Is colour drenching a bedroom a good idea? 7 rooms that prove it is

Drenching your bedroom in one immersive hue is one of the boldest moves you can make with a paintbrush. It's been trending hard on social media and interiors magazines for a while now. Brilliant bedroom colour drenching ideas are everywhere you look (if they weren’t, they will be now).

Unlike feature walls or two-tone schemes, drenching eliminates all visual breaks, so the space feels limitless and cosseting. Your chosen bedroom colour ideas wrap the room like a cosy blanket, and the effect is unexpected and impactful, which is what produces the wow factor.

‘Colour drenching - where walls, ceilings, woodwork, and even radiators are painted in a single shade - is a transformative approach to interior design,’ says Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director & Colour Expert at Dulux. ‘By embracing colour drenching, you can turn your bedroom into a peaceful retreat that showcases your personal style.’

But before you hot-foot it to the paint shop and clean out the paint chart racks, let’s unpack the hot question you’re here for: ‘Is colour drenching a bedroom a good idea?’ Clearly, we think so and we’re going to argue the case seven ways to prove it, all with the aim of helping you to nail a decent drench without ending up in colour chao.

1. It creates a cohesive sanctuary

‘Colour drenching in a bedroom is always a good idea as it envelopes the room, making you instantly feel calm and relaxed,’ says Emma Bestley, Co-founder of YesColours.

By bathing every surface in one colour, drenching dials down the “visual noise” of competing trims, patterns and jarring contrasts, so your poor tired brain isn’t left trying to make sense of lots of details when it’s time to go to sleep.

‘As this bedroom drenched in our dusky Secluded Lilac demonstrates, colour drenching make the space feel cohesive while reducing the visual noise,' adds Emma.

Note how the panelling-style trim subtly delineates the walls here, introducing textural interest without disrupting the room’s serene, all-encompassing calm. In a different colour it would look far busier.

This doesn’t mean colour drenching is boring. It’s a fearless painting technique that, when embraced properly, pays off with high-statement style. ‘What makes colour drenching so brilliant is its versatility – it effortlessly adapts to bedrooms of any shape or size, transforming them into cohesive, immersive sanctuaries,’ says Emma.

Emma Bestley

Emma’s instinctive approach to colour is the beating heart of the paint brand she founded with friend John Stubbs in 2020. Emma's synesthetic perception, where she associates colours with letters, numbers, and even days of the week, deeply informs her design work.

2. It solves spatial issues

While colour drenching is more commonly seen in bedrooms with decent square footage and soaring ceiling heights, it can be just as impressive as a small bedroom idea. In fact, clever decorators use it as a technique to boost the sense of space and iron out any architectural anomalies.

‘Colour drenching is perfect for bedrooms with awkward ceilings, especially when the wall colour is carried straight over the ceiling. This will help with the continuity of colour and will feel less distracting on the eye,’ explains Patrick O'Donnell, Brand Ambassador, Farrow & Ball.

In this small but cosy loft bedroom in Wine Dark by Farrow and Ball, painting out the angles where walls meet the sloped ceiling and carrying into the skylight alcoves has a space-boosting effect. This is because a continuous wash of pigment tricks the eye into perceiving a more expansive space with higher ceilings, turning the potential awkwardness of a low-slung ceiling into a desirable feature.

The tongue-and-groove feature wall adds charming country-cottage character, yet painting it in the same hue keeps the look calm and understated and avoids crowding the small bedroom.

3. It promotes better sleep

Select the right shade, and a colour-drenched bedroom transforms into a tranquil sanctuary that promotes deep, restorative sleep. ‘It envelops a room in a cohesive colour, creating a truly harmonious environment. This technique can be particularly effective in the bedroom, fostering a sense of calm and unity that’s ideal for a restful sleep,’ agrees Marianne Shillingford at Dulux.

