Personalized Initial Wall Art Ideas for Above-the-Bed Décor

Let’s talk about the three framed pieces above our bed. (Yes, I just made a “bed wetters” pun — forgive my fourth-grade sense of humor.) More importantly: people often ask, “What’s in those three frames above your bed?”

The answer is simple: “J and S.” You can call it a monogram or, more practically, our way of marking sleeping spots. The idea was Sherry’s. She found three distinct letter designs — a curvy, spiral-staircase-inspired J, a sign-language AND, and a crisp, architecturally drawn S — and framed each separately. The trio fills that long, awkward space beneath our tall bedroom window perfectly.

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On the opposite wall is another three-frame display — this one my idea. When we painted the bedroom blue, we wanted something warm to balance the cool paint. I used a sunset photo I took in Santa Monica on our first vacation together. It felt right: personal, warm, and full of memory.

Budget played a part in the design, too. Instead of buying one large print, we divided the image into three sections and placed each section in an 11″ x 17″ Ikea frame. We printed the pieces at a local shop, which kept costs low (around fifty cents per print). The result is a dramatic, low-cost focal point: every morning we wake to a slice of sun and sea, like an affordable ocean view.

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Both displays are simple projects, but they’re among our favorite pieces in the house. They’ve been up for almost two years now, which feels like a long time in a place where things are constantly changing.