Tips & Tricks | Furniture: Bedrooms

For a long time, bedrooms were the hardest room for me to furnish. Even though you have more and more bedroom furniture, some of it is more useful and versatile than the other, the more packs you own, I felt like my bedrooms always looked the same. I mean, there's also really nothing special about a bed and two nightstands with lamps, a dresser and maybe a comfy chair.

I have never been the person to experiment with furniture and decor to create new pieces, but seeing what other people do, especially now we have the debug objects, has inspired me to try some things out myself. To be honest, another big factor for me trying to make my bedrooms more interesting and individual was my mom telling me they all looked so boring. What better motivation than wanting to impress mom, right?

Typical lighting in bedrooms, at least in those I have been in in my life, is one or two lamps on the night stands, and a larger ceiling light in the middle of the room. Most children and teenager rooms have additional fairy lights (plus me, an adult, who has fairy lights in every room of her apartment).

To spice things up a little bit, I like to refer to different lighting concepts in every bedroom. Have you tried candles? Hanging lights next to the bed? Wall lamps that are mounted close to the floor? Wall lamps right above the night stands? No night stands at all, but floor lamps next to the bed?

Let me show you what I mean.

Especially in small spaces, floor lamps (or whatever they are really called) can add a little something, when night stands wouldn't even fit. I like these basegame ones especially, because they have a very small base and reach over the bed, which makes them perfect reading lights.

Using hanging lights on both sides of the bed gives the room a very luxurious and designed feeling, in my opinion. I see bedrooms like this on Pinterest all the time, and I really like the look of it!

My favorite lamps to use for something like this are these ones from Tiny Living, or the ones from Island Living that also have three bulbs in different lengths.

Another thing I really like to do is adding wall lighting next to the bed, right above the bedside tables. For me, it adds this hotel vibe, that tells you this room has been purposely designed to look good in every corner. Everything was picked for a reason and there are no old items the family that lives here has brought from their previous home. These basegame lights are the perfect modern lights I use in every room, for every purpose.

The beds from the game often have very bold designs and colors that make it hard to use those items in another style than the obvious one. Luckily, simmers have shown that you can easily make every bed look different by adding wall decor, debug fences, kitchen cabinets, really anything you can think of. Here is a good tutorial about not just beds, but general furniture ideas, by Summerrplays, if you are interested!

I would like to show you some of the beds I have made now, but please be aware that these mostly are not my original ideas.

Some of my favorite items to cover up existing EA bed frames are these empty signs from Dine Out. They have just the right width and stacking two on top of each other creates a beautiful and modern design. Here, I also added wall lamps from Dine Out, which creates a very cool look in my opinion.

Not only custom headboards elevate every bedroom, but four-poster beds also make a bold statement! I love making them lately, and there's so much to play with when it comes to selecting items and material for this type of style! For this one, I used black room dividers from City Living and this wall lamp that is from Luxury Party. I also love those lights on the bedside tables by the way! They look so cool in bedrooms or living rooms,  if you use them as a designer statement piece. The gold swatch is gorgeous too!

Another simple way to make a four-poster bed, and this one only requires basegame debug items and a bed of your choice, like this one from Vintage Glamour. For the headboard, I rotated basegame ventilation slots from debug to create this black slick surface. This is also a very handy item that many use to create kitchen cabinet surfaces, for example!

I don't know about how it is where you live, but in my family in Austria and Belgium, there are lots of bedrooms with cabinets around the bed like this. I guess that's what you did a few decades back. 

Bedrooms like this are always a good option for older builds, but you can also use this design, substitute those cabinets with modern all black or white ones and use less clutter to make it a very modern, built-in bedroom!

Last but not least, this is the easiest way to add a cool headboard to a not so cool or boring bed. Just use wall art like this one, or room deviders, or debug fences, or really anything you like, right behind the bed, and voilà, you have a completely different look!

Except the bed and cool lights, what else belongs inside a bedroom, you might ask?  Well, depending on how much space you have, I have some ideas for you. A dresser is always a good idea, and a cozy rug, of course. A plant or two, and maybe a chair or a small seating area make the room much more liveable, too. Depending on the size and layout of the room I also like to add a small TV, or a bench by the window to sit and read a book.

For me, the more a bedroom looks like it is a hotel room you could imagine staying in longer than just a day or two the more luxurious it looks. For this one, I added a little makeup area with a mirror, some candles, towels and clutter. 

Have I told you that I love plants? In my opinion, every room needs at least one potted plant to feel alive. Of course, in reality, a bed like this is nothing you would like. Imagine all the small insects lurking behind those green leaves. But in the Sims, this works perfectly and I think it looks super cool!

Candles, especially these ones from Spa Day, are always a good addition for every bedroom and bathroom, too. 

Further furnishing ideas for bedrooms are adding a bathtub (because why not?) or a lounge chair from Island Living, or a small nursery corner (although, if you intend on playing, put it in another room because your sims won't be able to sleep, EVER), or a desk area, or a walk-in wardrobe, or a whirlpool....

There are so many cool possibilities and there are literally no boundaries in what to put inside a bedroom. So, I don't know, go wild!

(And show me what you made, of course)

P.S.: For bedroom (and every other room) inspiration, visit our Something Simlish Pinterest page!