Take this serene bedroom in Dulux’s Tranquil Dawn, a hazy pale green inspired by the morning sky. ‘This versatile shade subtly shifts between green, blue, and grey tones, adapting to different lighting conditions. When drenched in a bedroom, Tranquil Dawn can create a serene and soothing atmosphere, perfect for relaxation and unwinding at the end of the day,’ explains Marianne.

When choosing to colour drench specifically with calming in mind – perhaps you suffer with insomnia or have a busy mind – science says it’s best to opt for pale, nature-led shades.

In chromotherapy, the practice of using colour to influence our mood, soft blues and greens are thought to be most calming, because their cool wavelengths slow the heart rate and reduce tension.

Marianne Shillingford

With more than 30 years of experience in colour and design, Marianne is a qualified decorator and signwriter, beginning her career painting traditional fairground rides alongside master decorator, Peter Tate. She later founded her own interior decorating company and became the founding tutor and Artistic Director of the National Design Academy. In 2017, she launched the Colour in Design Award to support emerging designers working with colour.​

4. It makes decorating easy

If you’re the sort of DIYer who spends more on tester pots than you do on holidays, colour drenching could be right up your street. Sure, you’ll need to commit to the perfect shade, but it cuts out the endless dithering over which accent tones will complement your walls. With colour drenching, you can stop losing sleep over the best colour combinations and safely ignore decorating formulas, like the 60:30:10 rule.

‘Painting in one colour, without having to cut in around the ceiling, door frames and skirting boards, is far quicker,’ adds Anna Hill, Brand Director and Colour Consultant, Fenwick & Tilbrook. ‘Colour drenching really adds personality to a space and, as paint is a relatively inexpensive way to update a room, it can be a budget-friendly transformation too!’

Styling a colour-drenched bedroom is also a breeze. Since the backdrop is set, all you need to do is layer in your favourite furniture, textiles and artwork without worrying about upsetting a complex colour palette. Swapping out bedding becomes a joy rather than a design dither when you’ve only got one colour to coordinate with.

Ginger Curtis, founder of Urbanology, has absolutely smashed it out of the park in this dramatic bedroom drenched in black, which is certainly dressed to impress. Note how the delicious blue-black called Inkwell by US brand Sherwin Williams (Fenwick & Tillbrooks’ Scribblings is similar) has a satin sheen that reflects the natural light coming in. So clever.

Anna Hill

After nearly 12 years in corporate merchandising for UK and international brands, Anna Hill swapped the fast pace for rural Norfolk, joining the family business at Fenwick & Tilbrook. Five years on, she now leads the thriving luxury paint brand, known for its premium, pigment-rich colours, made to order in six high-performance finishes using only the finest ingredients.

5. It highlights architectural features

A big benefit of colour drenching in a bedroom is its ability to instantly draw the eye towards and accentuate your sleep space’s scrummiest architectural details. By enveloping everything in a single hue, you will create an expansive canvas that makes features like pitched ceilings, architectural mouldings and fireplaces (whether new or original) pop in light relief.

In this spacious bedroom, The Vawdrey House's Sophie Chapman got really creative with the ceiling by using decorative beading in a contemporary pattern inspired by the property’s Art Deco heritage.

‘The decorative beaded panelling on a ceiling had the effect of drawing the eye upwards to create a feeling of spaciousness and grandeur, while somewhat conversely also providing a cocooning cosy effect within the room,’ she says.

Drenching the ceiling and walls in the same stone-toned paint ensures cohesion through the space, with some subtler beading on the walls continuing the design story.

‘This simple yet striking effect can be achieved by gluing and tacking a simple timber ogee bead, readily available at any builder’s merchant, to the ceiling and painting over the top in the same colour as the ceiling for a harmonious effect,’ she explains.

Of course, Sophie says she could have opted to paint the beading in a strong contrasting colour, and it would no doubt have looked incredible, but a continuous drench is a more restful way to amplify that fabulous detailing.

