10 Happy Bedrooms

Designer John Willey designed a Nantucket house "to be a bright, cheery departure from the usual Nantucket blue and white interior." For a guest room, Willey took a 1960s color combination — aqua and orange — and updated it. "In a white-on-white home I think, 'Where's the joy?' I feel contained like I'm in some fancy retail store," he says. "I love the surprises, the little laughs, the shades of color that reflect the personality of the owners." Walls are Benjamin Moore's Lido Green. The Straw Woven throw and Maharaja Golden bolster are by John Robshaw.

Warm, coppery orange, owner Ann Leggett's favorite color, prevails in the master bedroom in a New Orleans cottage. "Orange is warm and bright, and those attributes, to me, equal happiness," designer Susan Noble Jones. Raso quilted cotton coverlet from Bellino Fine Linens; table lamp from Sunbelt Lighting.

The master bedroom in a Scarsdale, New York, house has neutral colors with purple and blue accents. An abstract painting, "looks like the sun rising. Waking up happy is what this master bedroom is all about," designer Pat Healing says.

"This room was actually fun from the start," Katie Maine of Maine Design says of the space in a Newport Beach, California house. "It would have been a sad little attic-like space if we didn't make an effort to turn it into a super-groovy teenage girl's room. To make the room seem bright, we added skylights and printed the wallpaper on Mylar to reflect the light around." The loft bedroom is swathed in Brunschwig's Bombay wallpaper, custom-printed on Mylar. Bed and canopy by Maine Design. Vintage suzani bedcovering from Yurdan. Moravian star light, Visual Comfort.

Designer Lindsay Coral Harper gave a more youthful and upbeat appearance to a dated 1940s suburban house in Charlotte, North Carolina. She painted the guest room a vibrant color, Benjamin Moore's Stem Green. "It immediately made this simple little space so happy," she says.

"That's true robin's egg blue on the walls," designer Jacqueline Derry Segura says of this master bedroom in Long Island. "You know what? It's all very classic and optimistic. The people who live here are happy and positive. It's a calm, happy, light-filled home with colors reminiscent of the sea." The custom-designed carpet is from Patterson, Flynn & Martin. The custom headboard is covered in ivory leather from Edelman. Stools at the foot of the bed are from Evergreen and covered in Rogers and Goffigon fabric.

Designer Allison Caccoma gave the master bedroom walls a high-gloss pale blue color. The designer wanted to capture the Connecticut house's view of the Long Island Sound and the sparkle of the water. "I love a little shimmer," she says. "I think sparkle in a room, even when it's subtle, adds a special happiness." The color — Benjamin Moore's Harbor Haze — also freshens up a very traditional floral headboard.

Here's fabric-driven decor at its splashiest — an entire master bedroom in a Wisconson lake cottage worked around Carleton V's exuberant floral print, Rhodendron. "We used it for the drama of the overscale floral print," designer Carleton Varney says. "There's a big punch in it. It's so happy." The reversible quilt is Carleton V's Rossway in two colorways, soft red and green. The painted green Lisle headboard in pistachio is from Ficks Reed. The soft yellow walls are Pale Hound by Farrow & Ball. Alexis lamp in cardinal from Pottery Barn.

"The printed fabric in the guest bedroom is whimsical," designer Meg Braff says of an East Hampton home, "but the beige and aqua palette is very restful." The designer also added bold stripes to make it even more interesting. "The bold stripes give the bedroom a whimsical feel," she says. Bed and curtain fabric is Lyford Background in Inca Gold on White, by China Seas. Wallpaper is Millennium Stripe in Beige and White, by First Editions. Ottomans are by Jonathan Adler.

"Fresh, bright, and happy" is how designer Alessandra Branca describes the master bedroom in Chicago. "You're walking down the hall and suddenly everything changes when you get to the master bedroom," she says. "It's springtime! This couple wakes up to spring every single day, even on the coldest morning. Isn't that wonderful?" Walls are upholstered in Schumacher's silk Lucienne Damask and bed canopy curtains are Grey Watkins Riviera Stripe. Antique glass lamps are on vintage ebonized Jansen bedside tables.