Use a Bed Canopy to Add Visual Interest

All ages will enjoy the addition of a bed canopy.

Installing a bed canopy in nearly any room will be a welcome visual addition, as there are many to choose from. A bed canopy offers many benefits in both style and function.

Old-fashioned Charm

Create an old-fashioned look in your nursery with a netted bed canopy. Covering a crib or baby bed will protect your little one from bites and stings from insects. A diaphanous bed canopy over a stroller is also a good idea when outside.

Tweens and Teens

Young kids aged tween to teen will appreciate a bed canopy, though in different ways and in different styles. Young girls will love a traditional four-poster bed with a frilly canopy top that extends over the length of the bed.

Other variations for this age group are ceiling-hung canopies featuring a solid fabric top like gingham. In this type of bed canopy, wispy material extends down from the hoop to surround the head rest portion of the bed. A bed canopy usually features appliqued decorations, too.

Younger boys will enjoy a bed canopy featuring their favorite super hero, sports team, or cartoon character. These canopies are full length, and give their bed a covered "club house" appearance.

Older teen girls and even older boys also can enjoy a bed canopy in their room. For girls, these are usually made of a gauze material that hangs down from a hoop and covers the head rest portion of their bed. You can even find a bed canopy made of fabric that connects to the ceiling in more than one place. A bed canopy for a teen-aged boy can be an earthy material that has mosquito netting descending down.

Masterful Master Bedrooms

A bed canopy found in a master bedroom can add a romantic touch with its wispy look if netting is used. A canopy over the master bed made from heavier fabric and hung from multiple points on the ceiling cozies up the decor. Your bedroom takes on chic appearance with a bed canopy, no matter what the form.

Canopy Bed
Curious and Luxurious

Your options are plenty when it comes to a canopy bed. And, much like well-imitated designer clothes, few will notice the difference between premium and practical. A canopy bed can be fashioned by anyone even moderately handy with a sewing machine. A simple arrangement of ceiling hooks and some creativity will result in several options ranging from ornate, flowing drapes to flat panels, completely covering the bed.

Canopy in a snap

However, brief searches online indicate that you can have many styles of ready-made canopies shipped to your door for cheaper than you would leave the fabric store. As it turns out, creating your own canopy bed should be left to the ambitious and time-wealthy.

Too big? Too small? Just right.

A canopy bed comes down to two basic designs. The most common (by common we mean both prevalent and pedestrian) is a simple plastic or wooden hoop suspended from the ceiling on which the drapes are hung. These are not without charm, but they resemble a mosquito net as much as a canopy bed.

More extravagant, expensive, and committal, is the full canopy bed with posts and slings to hang the drapery. This option is strictly for those who have decided that the canopy bed is the only way to go. Of course, an entire bed set is usually required, though searching will result in various options of wrought iron, wood, or imitation add-on frames that do the trick but risk clashing with the actual bed frame. Though they can get pretty cheap, decent sets start at about $1,000 and half that for just an add-on frame.

Splitting these two options is the reasonable and attractive bed canopy hung from four or six ceiling hooks. The kits generally come with a storage bag that protects the bed canopy and conceals your lavish tastes from less refined houseguests. These canopy beds are elegant, with the billowing drapery seen in full canopy frames, but the absence of posts lends the canopy bed appropriate modesty.