Bedrooms are private rooms in most homes but that does not mean they should be ignored. Many bedrooms end up as dumping grounds for clutter from the rest of the house purely because they are out of sight.
Does your bedroom have piles of clothing, cardboard boxes, suitcases and even gym equipment? And when was it last properly cleaned and decorated? Bedrooms should be restful, stress free and beautiful rooms. They should stimulate the senses whilst still having a calm influence.
Here are seven tips to refreshing your bedroom without spending a fortune.
Deep Clean
Bedrooms always need good cleaning to remove dust, hair and other debris and to control bed mites. Vacuum the room regularly with a high quality cleaner but once a year get the room professionally cleaned, perhaps more often if you have pets or if you smoke in the bedroom. Deep clean carpets and beds and all dust traps such on top of wardrobes or on picture rails.
Air the room thoroughly and frequently let the mattress air all day long to ensure that any moisture fully evaporates – mites need a moist environment.
A clean bedroom should smell fresh but that should be the result of a clean room and free air rather than overpowering room scents from supermarkets.
New Bedding
Since you spend a third of your life in this room you should make the experience a good one. Furthermore a good night’s sleep sets you up for the rest of the day. So it is worth investing in good bedding.
Get the best quality mattress you can afford and investing high quality cotton sheets is a good idea; go for Egyptian cotton with a high thread count. This will give your bed a luxurious feel and the sheets will be durable.
Paint
Some people think that decorating a bedroom is low priority since it usually is dark and most of the time it’s in use you have your eyes closed! But as you drift off to the land of nod or when you wake in the morning why not have an attractive surrounding? Fortunately repainting a room is not expensive and you can change your style frequently to suit your moods. There is no need to adopt the “conventional” magnolia and off-whites so prevalent these days. You can design your bedroom to be either a cool restful haven with light blues or an exotic boudoir with aubergines and reds.
Anything goes as long as it suits you.
Carpet
Bedroom carpet is usually long lasting because it does not get heavy usage with dirty outdoor shoes but that means it will accumlate dust over the years, hence the need for regular cleaning. Also if you are choosing a new carpet try to select a style that will not go out of fashion too quickly. That way you can retain the carpet when you redecorate the rest of the room.
Storage
This is absolutely critical. Most homes would benefit from a separate walk-in wardrobe but sadly do not have the available space. Failing that you need to be ruthless with bedroom storage. Put last season’s clothing into plastic boxes with lids and put in a couple of sachet’s of silica gel to absorb any moisture. Store the closed box in the loft or garage until needed next year. If the clothing is out of fashion, or no longer fits take it to a thrift/charity store.
It is always worth adding as many shelves, hooks, rails etc in your wardrobe to maximise storage space and to minimise frustration when it comes to finding a particular item of clothing.
Curtains
A good night’s sleep is essential to refresh body and mind, so your window dressing should be as near to “black-out” as possible. Your choice of window dressing is only limited by your imagination and budget (How about remote controlled motorised blinds?).
When you are designing the window dressings allow for the windows to open properly, since one of the healthiest ways to sleep is with fresh air circulating in the room. Except on the stormiest or coldest nights you can easily sleep with a window partly open as long as your window dressings are not flapping and keeping you awake!
Gadgets
Since you spend so much time in the bedroom, you might well want to invest in a few toys.
How about a remote control to switch on your shower and set the temperature whilst you are still curled up under the duvet?
Perhaps either you or your partner like to stay awake longer reading? Then why not invest in independent spot lighting over each side of the bed?
If you like watching TV in bed instead of having an ugly TV on a bracket attached to the wall, why not build it into a blanket chest at the foot of the bed. You can motorise it so that the TV rises out of the box for viewing and then disappears to avoid visual clutter and to hide a dust trap.
Which ever of these tips you adopt or if you have your own ideas you can easily and cheaply refresh your bedroom whenever it needs a new look or calls for a new mood.