A bedroom should be a retreat from the world. Someplace that’s not only beautiful and welcoming but a private space that’s calm and comfortable and provides a safe place where you can relax, sleep peacefully and wake up refreshed.
That’s a lot to ask from a room, we know, but it’s really not hard at all to make your bedroom feel like a resort retreat or at least the next best thing to it unless you can figure out how to get room service delivered.
Your Mattress Is The Starting Place
The most important thing is that you can sleep well, so before you even think about anything else, consider your mattress. If it’s saggy, lumpy, too soft or too firm and doesn’t support you properly, no matter how old it is, it’s time to replace it. You deserve a luxury mattress that gives you a good night’s sleep.
Here are some options:
- Innerspring (coil). This is the traditional kind of mattress, the first versions of which date from the 1870s when they began to replace the original kinds of mattresses stuffed with hay, wool or down. For extra comfort, some kinds have pillow tops, an additional layer of soft cushioning on top of the innerspring mattress.
- Memory foam. A memory foam mattress gradually conforms to your body as you sleep, and is especially recommended for side sleepers. For extra firmness, you can find hybrid mattresses with memory foam as well as innerspring construction. And if you don’t want polyurethane foam, there are also hybrid mattresses made with latex instead. For temperature control through the night, look for memory foam mattresses infused with heat-diffusing charcoal.
- Smart gel. This kind of mattress is made with a heat-dissipating gel along with foam.
- Adjustable air. A benefit of these mattresses is that you can adjust the firmness of each side separately to accommodate couples who have different preferences.
- Water bed. These are particularly recommended for back sleepers. Some people find the motion of the water disturbing, but you can find water beds constructed with baffles that restrict the wave sensation.
Once you have a mattress, you need good pillows to complete your bed. There is feather, down, memory foam, fiberfill, microbead, buckwheat and other varieties of fillings, as well as styles designed for people with sleep apnea and those who need lumbar or other support. The Better Sleep Council can tell you all about them.
Now Tone Down The Light And Noise
Your bedroom’s light and noise levels do a lot to contribute to that retreat feeling. For nighttime at least, you want the room to be as quiet and dark as possible, and you don’t want to be awakened every morning at the first light of dawn. That’s where opaque drapes, blackout shades, or shutters come in. It’s also worth considering a white noise machine to block out external sounds you can’t control.
Then Create Some Calm
You can’t really relax when your bedroom is filled with things you should be doing, so clear the clutter. It’s a given that clothes belong in closets or drawers or hampers and not draped on a treadmill or piled on a chair. And it’s not just clothes. Your bedroom shouldn’t be a dumping ground for everything that doesn’t have a place anywhere else in the house. Things you’ve got to return to the store, craft projects you’ve been meaning to finish since last summer, ironing or mending that you plan to do sometime. If you can’t find another place for it, at least stash it all in some good-looking baskets.
And Finally, Get To Decorating 
Once you’ve got the basics dealt with, it’s time to bring color and style to the room. There is a lot of research about paint colors that do or don’t soothe in a bedroom, but if a placid blue doesn’t suit you and bright yellow does, then go for it. Even if the rest of your house is another style but you’ve always wanted a romantic, shabby chic bedroom, make it happen.
A bedroom is a private place and it should be filled with what pleases you. Paintings, plants, flowers, family pictures or a few sentimental pieces if you enjoy seeing them. Add a backrest pillow and good lamp for reading in bed, the best soft sheets you can afford, and a comforter or quilt that you can nestle into.
Good night and sweet dreams!