Your bedroom is sacred. It is the most important space in your home. It should be unlike any other room in your apartment. It should be private, beautiful, peaceful and clean. It is where you start a family, where you rest from the world, and where you can retreat together. However, most bedrooms are not taken care of. They are neglected. They become the place where extra stuff gets stored, where hurried cleanings take place, and where little time is spent thinking about improvements.
With many clients, we find bedrooms in a sorry state, and tell them it has to change. Hey, all you couples out there deserve a sexy, beautiful hideaway just as much as a single person needs one to lure someone back to. And as much as bedrooms are about sleeping, they are also very strong indicators of who a person really is behind closed doors. Your bedroom can be a deal maker or breaker....
However, another huge issue right now in this new allergy season is a good night's sleep. This is the time to clean out the extra clothes, old cds, and shoes, but also to clean out dust and allergens that will keep you stuffy and restless at night. This is something you need to do at least once a year. Therefore, along with fluffing your nest, give it a deep clean:
AUTUMN BEDROOM CURE
I love your site, and really appreciate the philosophical and practical bedroom advice. But enough with the heterocentrism already. Husbands and wives? Come on. Are all your clients straight and married? This is NEW YORK! In 2004! I'm sure all kinds of people are reading your site, gay straight, single, partnered with no intention to get hitched, etc. Get the point?
Steamed: Get a grip.
Excellent point. See changes... and then get to work. Maxwell
Having recently focused on the "bedroom area" of my studio to delightfully hedonistic results, I can vouch for the difference it has made in my whole outlook about my daily (and nightly) routine. And for the first time in a LONG time, it's made me fully make the bed as part of my morning ritual. Don't always love THAT part in the morning, but REALLY do when I come back home at night to a picture-perfect (and ultra inviting) bed. Now if the rest of the place would just follow suit!!
One of the little luxuries I allow myself regarding bed linens (learned by reading a piece on interior designer Barbara Barry) is to wash the sheets a second complete cycle, but with no detergents or additives. Gets all the residual soap out and seems very indulgent.
and steamed: I think part of the point of singling out married couples was to prove that all the rest of us (single, unhitched and/or "otherwise") may perhaps already know the power of (and necessity for) a "guest-ready" bed(room)!! I didn't find the posting hetero-whatever at all. And I'm not hetero-whatever at all.
i love the bedside carafe that you have pictured - it's the perfect accessory for a beautiful bedroom. any idea where we can find it?
One of my nicest compliments was when a friend said that my bedroom was beautiful and that it clearly reflected me. I was very flattered.
I just moved into a loft after living in a one bedroom. In my old apartment my bedroom was sectioned off, buffered from the rest of the apartment by the bathroom. Peaceful, perfect. Now I'm in this place with huge ceilings, everything is white (to seem bigger), huge windows, and it all feels imposing. Does anyone have any good advice on how to section off and privatize a loft bedroom without constructing walls? The only room divider I have found is the lame one at Ikea, and I don't want to use tall bookshelves because that has its own impositions (and I'm already using them to create a closet).
Another problem is curtains. I would hang curtains from the ceiling to the floor to section off the bedroom; are there any good places that sell 10'w x 12'h curtain panels? Also, I used to use blackout curtains in my bedroom (http://www.comforthouse.com/comfort/blacdrapline.html) but their length limit is 80". My windows are now 103", anyone know where I can find blackout curtains to fit? Or just the fabric so I could build them myself?
Help!
I have a large bright bedroom facing east that is off white. I'd rather not have to paint, but am having a hard time finding a color scheme or comforter/duvet that will brighten up my room. I like jade green, purples, bright oranges, etc.
Any advice? I haven't been able to hang pictures or curtains, because I can't decide on the bedding. Price is also a bit of an issue.
The bedroom is where you start a family? Ewww. I thought that only happened in the back of a pick-up truck.