Does your bedroom cause night-time stress and raise your blood pressure, or is it a place of peace and sound sleep? With a few small yet significant tweaks, you can transform that room, the last one of the day, from a routine space into a nightly escape – the sort of place you want to return to night after night. Let’s start!
Declutter Your Space
Mess and clutter are taxing to the senses – they involve endless decision-making and are distracting. It’s hard to fully unwind in a cluttered room. Find an hour or two this weekend and pretty much clear out everything: anything you don’t use or need must go (toss or donate it, preferably). Put everything away and give it a place – clothes, belongings, books, whatever – in baskets and bins and shelves. Clear off all surfaces. Clean house (a good vacuuming, dusting). Change the sheets. Make your bed. Once purged, choose to live in a tidy way so that mess doesn’t return. And watch how living in an ordered rather than a messy environment makes you feel lighter and calmer.
Adopt Soothing Scents
We are conditioned to associate mood with odors. We’re conditioned to associate smell with bedroom comfort.
- Fill the room with this luscious aroma by using an essential oil diffuser with ingredients proven to have soothing effects, such as lavender and chamomile.
- Light candles before bedtime – vanilla and jasmine are wonderful options for relaxation.
- Spray a linen spray on pillows and bed. Find ones tailored for sleep.
- Keep a little fountain in your room or a bowl of water with stones: the sound of running water is calming. If you fill your bedroom with relaxing smells, you will feel more at peace, too. Pick up the ones that come more naturally. Go natural.
Choose the Right Lighting
Sharp, hard overhead lighting conjures images of hospitals, not bedrooms. Experiment with soft, muted lighting options to signal to your body that it’s time to slow down and enter sleep mode. Switch overhead lights off, and use table or floor lamps instead. The light from these should be indirect – not shining right in your eyes. Use incandescent bulbs and have a warm, soft light – I like Himalayan salt lamps or other amber-colored lamps. Get dimmer switches for lights so you can manage the amount of light that comes on. Blackout curtains that block all the light are great. Make it comfy. A comfortable bed in a relaxing bedroom has huge implications for the quality of your sleep. Get that lighting element on point. Make your space soft and calm, and your bedroom should feel like an intimate place that you can’t wait to snuggle into each night.
Add Comfortable Touches
Little comforts and luxuries help a room transition into a true sanctuary. Consider adding: Fat pillows and ridiculously soft, comfortable bed linens. That’s what you can splurge on! It’s a nice idea to have a soft rug next to your bed, in which to sink your feet each morning. Make sure you have super snuggly throws and blankets available to cocoon into. Snuggling up is such a relaxing feeling. A tabletop fountain with stones and sand or zen garden, with the gentle sound of water if it has no motor, is ideal. Place a humidity tray with some pebbles under your plants in order to humidify the air. If your bedroom is warm and offering treats for all your senses, this will help you achieve relaxation. Add textural touches that seem comforting wherever possible.
Choose a Restful Color Palette
Color choice can have quite a large influence on the basic mood and ambience of a space. When it comes to selecting wall paint colors, bedding and decorations, it’s good to keep in mind that soothing color tones can underpin states of relaxation. Soft neutrals such as beige, ivory, light grey and pale sage green are reliably restful; or you could go for muted, cooler pastels, such as pale blue, lavender or soft pink. A monochromatic color palette of soft, relaxing shades of one or two colors can also feel wonderfully tranquil. Wrap yourself in soft, receding colors rather than loud, primary ones.