6. It can increase property value

A beautifully executed colour-drenched bedroom that’s totally Insta-worthy and looks like the work of a design pro will have potential buyers swooning. It’s essential the results look intentional, modern and fashion-forward, and the finish must be superb. A botched job in a dodgy, dated colour will have the opposite effect!

The most important thing to consider when colour drenching with a view to boosting property value is to choose a colour that’s universally flattering but still makes enough statement to be remembered. While vivid shades can feel intensely personal and may deter more cautious buyers, a nuanced neutral drench feels effortlessly elegant, drawing attention without overwhelming sensitive souls.

‘You ideally want to choose a shade that will complement the furniture, flooring and any other decorative elements in the room for a sophisticated and cohesive feel,’ says Anna Hill from Fenwick & Tilbrook. ‘You also need to consider the amount of natural light in the space and remember that lighter colours like warm neutrals and muted pastels will make the room feel bigger and brighter.’

When it comes to property listings on sites like Rightmove, any room that looks high-end and spacious, without the obvious fish-eye lens fakery, is always going to earn more viewings.

7. It encourages creativity

When your walls, ceiling and trim all sing in the same shade, you may find yourself more inclined to experiment with complementary materials, quirky accents or easy DIY projects that riff off the dominant tone. A successful colour drench can also build confidence in general, empowering you to be braver when decorating more public spaces like the living room or kitchen.

For many, colour drenching is the gateway drug to double drenching, and once you’ve got a handle on the former, you’ll feel brave enough to tackle the latter.

‘Double drenching is a move on from colour drenching and is an interior design technique that sees two or more tonal partners being painted onto multiple surfaces to create a really dramatic transformation,’ explains Anna Hill. ‘It works well as it creates a really cohesive scheme that goes further than just using one colour all over, bringing visual interest, depth and character to a space.’

To get it right, you have to ensure you choose colours that are neighbours on the colour wheel, or colours with the same base undertone. ‘For example, you could use a green with blue undertones, with a true green, alongside a green with yellow undertones for a really impactful trio,’ explains Anna.

FAQs

Does colour drenching make a bedroom look bigger or smaller?

It very much depends on the colour you choose. ‘Colour drenching a small bedroom can be a great move, especially with a lighter or mid-tone hue. It helps open up the space, making it feel bigger and airier – perfect for small or awkward rooms with alcoves or chimney breasts,’ says Michael Rolland, Managing Director at The Paint Shed. ‘Farrow & Ball’s Slipper Satin is a solid pick for this, as it blurs the lines between the walls and ceiling, creating the illusion of more space.’

If you are determined to go for a colour that’s deeply dark and the room is poorly lit, it can cocoon the space so much that it feels smaller and more intimate. This isn’t always a bad thing – many boutique hotels employ this trick to ensure guests can enjoy a cavernous room that doesn’t feel stark and unwelcoming.

We’re not saying light colours make a bedroom look bigger and dark colours make it appear smaller in every case. There are extenuating factors, such as the sheen ratios of your paint finish, the amount of natural light and the use of other light-reflective surfaces in the room to consider. But in general, it’s a pretty safe guide to follow.

What colour should you not colour drench a bedroom in?

Colour choices are always personal but if you want to get some decent shut-eye in, it’s wise to steer well clear of pace-racing shades like retina-burning neons and bright pillar box red. Primary colours in general can be quite overwhelming in a full drench and will keep your brain buzzing into the early hours. As mentioned, you may also want to avoid really dark colours in a small, poorly-lit bedroom, unless you’re secretly a bat looking for a cosy cave to hang out in.

We're not entirely sure it needs saying but you should never colour drench a bedroom in a shade you don't love. You're going to be surrounded by it for (ideally) at least eight hours in 24, so it'd really suck if you felt sick of the colour within a week!

If you’ve ever wondered whether going all-in on your walls, ceiling, and doors is worth the paint tins, these seven examples should convince you that colour drenching your bedroom is absolutely the way to go. Grab a brush and get drenching.