Toying with ideas: shelf above the bed

The bedroom is one of the rooms I intend to redecorate in the next few months and after seeing this on a few websites and magazines I’ve been toying with the idea of adding a shelf above the bed.

Image source: Decorology and The Daily Bed

These are the reasons why I have fallen in love with this little feature:

Practical and inexpensive
My bedroom is not the biggest in the world and the bedside tables are not that big either. I sometimes find I have little room to store items such as the books I’m reading at the moment, a few DVDs and they all eventually end up stocked on the window sill or on my chest of drawers with another thousand things! I’m thinking that a shelf above the bed would be the perfect solution to help me keep the room tidier by providing that little extra storage space.
The other reason why I’m considering the idea is the fact that it’ll cost me next to nothing! I’m still not sure what kind of shelf I’m going to go for (I still need to make up my mind about the whole feel I want to give to the room!) but I’m thinking it could be a good idea to buy a plain wood shelf and paint it myself. I have recently developed a real obsession with painting things and this would be a great opportunity for some DIY.
However, if DIY is not your cup of tea, shelves in all colours are available at many different stores and online so that finding exacltly what you want shouldn’t be a problem.

A touch of colour
One of the reasons why I prefer the idea of having a shelf rather than a picture above the bed is the fact that it’ll give me more scope to play with different colours and textures. I have excluded the idea of having a feature wall as I want to give the room a simple and relaxing feel but I reckon the shelf will give my bedroom more character and a splash of colour…without necessarily being “too much”.

Displaying decorative items
I find that bedrooms normally provide little or no room for decorative items. I have seen some beautiful and very inspiring ideas online and the best thing of all is that you can really make it work whatever your bedroom style. I particularly like picture frames simply rested on the shelf, wooden letters and curious bookends.