12 Ways To Get the Canopy Look Without Buying a New Bed

Canopy beds have been around for ages as a way to make a luxurious statement in a bedroom. And in studio apartments, a canopy bed can be an effective way  to define the sleeping zone.

We narrowed it down to 12 canopy ideas for you! Check them out.

Ditch the curtains and get creative with your canopy. Paint a wide strip behind your bed and follow it all the way through onto the ceiling like this couple did.

If you have a four-poster bed already, but don’t want to add  heavy hanging fabric, then opt out for these light-weight and breezy Thai silk curtains picked by designer Baptiste Bohu. Although this fabric can get pricey , it’s possible to find affordable look-alikes.

Looking to create a canopy for bunk beds? Well look no further! Lauren hung up rods in her daughter’s bedroom, and attached 3 flowy white curtains in each corner.

Are you in love with this drapery as much as we are? So simple, and yet it brings a whole lot of drama to the room. Just hang a rod from the ceiling, and drape a curtain through it vertically.

An easy way to get the canopy bed look is to hang curtains from an L-shaped drapery rod that’s been mounted to the ceiling. In this case, the curtains can’t be drawn around the bed, but you definitely get that romantic look. I love how, in this example from the HGTV Dream Home, the ceiling above the bed (and the wall behind the headboard) have been painted to contrast with the rest of the room. It creates a sort of optical illusion where the ceiling above the bed becomes the canopy.

Here are a few more variations on this look. The bed on the left (by Mark Sikes) has a full canopy frame hung from the ceiling. If you really crave the look of a full tester and curtains, this is a great way to get it without buying a canopy bed. The example on the right (from Domino Design Book via Swoonworthy) is similar to the one above, but in this case, the curtain rods that the drapes are hung from extends the full length of the bed, which allows you to draw the drapes closed if you want to get really cozy.

There’s also the option of hanging curtains only over the head of the bed. I’m partial to the setup on the left (from Traditional Home) because it only requires mounting a u-shaped rod on the wall above the bed. The arrangement on the right is a little more complicated, but with a big dramatic payoff. (From Traditional Home via This Is Glamorous.)

From Better Homes and Gardens: drape a piece of fabric over two swing-arm curtain rods, mounted on either side of the bed, for a super-easy canopy.

You can mount a single hoop or curtain rod to the ceiling in the middle of your bed and drape fabric from it over the ends of your bed. This works best if the long side of your bed faces a wall, and if the headboard and footboard are roughly the same height. (Left: , right: House & Garden via The Inspired Room)

The Antique Drapery Rod Co. has diagrams showing all kinds of different canopy arrangements, and the hardware you’ll need to create them.

From Country Living, a clever idea for bedrooms with sloping ceilings.

And finally, from Domino (via Elements of Style), a completely modern take on a canopy — a large piece of boldly-patterned Marimekko fabric suspended over the bed. (If you look closely, you can see the fabric is hung from ropes threaded through grommets at the corners. I’m guessing the ropes are tied to hooks in the corners of the ceiling.) I love how the fabric adds a pop of color in an otherwise minimal room.

And now that you’re full of ideas…time to get crafting.

Re-edited from a post originally published 3.29.12 – AL