8 Art Deco Bedrooms With a Modern Take on Glamorous Style
If there’s any room in your home you want to feel ‘grown up’, it’s the bedroom, and there’s something about Art Deco style that, to me, feels like it has a certain elegance that elevates it. The materials, the colors, the shapes, and styles of the furniture — Art Deco bedrooms deliver an instantly sophisticated feel, if you get them right.
Styling a contemporary version of Art Deco interior design isn’t that easy, after all. There’s the risk of it stumbling into ‘themed hotel’ territory if you’re too heavy-handed — no, today’s take on Art Deco bedrooms benefit from subtlety and knowing your references.
Below, I’ve curated 8 bedrooms that I think get it right, and some 100 years after Art Deco set out its stall on the world stage, prove that this style is still relevant to contemporary design.
1. Introduce Burled Wood for Your Headboard
Burl wood furniture brings an instant Art Deco feel.
(Image credit: Nicole Franzen. Design: Husband.Wife)
Burled wood is often associated with Art Deco, a period that valued the exoticism and decorative qualities of veneers such as walnut. This style of furniture is an easy shortcut to bringing an Art Deco quality, especially through a centerpiece such as the headboard.
However, this type of furniture isn’t just an Art Deco cliché; it has its place in modern design, too. “We use burl selectively as a way to add subtle texture and highlight key furniture pieces,” say Justin Capuco and Brittany Hart, co-founders of interior design studio Husband Wife. “It has richness that adds timeless depth, simultaneously speaking to both contemporaneity and nostalgia.”
The shape of the headboard in this New York apartment feels like a streamlined Art Deco style, too. It combines graphic straight lines and curves, all the while highlighting the maximalist patterning of the wood itself.
Brittney Hart and Justin Capuco founded Husband Wife, a New York-based design studio, in 2015. Their work focuses on highly-crafted residential, commercial, and retail projects.
Soho Home
Warwick Bedside Table, Mappa Burl
2. Or Try Wicker for an Art Deco Design Flourish
This bedroom has a subtle Art Deco twist.
(Image credit: Space Content Studio. Design: Atelier ND Interior)
Wicker had a bit of a renaissance in the Art Deco era, with designers marrying the pliability of the material to the decorative forms popular at the time. The shapes of wicker furniture at the time were boldly geometric, with intricate detailing, but a balance between those classic forms and a more pared-back simplicity of design today is what will make your Art Deco bedroom feel modern.
In this bedroom by Netherlands-based studio Atelier ND Interior, this wicker cabinet might not be strictly and completely Art Deco, but it certainly brings a sense of the style to the modern bedroom that draws on this heritage. “To make it not classic but more fun I used the wicker cabinet,” says interior designer Nicole Dohmen, founder of Atelier ND. “I love the curves, and it makes it more playful and soft. The house was built in the early 1900s, which gives it a lot of character, and to make it more modern, I used these elements.”
3. Mix Straight Lines and Curves in an Art Deco Bedroom
The circular headboard and burl furniture brings the Art Deco out of the other furnishings in this bedroom.
(Image credit: Mood Authors. Design: Yana Molodykh Interiors)
While interior designer Yana Molodykh didn’t, necessarily, set out to design an Art Deco bedroom for the interiors of this Kyiv apartment, she does admit it’s her favorite era of design. “Probably, the complete creative freedom combined with clear financial boundaries subconsciously led me to express my love for Art Deco through the colors and geometry characteristic of the style,” she tells me.
Using a striped design from Ferm Living as the foundation for the bedroom wallpaper, the designer layered in contrasting shapes and graphic patterns, all feeding into the cohesive style of the space. “Curtains with an African-inspired pattern and a rounded bedhead soften the dynamic rhythm of the stripes, while soft, plush rugs add tactile coziness,” Yana says. “A vintage framed artwork and retro-style wall lamps contribute to the feeling of a space with history.”
It’s not a space that feels too thematically Art Deco, but with touches of burled wood finishing of the scheme, it’s definitely a nod in that direction.
4. Mix Patterns for Art Deco Extravagance
This hotel bedroom design takes inspiration from classic Art Deco patterns.
(Image credit: Alexandre Tabaste. Design: Oscar Lucien Ono)
In the design of Maison Cassandre Hotel, a beautiful design hotel in Paris, interior designer Oscar Lucien Ono combined pattern and print in a way that feels at home with the revelry of Art Deco.
