Alexis Stewart's bedroom is calm and minimal -- the kind of place that makes you want to take a nap. The vintage bed, with its cantilevered nightstands, almost seems as though it's floating. The globe light has a nice glow even when it's off. "I saw a light like this in a hotel room and liked the idea of something that wasn't too utilitarian looking," she says.

A plain white bed is like a blank canvas. Color-block by adding two different solid-colored pillowcases, draping a throw across the bottom, and fitting the bed with a bright sheet. This orange headboard is store-bought, but you could also staple-gun colorful fabric around a headboard.

These decorating ideas and easy projects will help you convert your bedroom into the room of your dreams.

First, tie everything together by using consistent elements. This bedroom is painted a richer, more assertive color, but the simplicity and clean lines of its furniture unify it with the rest of the apartment. Soothing colors are accented with punchy decorative elements.

The key to enlivening a neutral room is to brighten it with several shades of the same color. In a mostly pale room, a plaid blanket makes a strong statement. The chandelier, the wall-mounted bedside tables, and the cushion on the dog bed reiterate the blanket's several shades of blue.

Unabashedly feminine details, such as ruffles, ribbons, bows, upbeat hues, and cheerful prints -- including plaids and florals -- are the hallmarks of this country-inspired decor.

We all like to dream in Technicolor, yet many of us are reluctant to decorate a bedroom in anything but hushed neutrals and restful pastels. This room's unique color combination of teal blue and moss green is bold but beautiful. A floral pattern on the wall decorations, rug, and bedding pulls it all together.

A simple fabric cover refinishes an old wooden headboard (and footboard) without requiring any scraping, sanding, or painting.

The 18th-century gilded crown in this master bedroom gave Sag Harbor homeowner Jill Dienst the idea of emulating the bed of Queen Hedvig Eleonora at Drottningholm Palace, in Sweden.

A butter-and-cream yellow bed skirt works best when warmed by an orange-yellow curtain stripe, and chilled, a bit, by breathy aqua walls. The overall effect is clean and simple, with a sunny touch.

Serene sky hues take the bedroom far beyond beige when added to accents like a bed skirt, headboard trim, or side table.

Embellishing this tropical top sheet and pillowcases is a simple two-step process: First, make the stencil using our template, and then apply the paint.

You can wake up with the birds each morning -- even if they aren't singing outside -- with this bird-embroidered quilt.

Pink doesn't have to be garish or girly -- a soft, muted pink complements beiges and greys of similar intensity, and stone-grey wicker furniture blends in to create a serene, low-key atmosphere.

The owner of this beach bungalow follows a simple rule of thumb for hanging art: Put up one painting you love, surround it with a few you like, and they'll all look great.

Creating the look of raw linen on a wooden headboard requires nothing more than a paintbrush and tinted glaze.

Rich earth tones, a cotton voile canopy, and striped woven wool lend themselves to this stately, traditional style. The ceiling -- painted in the same warm tone as the walls -- helps complete the warm, cozy feel of this space.

A warm scheme of burnished golds, burnt oranges, and deep browns makes a bedroom feel sunny, even on a cloudy day, and warm and enveloping at night. The wooden furniture evokes tree trunks and branches; the fabrics, October leaves. This timeless color combination is grounded and enlivened by the patterned rug, which, counterintuitively, functions as a neutral. The room becomes the ideal spot for snuggling under the covers (with or without man's best friend).

Our simplified approach to couching, which traditionally involves hand-stitching, doesn't require the labor of a needle and thread -- just cording, fabric glue, and a disappearing-ink pen, plus a marker and graph paper to map out a design.

A model sailboat is displayed on a beam above an antique American rope bed in a guest room of a barn that was converted into a home.

The wide-planked wooden floor's white sheen, along with the light walls and sparse decor, helps offset the dormers in this low-ceilinged guest room.

It is relatively easy and affordable to transform a mantelpiece into a headboard for a bed. Most mantles can accommodate a full-size bed.

Shirting fabrics come in a variety of handsome hues and subtle patterns that go with solid-color bed linens. Here, a band of different fabrics is sewn to the top of a flat sheet, and similar bands create cuffs on the pillowcases.

Instead of a headboard, L.A. homeowners Amy and Shawn have headwear over their bed, with her collection of Panama hats and sun hats. "I wear a hat all the time because the sun is so strong here in L.A.," she says.