It can be tough out there in the world, so it’s good to know that at the end of the day there’s a place waiting for you that’s not only beautiful but calm and comfortable, too. A safe place where you can relax, sleep peacefully, and wake up revived.
If your current bedroom doesn’t fit the bill, there are some relatively simple fixes that will create the ambiance that makes it feel like the next best thing to a resort retreat.
Here are the basics of what that retreat should provide for you:
A Good Night’s Sleep
First, and before you even think about decorating, consider your mattress. It doesn’t matter how old it is, but it does matter if it’s not supportive and comfortable. If it’s saggy, lumpy, too soft or too firm for you, it’s time to get a new one. 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 mattresses stuffed with hay, wool, or down. Some modern types have pillow tops, an extra 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 also find these mattresses with innerspring construction.
- 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 find the motion of the water disturbing, but you can find water beds constructed with baffles that restrict the wave sensation.
Don’t forget good pillows to complete your bed. There is a 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 additional support. The Better Sleep Council has a rundown of all of them.
A Dark And Quiet Haven
Your bedroom’s light and noise levels contribute to that retreat feeling. For nighttime, at least, you want the room to be as quiet and dark as possible, and you probably don’t want to be awakened every morning by the first crack of sunlight. That might mean replacing or augmenting your current gauzy curtains with opaque drapes, blackout shades, or shutters. It might also be worth considering a white noise machine to block out external sounds you can’t control.
Peace Of Mind
It’s impossible to relax when every time you look around your bedroom, you see something else that you should be doing. So clear the clutter! You already know that clothes belong in closets or drawers or hampers and not draped on exercise equipment or piled on the floor. Beyond that, your bedroom shouldn’t be a catch-all for everything that doesn’t have a home anywhere else in the house. Things you’ve got to return to the store, craft projects you’ve been planning to work on since last summer, ironing or mending that you plan to do sometime. If you can’t find another place for it, at least hide it away in a beautiful basket or two.
Beautiful Things To Look At
Once you’ve got the basics squared away, it’s time to bring color and style to the room. There are all kinds of research about paint colors that do or don’t soothe in a bedroom, but if a calm blue doesn’t suit you and bright yellow does, then go for it. Even if the rest of your house is stark modern, but you yearn for a romantic, country 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. A backrest pillow and good lamp for reading in bed. And don’t forget creature comforts like the best soft sheets you can afford and a comforter or quilt that you can nestle into.
There now. Doesn’t just imagining it all make you feel better already?
