Please note: This article may contain affiliate links. All recommendations and styling advice are provided as helpful suggestions only, please always research thoroughly before making any major changes to your home.
Photo credit: all images with permission from Denice Lindell via @stylingbydenice and http://stylingbydenice.elsasentourage.se/
When you don’t have a big budget or a huge amount of time, small changes are the way to go. In fact, small changes can pack a pretty big punch if you’re doing it right. Here are five that I think are worth doing…
Paint the Walls in a Colour You Really Like
First and foremost, bedrooms are for sleeping in. But, they’re also somewhere for reading in, chatting in, watching TV in (perhaps), and of course, the other thing that bedrooms are used for! For that reason, it’s important your walls are painted in a colour you actually like – you’re going to spend a lot of time looking at them.
So, cover up that awful shade of magnolia and whip out the paint. White paint will feel blank, neutral and totally not energy-draining in any way. Or, you might be gravitating towards darker tones or bright colours instead. Do whatever feels right!
Personally, I've just painted my bedroom a shade of swampy green (it's called 'crocodile', in fact, and it's dark, dramatic and oh so cosy... perfect for afternoon naps). Painting a room is technically a fairly big change, but compared to tearing down walls or ripping up the flooring, a lick of paint counts as ‘small changes’ in my book. Just!
Move Your Bed
Depending on the size of the room or a feature such as a chimney breast, this might be pretty much decided for you. But, if you have any say in the matter, move it away from the walls. Beds pushed up into the corners of a bedroom will give you more floor space, but you’re not five years old any more and you don’t need somewhere to play…
A bed sitting centrally against a far wall is one of those grown-up changes that are easy to make in no time at all.
Make the Effort to Install a Decent Reading Light
One of the most impactful small changes you can make is to ensure you have good lighting - and in fact, that's true for any room. After all, one of the best bits of the day is snuggling down in bed to read a book, and it wouldn’t be relaxing if you had to read with the overhead light on…and not least for the fact it would require getting out of your nice warm spot to turn the light off again.
Pop a bedside lamp at reading height and choose a bulb that emits a soft, warm glow (but still strong enough to read by). Consider hanging lamps for your bedside too; it makes sense to fix your bedside lamps to the wall so you can reserve the bedside tables for other things.
Fix Hooks to the Back of Your Door
Another little touch that makes all the difference is simply fixing a couple of hooks to the back of the bedroom door. Throwing your dressing gown, towels or hoodies on the back of your door (rather than in a pile in the corner) on door hooks just feels like your living arrangement is more permanent (after all, you’ve bothered to put some holes in the door!), and automatically makes it feel more like you’re there to stay.
And you won’t be stepping around a chair that’s groaning with the weight of discarded items of clothing either.
Highlight the Best Bits
Finally, make the most of an unusual part of your bedroom – if you have one. For instance, a window seat can be covered in foam and fabric and decorated with cushions - it’s a good place to watch the sun go down, and it’s often a nice little place to read from. Or (if you’re lucky enough to have a fireplace in your bedroom - working or not), style it up, repaint it or string fairy lights along the mantelpiece to draw attention to it.
So, those are just a handful of small changes you can make that will have a big impact on the way you use your bedroom, and the way it feels to spend time in it. Are there any small tricks you’ve done to your bedroom? I'd love to hear about them!
p.s You'll get even more out of your bedroom if you do this. And I think this might be the reason you're not sleeping as well as you should be.
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