The Best Bedding Colors To Pair With A Wooden Headboard

One of the most satisfying and essential rooms to decorate in your home is the bedroom. Panararmer points out that having a bedroom tailored to your taste and personality helps aid relaxation and healthy sleep. Some elements are critical, such as having a sturdy mattress and soft lighting, but a well-thought-out design can turn your room into a sanctuary.

One essential piece in a bedroom is the headboard. Headboards have a host of both practical and aesthetic benefits. Beginning with practicality, headboards help protect your walls from things like sweat or smudges from bumping against them, as well as damage from moving your bed around (via JYSK). Headboards also help keep your pillows in place and from falling between the bed and the wall and provide something sturdy to rest your back upon when lounging upright in bed. They also add a lot to the overall appearance of a room. One classic headboard material is wood, which lends itself to a host of aesthetics. Wood is a very versatile material, but there are some bedding colors that will look truly stunning with your wooden headboard.

Most wood tones offer a neutral, earthy color quality. For those with a more rustic design preference, or even those with a more fantastical taste, wood will pair wonderfully with almost any shade of green. As such, green is an excellent bedding color to pair with your wooden headboard.

According to LivingEtc, wood is a great color to pair with greens. Green is a very versatile color, like wood, in that it is in the center of the color wheel, making it match both cool and warm tones well. You can match gentle, soft green bedding with lighter oaks or use a darker green to add visual contrast and intrigue to paler wood tones. 

For a more mystical look, pair light-toned woods with multiple shades of green and other nature-inspired elements, creating a forest-like effect. Rawer, more industrial aesthetics can incorporate more stark, flat greens with darker, gray-toned wooden headboards.

If you have a warmer and darker-toned wood headboard like cherry, chestnut, mahogany, or walnut, consider amplifying that warm color scheme with a deep, salmony pink. As Lick points out, teak and cherry are some of the most popular woods for more retro, mid-century decor styles. This makes the rich, warm pink tones popular in the '60s and '70s all the more appropriate as a color match.

While salmon pink tends to be a deeper shade, it is still quite bright and warm, which will also help lighten up a room with heavier wood. If you have much deeper warm-toned woods like mahogany or teak, especially on your headboard, you can lighten it up with a rich, pink-orange bedspread. You can amplify the retro vibes with more fun, vibrant colors like yellow or keep it more rooted by incorporating some cream or brown throw pillows and blankets.

Most wood colors are pretty neutral, so why not amplify that calm palette with even more neutral shades? Different wood tones can have different neutral companions, but there are a few color pairings that are sure to stun every time. According to Love Remolded, colors like beige, tan, and ivory will look beautiful with almost any wood tone, as it will highlight its natural warmth. If you want more of a monotone palette, pair medium-toned wooden headboards with similarly medium beiges. For more contrast and pop, pair a darker teakwood headboard with a light ivory bedding set.

Be careful with creamier and eggshell bedding when pairing with wood, though, as the look can become very dated and overpowering if you're not careful. Some creams have very yellow, rich undertones, which can look awkward against some yellowish wood tones. You can leave this neutral look as is or incorporate some fun accent colors throughout the room, keeping your bedding and headboard as a neutral base.

One of the most inherently relaxing and comforting decor trends is the Scandinavian style. The aesthetic doesn't just center around colors and furniture silhouettes, but a way of life — hygge. The hygge lifestyle emphasizes comfort, warmth, and positive vibes, which translates through Scandinavian decor, per Visit Denmark.

Lick points out that wood is a significant aspect of the Scandinavian and hygge aesthetic, notably lighter and softer woods like oak, honey, bamboo, etc. The more natural the finish of the wood is, the better. This makes your wooden headboard even more of a central focus point of your bedroom. As for what bedding to pair with it, choose clean, bright, and cool monotones like white and gray. Avoid too many warm neutrals like those mentioned earlier because those will give a more traditional look than Scandinavian. Keep your bedding colors in grayscale as much as possible. If you want more of a punch, add touches of black with a throw blanket or pillow.

While plenty of bright and bold colors look great with many different wood tones, one pairing that will always create a calm and serene environment is a lighter wood with baby blues. As Very Well Mind points out, blue is a very tranquil, calming, and peaceful color and promotes feelings of stability and productivity — allowing you to have a gentle night's rest and productive morning.

Lighter shades of blue, such as pastel and baby blue, will increase these feelings further. Shoreline Painting recommends pairing these light blues with light to medium wood tones, like cherry, for a warm contrast. Oak, bamboo, and mahogany, among other blonde and light brown woods, will also look great for your headboard when paired with soft blue bedding. For a cleaner look, add white sheets and keep the extra blankets and pillows to a minimum. Add a few darker shades of blue through your sheets, throw blankets, and throw pillows for a cozier effect.