Your bedroom is the one room in the house that is truly sacred. Whilst guests lounge in your living room and dine in the kitchen, no one enters your bedroom without your say so. It’s a sanctuary for you to recover and recharge your batteries.
But do you treat it that way?
Research conducted by Rooi (http://www.rooi.com) reveals we might not be making the most of our bedrooms. One in three people we asked said they sleep better in a luxury hotel room. Think about that for a second, all those people get a better night’s sleep in a stranger's bed, opposed to their own bedroom.
Your bedroom should be the one place you can turn to for a rest. We need around eight hours of good quality sleep to work at our best, yet according to the Sleep Council, half of us get a mere six hours or less.
Whilst it can be tempting to jump to conclusions, the solution to ensure a good night’s sleep could be right in front of our noses. You don’t always need to make dramatic lifestyle choices to change your sleeping pattern. The key to being well rested could be in the way we design the room where we rest our head.
Evaluate your room
Look around your bedroom. How do you honestly feel about it? If you see it as a convenient room that is just there to serve a specific purpose, rather than being a welcoming, relaxing hub, you may want to rethink your set up. After all, we mentioned before that your bedroom should be a sanctuary. How could you possibly sleep in a room you’re not totally comfortable in?
Try to pinpoint what it is about your room that is causing psychological barriers that may disrupt your sleep. Is it the way the light pours in from outside? Perhaps it’s the way your bed is positioned?
It’s important to identify the issues in your room layout before investing in new interior design elements. For example, when you stay in a luxury hotel room, one of the things that’s emphasised is security. They’ll often position the bed well away from the doors and focus on natural lighting. This gives the guest the sensation of sleeping in a natural space.
These subtle changes can make a world of difference.
Is your bedroom changing with the seasons?
Certified Rightmove blog contributor, Andrea Morgan, recently mentioned in an interview with Dreams that people often redesign their bedroom twice every eight years. That’s a long time to keep the same layout and interior! Whilst you might not want to repaint your room every year, you can make minor tweaks to your room that could enhance your sleep throughout the year.
Try subtle changes such as moving your bed away from the window in summer. This could stop the early sunrise from disturbing your sleep. Similarly, extra texture from blankets and rugs could make you feel warmer in the winter.
Sam Lygo, Property Consultant from Unique Homes, appreciates the impact that each season can have on our bedroom design choices. “Different tog duvets according to the seasons is an important factor to bear in mind.” Sam personally visits every property on their database to ensure guests receive a good night’s sleep and experience true luxury.
One of the key features a bedroom must offer for a good night’s sleep is the right temperature. If you’re too hot in the summer or too cold in winter, your quality of sleep will suffer.
What’s the right duvet tog for your bedroom?
It all depends on personal choice, but you wouldn’t be sleeping under a 15 tog duvet in the peak of summer, that’s for sure! Tog ratings range from one to 15. They are marked on a duvet’s filling and its ability to trap air in between the fibres.
Naturally-stuffed bedding manages to trap more air with less material. Don’t always go off weight and do check the label before you purchase. If you prefer a heavy duvet to tuck yourself in at night, synthetic may be the choice for you.
Generally speaking with British weather, you should aim for around a 13 tog in the winter and a three to five tog in the summer.
What bedding do they use in a luxury hotel?
Of course, each place you visit will have their own combination, but we’ve learnt a few tricks along the way to emulate the luxury feel of a hotel room. Certain hotel chains offer a “good night guarantee”, whereby guests will receive a refund if their sleep has been hampered, so it’s no surprise that these brands pull out all the stops when it comes to choosing bedding for their rooms. It’s a combination of texture and colour that gives us that dreamy sensation as we snuggle up to sleep.
Anna-Marie Dowling, General Manager of Sofitel London Heathrow, explains that bedding can make a huge difference in the quality of a visitor’s stay. “At Sofitel, guests can sink into a MyBed™. An innovative combination of a bed base, mattress and a feather bed combined, plus a downy soft duvet and generously-sized pillows. Guests will have the pleasure of a perfect night’s sleep,” she commented.
You might not have access to the kind of advanced bed technology that many hotels offer, but you can follow in their footsteps of putting luxury first.
