How to Create a Beautiful Bedroom

The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late.

Ogden Nash

When the day is done and the shoes are finally off, what does your bedroom say to you? ‘Come on in, I’m ready with a hug?’ Or, ‘Excuse the smelly sheets and the odd bug?’

A bedroom is a sanctuary. Your personal space. Your comfort zone. Lavish some time and love on decorating it to pamper your senses and refresh your soul. Delhi interior designer Shaloo Gupta shows the way:

Choose Peace-promoting Colours: Lavender, violet, blue and green are relaxing colours that have a profoundly calming effect on the mind. Green is redolent of forests, while the blue family has a cool, beachy feel. Soft earth tones can also be very comforting. Bright oranges and yellows might look cheerful, but they are energy-boosting and stimulate creativity, while you need to wind down in this space and time.

How to Use Color to Empower Your Life

Pamper Your Sense of Touch: A bed is all about relaxing in. Make sure your mattress is as comfortable as possible. Luxurious sheets, downy pillows, lush comforters…they are not unnecessary expenditure, but essential investment.

Serenade Your Sense of Smell: Lavender works wonders in the bedroom, because it has soothing and healing properties. Light a lavender-scented candle, or tuck a sachet of lavender pot-pourri under your pillow for a night of restful sleep. Or, simply open up a window and inhale the unmatched scent of pure, clean air.

7 Ways to Make Your Living Space Smell Nice

Light it Right: Bright lights urge you to be active, soft ones calm you down. Invest in dimmers and gentle lamps. I have a lovely bedside floor lamp, but I’m told that placing a light on either side of the bed gives your room a more balanced and relaxing look.

A comfortably upholstered chair adds a personal touch to a bedroom. If you have some extra space in your room, use it to create this chair-nook. Keep a rolling pin under the chair, and when you’re sitting there, gentle slide the soles of your feet back and forth on the rolling pin–it is exquisitely comforting!

One unique accent piece: and that’s all you need to give your bedroom a signature style. A beautiful painting that you can gaze at forever. A stylish window that looks out into greenery. A lovely bookcase. Use your imagination to select the right accent for you.

Let Go of the Clutter: Electronic gadgets—computer, television—create ‘noise’ and can keep you awake till late. Ideally, your bedroom should not do double duty as home office. Ayurvedic healers advise avoiding ‘stimulating’ reading material such as crime thrillers at bedtime–they interfere with sleep.

Get some fresh air: Consider the quality of air in your bedroom. Fresh, cool night air soothes the senses, while stale, polluted air makes you toss and turn in bed. Plants are not good feng shui in the bedroom.

8 Easy Steps to No More Clutter

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Latonya W.

3:14PM PDT on Apr 9, 2012

thanx

April 9
send a green star

Sarah M.

5:59PM PDT on Apr 8, 2012

thanks

April 8
send a green star

Annemarie W.

5:23PM PDT on Mar 29, 2012

Thanks!

March 29
send a green star

Lu Ann P.

10:46PM PDT on Mar 27, 2012

Calm and relaxed looking is nice in a bedroom but some of us enjoy a little spice as well.

March 27
send a green star

Debbie L.

8:41PM PDT on Mar 26, 2012

Thanks.

March 26
send a green star

Roxana C.

6:05AM PDT on Mar 26, 2012

Gloria M.

8:53PM PDT on Mar 25, 2012

March 25
send a green star

Elaine A.

9:34AM PDT on Mar 25, 2012

My Bedroom is decorated in an completely harem style with fabrics from around the Middle east with the bed having all the canopy material fabrics in sheers and sari's to which I made the bed skirt, pillows and had a mirrored bed spread made in Istanbul with matching decorative pillows there are a multitude of colors with black dresser drawers that I redid both so the room is lit with candles or the light of the sun as so desired.

Lydia W.

6:36AM PDT on Mar 25, 2012

A bedroom like the one in the picture is too pretty and cheerful for me to sleep in. It's beauty would keep me awake enjoying it. I require something more plain and quiet and uninspiring to sleep in.

Judy A.

4:41AM PDT on Mar 25, 2012

Like the ideas.