Wake up your eyes with a dozen of our favourite bedroom design ideas featured in past Designlines issues

Looking for some bedroom decor inspiration? Minimalistic, Canadiana or artsy, we collected 12 bedroom design ideas, crafted by architects and interior designers, from some of the city’s most inspiring homes.

1 Place windows strategically to maximize privacy and light 

Architect Patrick Fejér’s four-storey family home in Forest Hill Village delivers both privacy and openness. Without any street-facing windows, the home’s master bedroom is its most private space. That said, the room still feels lofty and luminous thanks to a four-metre-deep skylight in the open-concept ensuite, and glass doors opening onto an interior terrace.

2 Contrast cold and warm finishes 

In this lofty Yorkville home – Toronto’s first glass-and-steel house, designed by and lived in by renowned American architect Barton Myers – exposed beams and ducts are warmed up by wooden frames and a walnut ladder.

3 Use cabin-inspired decor to create a cozy yet rugged feel

Bachelors, take notes – this bedroom design idea is Canadiana done tastefully. In this Bay Streeter’s masculine semi-detached – featuring interiors designed by Alison Milne – the bedroom’s feature wall is clad in reclaimed wood from Canadian Salvaged Timber, while a pair of antlers hold court above the bed.

4 Play up dramatic architecture

Directly beneath the peak of this Moore Park home, and bookended by two outdoor terraces, a cathedral ceiling runs east-west. Here, architect Drew Mandel included a series of clerestory windows, so the interior partitions that separate the otherwise open-concept en suite, dressing room and sleeping space wouldn’t have to reach to the ceiling.

5 Use colour to set the room apart from nearby spaces 

Home to two artist-designers, this Victorian apartment is filled with leftovers from their past projects. The bedroom was treated with warm grey, the idea behind the design was to play up the crown moulding and to create a subtle separation from the rest of the home.

6 Use white to create a simple and serene oasis

The bright white bedding and nightstands in Jen and Jill’s master bedroom keeps with the serenity of their west-end town home’s Cecconi Simone-designed interiors and complements the rich, wide plank flooring. The calm white palette also directs eyes outside to the private balcony, big enough to seat two and a few plantings.

7 Build in bookcases to keep things clutter-free 

Because storage is always in short supply, especially in Victorians, Dubbeldam Architecture + Design cleverly utilized every spare inch throughout this Summerhill home. The third-floor master bedroom, for instance, is a vision of uninterrupted white, but almost every wall is a cupboard.

8 Install sliding doors to keep spaces flexible 

Architects Martin Kohn designed this young family’s Hillcrest Village home to be tightly planned and highly practical. On the second storey, a kid’s room shares a sliding-door wall with a den next door, so that the two spaces can be used flexibly as the family grows or out-of-owners visit.

9 Communicate your personality

Set stylist Alanna Davey shows her quirky side in the light-filled master suite of her Parkdale home with personalized artwork and unexpected splashes of colour. The space leads to a third-floor patio, which will eventually house raised-bed vegetable patches and living fences of tall grass.

10 Hang patterned textiles to provide bright pops of colour

In the master bedroom of Alexandra Palmer’s small, LGA Architectural Partners-designed Parkdale infill, Josef Frank’s Terrazzo linen hangs behind the vintage teak bed, providing visual interest.

11 Accentuate quirky alcoves with great artwork

In the art- and antique-filled family home of Clay Rochemont and Jo Arnott, a photo by Nick Simhoni tucks neatly into the master bedroom’s back nook.

12 Renovating? Repurpose unsuccessful spaces into sleeping quarters

In a bold move, LGA Architectural Partners transformed the garage at the back of this mid-century bungalow into living space, linking it to the house with a small addition. The garage is now a spacious master suite with French doors opening to a tree-covered back patio.