After all, you couldn’t possibly escape to a luxury hotel room every night, could you? If you lived in an average luxury hotel in London for a year, it would set you back over £84,000!
A few quick changes around your room cost much less. Here’s a few tips if you don’t have the budget for a permanent residency at the Ritz:
Invest in a mattress topper
They say you should get a new mattress every eight years, but what happens if you’re not quite satisfied earlier on in your purchase? That’s where our Belledorm Clusterball mattress toppers come in. They offer a totally decadent landing for you to sink into after a long day. This extra layer of comfort is sure to cast your mind back to your last luxury hotel stay.
Opt for natural colour palettes
Whilst it’s tempting to go wild with your interior in the bedroom, bright colours could be disrupting your sleep. Anything that causes too much visual stimulation will be keeping you up at night without you even realising. If you’re struggling to sleep, try a neutral colour palette.
Luxury hotels don’t just use plain duvet covers simply so you know it’s clean, they’re chosen especially to ease the strain on your eyes. Ditch the vivid red bedsheets in favour of luxurious ivory bedding to help lull you into a dreamy state.
Consider different textures
As we mentioned before, it’s important to focus on temperature when you’re changing your interior through the seasons. That said, an extra layer of luxury in the colder months could give you that distinct hotel room vibe. Our gorgeous Malini faux silk bedspread is just one of the ways you can implement new textures into your home. The silky feel soothes you to sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow without making you too hot.
Focus on all five senses
The Great British Sleep Survey discovered exactly what elements disrupt our sleep. In a multiple choice answer, the top five physical factors that keep people awake at night are:
Bodily discomfort 67%
Noise 36%
Partner 34%
Room temperature 34%
Light levels 19%
When you think about it, almost all these could be covered by ensuring our bedroom pleases all five senses. When it comes to making your bedroom feel like a luxury hotel room, no stone should go unturned. Think holistically to get the most out of your redesign. For example, it’s no good having gorgeous luxury bedding if your room is unkempt. Getting a good night’s sleep is a balancing act for all five senses.
Touch
You should be investing in the softest materials possible. They really do make a difference. To give your room that luxury hotel feel opt for soft materials that you wouldn’t necessarily use in the rest of your home. Your bedroom should feel like the ultimate place for respite, so if your scatter cushions on the sofa are more comfy than your pillows, something has gone wrong.
Sight
If you’re struggling to sleep, assess your room to see if anything could be catching your eye at night. Light peering in from outside is one common gripe. This can be combatted with blackout blinds or thicker curtains.
Blackout blinds could change your sleep pattern dramatically. If you’re a shift worker, these miracle screens could help you drift off during the daylight hours. Even in the summer months when the sun rises early, you can sleep in for however long you want.
Smell
An often overlooked feature in many homes, scents distributed around our room have a huge impact on our psychological state. For example, the scent of citrus could perk you up in the morning and make you more alert, whereas lavender may leave you feeling relaxed.
As lavender has become so commonly used, it may help you feel relaxed but it doesn’t necessarily have that luxury feeling. Opt for a more unique home fragrance to really give your bedroom that perfect finishing touch.
We prefer the Culti Decor room spray, which combines white current, tuberose and cedar wood for a masculine scent that signifies luxury.
Hear
What you can hear outside of your bedroom can of course make a huge difference. Luxury hotel rooms will often supply guests with comfortable ear plugs to aid their sleep. This element is sometimes out of our control, but little differences such as ear plugs could make a huge difference in the quality of sleep we receive.
Taste
Perhaps this isn’t one you’ve thought about too much in your own bedroom, but one that luxury hotels do. You shouldn’t really be eating in bed, but there’s one habit that many of us are guilty of that could be disrupting our sleep…
Do you drink tea in bed? It’s something many of us have become accustomed to, but the reality is that you shouldn’t do it!
Going to bed with a warm drink is all well and good if you’re sipping on a Horlicks or hot chocolate, but the caffeine in tea is enough to disrupt your sleep. Make sure you’re not consuming any food or drink that could keep you awake, even if it means ditching the soothing warmth of a cuppa in bed.
Bedroom interior design doesn’t have to be a fine art. With our easy-to-follow steps you could be on your way to a sound night’s sleep in no time. Just don’t tell the hotels we shared all their secrets!