Bedrooms are no longer just a room that we sleep in. For many, they are a sanctuary. A place where they can escape the craziness of family life and the stress of work. They are one of the most important rooms in our home but are often one of the most neglected. Look around you: is it really as calm, cozy and clutter-free as you would like it to be? We suspect not!
Thankfully, if you have the essentials in place – a bed with a good quality mattress, then the rest of it is super simple to sort out, and it doesn’t have to cost the earth, either. Let’s take a look at a few things that you can do.
Have spaces for specific activities
In an ideal world, the only thing we would do in our bedroom is sleep. It has been proven that if we do other stuff in there, our brain associates it with being awake, making it harder to practice a good sleep routine and fall (and stay!) asleep. However, modern homes do not allow many of us to have rooms for other activities, so often our bedroom becomes a multi-function room: dressing room; a place to do hair and makeup; an office space; a workout space. If you do have to do all of these activities in your room, carve out ‘zones’ for them, away from your sleeping space. For example, partition off space with room dividers to create your office or workout area. Have a separate little corner of your room with a dressing table and mirror, such as this one: https://www.homediscount.co.uk/home-discount-nishano-3-drawer-dressing-table-with-stool-black.aspx for doing hair and makeup and getting ready. By not sitting on your bed to work or to do your makeup, your brain will eventually associate your bed with being a space for winding down and sleeping. This will lead to a much more restful night!
Curtains and blinds
If you do use your bedroom to work in or get ready in, you want plenty of natural light. However, for a good night’s sleep, you want the room to be as dark as possible, which is where curtains and blinds come in. Look for heavy curtains that are lined to keep the light out, and for maximum darkness, look at investing in a blackout blind.
Eliminate the clutter
The chances are that your room has all sorts of things that don’t need to be there, particularly if you have children. Clothes that no longer fit or are out of season, boxes that need to go into the attic/basement/garage but never quite make it – they all end up piled up around the room, and clutter NEVER makes for a calm and cozy bedroom. Be ruthless – anything that shouldn’t be in there, take out of there. If it needs to be put in another space, put it there; otherwise, get rid! Marie Kondo has some excellent tips for helping you to clear the clutter.
By putting these tips into practice, you can create a calm, cozy and clutter-free bedroom.
We’re very proud to bring you this feature in association with Home Discount. For more inspiration for your home, please pay a visit to our interiors page.