“Decorative elements like the embossed wall and leopard-print lampshades reflect my enduring love for Art Deco,” the designer, and founder of Maison Numero 20, says. “These rooms are imagined as conversation salons, celebrating exquisite materials and artisanal craftsmanship. Bold patterns — leopard and circular — are juxtaposed with neoclassical statues to evoke a ‘cabinet of curiosities’ spirit. In this bedroom, the geometric motif on the feature wall distills classical Art Deco into a striking, contemporary statement.”
Combining graphic prints at different scales makes an Art Deco scheme feel richer and more sophisticated.
5. Choose a Classic Art Deco Wallpaper
Divine Savages has a range of Art Deco inspired wallpapers.
(Image credit: Divine Savages)
Talking of pattern, the right wallpaper is the perfect entry point to an Art Deco bedroom, but what should you be looking out for?
“Wallpaper has become a pivotal element in reintroducing Art Deco into contemporary spaces,” Jamie Watkins, co-founder of surface design brand Divine Savages, which has a range of Art Deco inspired designs, tells me. “It is characterized by bold geometric patterns, symmetry, rich jewel tones and metallic accents, bringing a sense of glamour and sophistication to modern homes,” he adds.
Bringing color and pattern to the walls in one swoop means your wallpaper works hard for your space, and can be combined with other wall covering elements such as paneling to create an even more rich and textured bedroom.
Jamie Watkins
Husbands Jamie Watkins and Tom Kennedy are the co-founders of design brand Divine Savages, and have designed a range of Art Deco-inspired wallpapers that have become modern design classics.
Divine Savages
Deco Martini Smokey Gold Wallpaper
6. Use Black as a Contrast for Art Deco Bedrooms
A black dado picture rail add cool Art Deco contrast.
(Image credit: Alexandre Tabaste. Design: Oscar Lucien Ono)
Back is Oscar Lucien Ono’s Parisian getaway, I can’t help but be bowled over by the strategic use of black as an accent for the picture rails in the room, creating a stark contrast with the light, golden tones of the bedroom’s color scheme.
“I chose to paint all picture rails black throughout each bedroom in the hotel,” Oscar explains, “a deliberate nod to Art Deco frames and posters. This subtle detail punctuates each space with visual rhythm and contrast. When paired with rich gold accents, the black elevates the overall space with a timeless, luxurious character that defines my studio’s design language.”
Pure black isn’t often seen in design schemes in such a contrasted way, but it does bring a little magic as a paint idea for a bedroom.
7. Create Art Deco Appeal With Bedroom Built-Ins
This suite of rooms was designed with Art Deco style as its inspiration.
(Image credit: James McDonald. Design: Lore Group)
Another area you could bring Art Deco into a bedroom is through your built-in closets. Making small flourishes in the design, whether its in the handles you choose, or the style of closet door. This project, part of a small hotel apartment designed in an Art Deco style, offers plenty of inspiration.
“Art Deco has a lot of octagonal and hexagonal shapes, and we reinterpreted this with the headboard and wardrobe mirrors,” says Jacu Strauss, creative director of Lore Group, which designed the suite. “In the true spirit of Art Deco it was about having simpler and stronger geometric patterns, but still using warm materials with it like burl wood, in this case bookmatched for effect.”
8. Go Decorative With Bedroom Lighting
Decorative and bold, this bedroom takes its lead from the Art Deco approach to lighting.
(Image credit: Yoshihiro Makino. Design: House of Honey)
While this bedroom lighting might read a little more Art Nouveau than Art Deco (you can read our Art Nouveau vs Art Deco explainer if you need help finding the difference), it certainly emphasizes the ideal of the era that put lighting center stage in its interior design schemes.
So, if not looking at the clean geometric lines and luxury materials of Art Deco lighting so precisely, what sort of feel are you searching for? “We were deep in our 1970s Italian design era for this home, and the Murano chandelier was an instant yes,” Traci Fleming of House of Honey explains. “It perfectly captures the bohemian elegance strewn throughout the home. The petal-like blown glass brings a soft glam that plays beautifully with the floral wallpaper and rich textures in the “Music Suite,” a dreamy counterpart to the speakeasy next door. It’s a space made for slow mornings, late-night landings, and everything in between.”
That speakeasy appeal is part of the charm of Art Deco bedrooms, and this design has it in spades.
FAQs
What Is the Best Art Deco Style Lighting for Bedrooms?
You might think of large, glitzy chandeliers when you think of Art Deco lighting, but some of the best examples of fixtures in this style are semi-flush mounted designs, making them ideal for bedroom lighting, especially when looking for something to put over your bed.
Art Deco wall sconces make for great ambient light above your nightstands, but they’re often less directional task lighting. If you want a low light for reading in bed, a small Art Deco table lamp may be best.
Le Redoute
Repeating Arch Table Lamp
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