Many people use stencils to accent bedroom walls, but you need not stop there. Small-scale stencils look brilliant on furniture frames, around wooden headboards, across the backs of bookshelves, along the edges of an armoire or on storage containers. Larger stenciled patterns might adorn a window or door frame. A single large stencil can serve as wall art, decorate a door or radiate from an overhead light fixture. Prepackaged stencils cover a range of motifs, including florals, paisley, ethnic designs, international alphabets, ivy, fleur-de-lis, graffiti lettering, abstract blobs and geometric shapes. For a custom look, cut your own stencil patterns using clip art or incorporate actual objects such as doilies, cogs and gears into your stencils.
If you prefer your bedroom wall decor to function as the room's focal point, consider a wall mural. Most people cover only one to two walls, because a surround mural overwhelms the space. If you have limited painting skills, you can use an overhead projector to project a simple silhouette or image onto the wall and trace around it before painting in the outlines. Sketch your mural with a piece of light chalk rather than pencil, which tends to smudge walls. Paint backgrounds and larger images first, allowing edges to dry before filling in smaller details. Popular mural themes include cloudy skies, nature silhouettes, trees with flowering branches, city-scapes and landscapes.