laid out on the tatami in the evening.

You don't have to sleep on the floor, obviously. The useful part is height. We like a nightstand top within about 2 inches of the mattress top, so measure first. Our Savanna rattan nightstands set of 2 stands 25.2 inches tall, which suits mattress tops from about 23 to 27 inches, and the Black Oak gives a pale room its one dark piece.

Put Storage Behind Drawer Fronts

Open shelving looks great in photos for about a week. After that it collects mail, chargers and hair ties.

So we'd put most bedside storage behind a drawer. Both Savanna nightstands in the rattan nightstands collection use the same layout, one drawer with a woven rattan front and an open shelf underneath, and the drawer is deeper than you might guess from the photos.

Savanna Nightstand	Measurement
Overall size	25.2 H x 19.7 W x 15 D in
Drawer inside	16.3 W x 12.6 D x 8.1 H in
Glides	Metal roller glides with a safety stop
Weight	29 lb each
Finishes	Black Oak (set of 2), Reclaimed Caramel Oak (single)

 

A charger, reading glasses, hand cream and a paperback fit in it easily. We keep the shelf for one basket or a couple of books, nothing else. Short on space? The single Savanna rattan nightstand in Reclaimed Caramel Oak has the same drawer.

Use Three Natural Materials, Twice Each

Wood, rattan and linen are the easy three. The catch is repetition. One rattan piece on its own looks like it wandered in from another room, so use each material in at least two places.

• Wood on the nightstands and one more spot, even if it's only picture frames.

• Rattan on the drawer fronts, plus a laundry basket if you have one.

• Linen for the duvet cover and curtains. Cotton is fine if you hate wrinkles.

Clay or stone can come in as a lamp base. That's weight without another color.

Light the Room Warm and Low

Turning on a bright ceiling light at 10 p.m. undoes most of the work above. Lamps at nightstand height are better, and the box tells you what you're getting: the FTC explains that the Lighting Facts label shows where a bulb sits on the scale from warm (more yellow) to cool (more blue).

We'd go with warm white, around 2700K, and about 800 lumens if you read in bed (the old 60 watt bulb). A paper shade knocks the glare down further.

Plants, Phones and the Rest

A plant is worth adding because it looks good, not because it cleans the air. Researchers at Drexel University calculated you'd need 100 to 1,000 plants per square meter of floor to match what ordinary ventilation does. One plant in a clay pot is enough.

Phones are the harder part. The Sleep Foundation recommends charging devices outside the bedroom and avoiding screens for an hour or more before bed, and if the phone has to stay, keeping it in a drawer with notifications off.

Editor's note: if you want the same feel in the rest of the house, our relaxing room ideas guide covers living rooms and shared spaces.

 

Final Thoughts

Most of this is owning a bit less and keeping the rest low and out of sight. Clear the surfaces this weekend. Bulbs next week. Furniture last, once you know what actually needs a drawer.

Give it a few weeks after that and watch the nightstand. If the same three or four things keep landing back on top, they need a drawer of their own. A decorative tray just gives them a nicer place to pile up.

FAQs

How Do I Make My Bedroom Zen?

Start by removing things, not buying them. Buying comes later, if at all.

We'd clear the nightstands, the top of the dresser and the floor beside the bed onto the bed itself, then put back only the things you've used since Monday. Height, materials and night lighting are the next three jobs. Low pieces, wood and linen, and two warm lamps will do more than a new paint color. In our experience the bulbs are the change people notice first.

One trick before you start: take a phone photo from the doorway. Clutter you've stopped seeing shows up straight away.

What Color Should a Zen Room Be?

For most rooms we'd suggest warm white, cream, sand, mushroom gray or sage.

The color matters less than the contrast around it. Our rule of thumb is that walls, bedding and curtains should sit within a shade or two of one another, and a room set up like that stays calm even in a fairly deep green. A single dark piece, our black oak nightstands are an example, keeps a pale scheme from going flat. Red and orange aren't banned, though we'd use them on a cushion before a wall.

Test paint at night. A sample that looked right in the store can go gray or yellow once the bedside lamps are on.

What Are Some Good Things to Put in a Zen Room?

Fewer things than most people expect. We'd begin with the bed, two nightstands that have drawers, warm lamps, natural bedding and one plant, and leave it there for a week or two.

Add slowly after that. A woven basket for spare blankets is handy. So is a clay dish for rings, and a wool or jute rug if the floor is hard. One framed print with plenty of wall around it is enough art. A TV doesn't earn its place, and neither does a desk, since both drag the day back into the room.

Japanese rooms traditionally have a tokonoma, a small alcove where one scroll or flower arrangement goes on show, and a single shelf can play that role.

What Are the 7 Golden Rules for Bedroom Design?

There isn't an official seven. These are the seven we'd stand behind:

• Place the bed before anything else. The wall opposite the door usually works.

• 24 inches of walkway around it, or as close as the room allows.

• Nightstands at mattress height, give or take 2 inches.

• One wall color. Two quieter shades to support it.

• You need more storage than display space.

• Light in layers, and at night use only the warm lamps.

• Work and screens live in another room if you can manage it.

With limited time, we'd do storage and lighting first. Paint takes longer and changes less.

How Do You Set Up a Zen Room?

In order of size. Bed, then storage, then light, then the small stuff.

The bed goes on a solid wall with room to walk on both sides. After that, nightstands. We'd always choose ones with a drawer, because otherwise the phone and charger end up on top. Lamps go on next, with warm bulbs and a fabric or paper shade, and the bedding, rug and plant come at the very end. Art and accessories can wait a week. By then you'll know where the room feels empty.

Run the cables behind the nightstands before you push them against the wall. It's far easier than doing it later.

What Does a Zen Room Mean?

A bedroom set up for rest, with very little pulling at your attention.

Some of the idea comes from Zen Buddhism, with its focus on meditation, and some from traditional Japanese rooms, which explains the tatami and futons in so many zen photos. For an ordinary bedroom you can ignore the tatami. Keep the furniture low and the storage closed, use natural materials and soft color, and light it with lamps. There's no need for it to look Japanese, or to be bare. Books, photos and plants are fine, as long as each one is there on purpose.

Anything you'd never use and wouldn't miss can probably go.

What Are Some Budget Friendly Ideas for Creating a Zen Room?

Most of it costs nothing. Decluttering, pulling furniture away from the window and switching off the ceiling light are all free.

When you do spend, start small. Warm white bulbs are the cheapest change you'll notice, and plain cotton bedding in one soft color comes next. A secondhand wooden side table or a woven basket adds natural texture for very little. We'd hold off on bigger pieces like nightstands until you know how much drawer space you actually need. Matching decor sets are the one thing to skip.

Three purchases a month is a sensible cap, and finish one before starting the next.