In the photos above, there is some kind of architectural element, e.g., beautiful rustic hardwood floors, a to-die-for view, angled ceilings, beams, etc., that offsets the sparseness.

If you were to just plunk a mattress in a bedroom in, say, a new construction, faux-colonial townhouse (seen all over the DC metro area) with contractor-grade wall-to-wall pile carpeting, I'm guessing the look would be less than desirable.

If I had that gorgeous floor of the first picture I could live perfectly happy with a bare bedroom.

Definitely agree that minimalism needs the richness of something like the floor to set it off.

I also love the subtle texture of the walls in the first image...gorgeous.

I love these rooms. david@justveggingout is right-everything looks better when it's set in architecturally beautiful rooms.

But, I think, that third room could be an inspiration point even for a builders modern room - textured white flooring and shades of cream ecru taupe and white bedding, walls, trim.

And there's wood in every picture - quite rustic looking wood in either warm tones or whitewashed. It definitely adds something.

The third pic kind of looks like a prison.

I have hardly anything in my bedroom either. I go back and forth with the bed- on the floor, on the frame, on the floor, on the frame. My boyfriend is thrilled. I like it better on the floor but just can't manage to make it look nice like the ones in the pictures. Not sure what the problem is.

I LOVE the first picture.

I like a simple, classic, sparsely decorated bedroom. White linens and natural wood tones seem to soothe my mind, especially in the morning when the sun comes in through the window...

Our bedroom is very small (no-bedside-table small) so we went with spareness like above - white bedding, flax curtains. We have a wood floor but otherwise it's a square low-ceilinged little room. It is very peaceful and calm, and never gets cluttered since there is nowhere to set anything down, but it does get boring. I spend a lot of time on the art on the walls, since it's my only venue for color or character in the room.

In a tiny house, though, it's extremely nice to have a single room where clutter cannot happen. We just got back from months of traveling to the sobering "cold light of day" tour of our home, and it's nice we have that one room that is always tied up with a bow.

Gets terribly boring though. Nothing to move, nothing to change...sigh!

Totally agree with David's comment.

That first room is especially gorgeous!

I think this is a great idea for those difficult attic bedrooms. My city has lots of those bungalows with two small downstairs bedrooms and then a finished space in the attic. If I were back in that situation again I'd do a dressing room and office/studio downstairs and then a spare upstairs bedroom for sleeping, reading in bed and Letterman right before sleep and that's IT! Pic #1 is excellent.

Love the first picture! I tried to have my bed on the floor like that once, but I'm 6 feet tall and it doesn't exactly work so well. Getting out of bed from the floor when you're that tall is like climbing a mountain every morning.

and I agree completely with David. The hardwood adds a lot to the look of the room and almost makes up for how bare it really is. If you placed your mattress on a carpeted floor in a typical bedroom, it would definitely not have the same feeling to it.

I came here to say exactly what David said.

This look wouldn't work with berber carpets!

Love the room with the slanted ceiling. That fluffy bed looks like heaven.

Oh this blog make me SOOOO mad >:-(

Yep the look works in all of these bedrooms. I think it is a look that's hard to pull off if you just have a vanilla box bedroom.

So not my style, a bit too institutional. Love the window with a view in #5, though.

Think these kind if spaces look much better in photographs than they do in person--unless it's like permanently dusk, or lit by candles.

LOVE!!!

In my past rental, I had a small two bedroom for just me so I took that opportunity to have a sparse bedroom. Just a bed, two nightstands with drawers (so nothing left on top). Added beautiful plum faux silk to the floor drapes with blackout lining. No tv (or electronics of any kind), decor, dresser, nothing. Once a raging insomniac, I now fell asleep easy and slept all the way through the night.

I once spent a few days in simple farm house in europe where the bedrooms were all made of unpainted pine, and the only objects in the bedroom was a chair and a bed with white bedding. It was the most peaceful, restful place ever.

So, minimal = bed on the floor?

minimal=bed on the floor in the most beautiful house you've ever been in, with plaster walls and perfectly worn original wood floors, and which also has a separate dressing room or big walk-in closet to make up for not having a dresser.

Good-looking minimalism is for the wealthy.

This makes me want to clear everything out of my bedroom. Maybe I would sleep better if there was as little stimulation as in these pictures.