The best colours for north, south, east and west-facing rooms

Do you know which direction your bedroom is facing? Two of the most important elements of interior design, colour and natural lighting, are massively impacted by your room orientation: north, south, east or west. 

All of these factors play a pivotal role in setting the ambience and enhancing the aesthetic appeal of your space. So, when it comes to decorating your bedroom, understanding your room orientation is key.  

The right colours can boost our mood, reflect our personal style and even help us sleep better – yep, you heard us right! Colours are super important for our slumber.  

If you’re struggling to decide which colour to paint your bedroom, it might be useful to look at your room orientation to pick the perfect match. Let’s hand over to our Interiors Expert, Whinnie Williams, to explain more…  

As Whinnie says, the colours we choose to splash in our bedrooms can have huge psychological effects on our frame of mind, and even the quality of our sleep, from calming pale blues to energising yellows. 

In this blog, we’ll explore how to choose the best colours for north, south, east and west-facing rooms, ensuring each space feels inviting and well-suited to its natural lighting conditions.  

First things first, you need to figure out which direction your master suite is facing. You might have a rough idea if you can see where the sun rises and sets from your bedroom window – since it rises in the east and sets in the west here in the UK.  

To work it out more specifically, you’ll need a compass – don’t worry, your smartphone has one! Hold your compass flat and point it directly at your window (pick the largest or most central one if you have multiple). And voila, whichever way your compass dial now points, be it north, east, south, or west, is your bedroom orientation. Easy, right?  

Now you know which way your bedroom is facing; it’s time to find the best complementary colours… 

North-facing rooms typically receive cooler, indirect natural light. To counter this, it’s best to choose richer colours, such as soft yellows, peachy tones, and warm browns like Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Mocha Mousse, all of which are ideal for creating a cosy, welcoming atmosphere.  

North-facing bedroom colours: 

• Soft yellows 
• Peachy tones 
• Lavender 
• Warm browns such as Mocha Mousse 

Hello, sunshine! Whilst having a south-facing garden is usually one of the most alluring traits of a house on the market, a south-facing bedroom is not often listed as a key selling point – but we’re here to tell you why they’re great.  

South-facing bedrooms benefit from abundant sunlight. The natural lighting can illuminate your room, making it a sunny haven all year round. This allows for bolder colour choices, such as deep blues, rich greens, and warm neutrals like sand and beige. These hues will enhance the natural brightness of your bedroom, without overwhelming the space. 

South-facing bedroom colours: 

• Deep navy blue 
• Rich forest green 
• Dark burgundy 
• Wine red 
• Warm sandy neutrals  

How about east-facing bedrooms? Good news for early risers, east-facing rooms typically receive bright morning light and are darker in the evenings.  

 With this in mind, it’s a nice idea to opt for softer pastel shades like dusty pinks, baby blues and mint greens. These tones are perfect for capturing the gentle warmth of the morning sun as you wake up for the day, creating a fresh and energising ambience.   

East-facing bedroom colours: 

• Soft pastels 
• Dusty pinks 
• Pale blues 
• Mint greens 
• Metallic silvers  

Finally, we have west-facing rooms. In contrast to east-facing bedrooms, spaces that face the west bask in warm, golden light in the evening, providing a beautiful natural light for your winding down time.   

This means that your west-facing bedroom can handle deeper, richer shades such as stunning terracotta, burnt orange, and dusky purples, acting as the perfect backdrop to the warm evening sunlight. The result? An incredibly cosy nook for you to snuggle down in at bedtime.   

South-facing bedroom colours: 

• Warm terracotta 
• Burnt orange 
• Rust 
• Dusky purples 
• Chocolate brown 

Lighting is a powerful tool in interior design, but it often gets overlooked. Don’t be that person! Nailing your lighting can totally transform your space, depending on how you use it. Light can also play tricks with our eyes. It can make a paint colour look many shades lighter or darker compared to how it looks in the tin. But we have some clever tactics which can help you use your lighting to your advantage…  

If you’re lucky enough to have lots of natural lighting, make the most of it by hanging sheer curtains at your windows and letting the light flood in! On the flip side, if your bedroom is too bright when it comes to bedtime, consider installing some blackout blinds for uninterrupted snoozing.  

Don’t fret if your bedroom doesn’t have much natural light, either. This is where we can get smart with artificial lighting! We love a dark and moody bedroom with cosy corners of shadows and warm, pockets of light. To achieve this look, we’d recommend investing in multiple small lamps, with interesting lampshades, and positioning them in different areas of your room. Your ambience game just upped a level.  

Now you’ve got the basics, it’s time to think about maximising the right shades for you. Let’s dive into our top tips on selecting complementary accent colours and furniture choices to bring balance and harmony to your sleep space. 

1. Consider using complementary shades 

Complementary colours are ideal for adding extra visual interest to your space. Just because you’ve picked one shade for your bedroom walls, doesn’t mean you can only stick to that. Instead, use pops of an accent colour around your room to create some contrast.  

It’s important to think about what vibe you’d like to create in your room when choosing an accent colour. Some pairings are obvious, such as sage green and white, or navy blue and grey bedrooms. If you’re searching for more of a colour clash, you may need to think more carefully. The rust and navy combo has been a huge trend this last year, as has the “unexpected red theory,” where people add bold splashes of red to a room. 

If you’re not sure which complementary colour to go for, we can help! Our handy colour wheel tool will pick out the best shades for your chosen base colour. Give it a whirl…  

2. Test samples 

 As we know, our eyes can perceive paint shades totally differently once it’s dried on your wall, and indeed, in different lights. It may even look one shade in the morning, and a completely different one at bedtime.  

 To ensure you are 100% in love with your bedroom colour, we’d recommend testing some paint swatches directly on your walls. This is a great way to give your chosen colours “a practice run” before committing. Make sure to leave the test samples up over the course of a few days, so you can see how the colours look at different times of the day – you could even ask for some second opinions from your friends and family.  

3. Make sure your furniture matches  

Remember, your colour palette is only half the design job. Choosing the right furniture can make or break your overall look and feel of the room.   

Think about what kind of aesthetic you’d like to create in your space. Do you want a sleek and contemporary feel? We’d suggest going for a modern metal frame bed, or a stylish leather bed frame. Prefer something more traditional? Opt for a classic sleigh bed in an elegant, upholstered fabric. Don’t forget to match your bedside tables, wardrobes and any additional storage features like blanket boxes to complete the look.  

Whilst you may have heard of using Feng Shui for rearranging furniture to create a relaxing, harmonious environment, did you know that your bedroom orientation could dictate the best colours to paint your walls, too?  

One of the key Feng Shui principles is that it’s important to identify the best colours for a room based on their orientation to enhance the aesthetic appeal considering the effect of light.  

Well-designed bedrooms can bring better balance and positive energy flow, helping us to feel less stressed, and more relaxed – and even get better sleep at night. So, even if you’re not big into “chi,” using an ancient Chinese practice to help create a relaxing sleeping space may just be a great way to help choose your bedroom colours. 

Care to dive even deeper into your practice? Check out our complete guide to unlocking Feng Shui colours for interior design. Good energy flow and balance is just one click away… 

So whether you have a north, east, south or west-facing bedroom, it’s useful to pay attention to how much lighting your space receives, so you can take advantage of the magic of natural light. By thoughtfully designing your space with the most complementary colour combinations, you’re sure to create a harmonious haven. Let there be light!