Well following my post last week the new bed arrived and I
thought I would share a few pictures of the current state of the bedroom.
We have not done a lot to the master bedroom yet but there
are a few changes and steps we have taken to help us sleep. Whilst I generally
find it easy to sleep my boyfriend often suffers from bouts of insomnia so I have
always have in mind what will improve his quality of sleep. Consequently when
we first moved into the house the focus was upon sleep hygiene with aesthetics
being secondary.
Blackout Blinds
I know it is fairly obvious but blackout blinds for the
bedroom were the first purchase for the house, to make sure that the
bedroom is as dark as possible when trying to sleep. The house did not have any
window dressings upstairs when we moved in and I am really glad that we visited
the house between the offer being accepted and the purchase going through to
measure the bedroom windows which meant that the blinds were read and able to
be put in when we moved in. We had one night without them, as we could not find the electric drill, and I am eternally grateful that it was only one night.
Given the interesting angles of the room I felt that blinds
would work better than blackout curtains and the Roman Blinds were dressier and
sophisticated that a roller blind.
I love the look of jute blinds but they do not block out
enough light so I looked at alternative fabrics that were a similar colour and
had a bit of texture. I ordered
these ones from Blinds2go in Linen Chic which
combines Pure linen and Eternity Linen in a sandy mushroom and a warm grey edge
with Blackout backing. Although they are relatively simple the linen gives them
interest and the colours work well with the grey carpet.
Swap the light bulbs
Talking of light, we swapped the existing cool white light bulb
for a warm white LED light bulb to reduce our exposure to blue based light
before trying to sleep. We have not yet swapped out the basic light fixing for
Black and Brass ceiling fixture, as I want to get an electrician to come and
replace it, as well as put in a dimmer switch to assist with winding down our
exposure to light before going to bed.
We also use warm white light bulbs in the bedside lamps. The bedside lamps, are these
ones by Globen lighting through Scandinavian Design website. As they
plug in and come with European plug sockets, we bought these
permanent plugconverters from amazon that you screw onto the light fitting.
We slightly knocked the bedside lights when we put the bed together so they ended up a little crooked in the photographs.
The Right Bedding
I previously mentioned that we reordered the same mattress
as I had on the double bed since we found it comfortable and it worked for a
back and a side sleeper. It is a memory foam bed which has been treated to
prevent it reflecting too much heat back.
When we looked at buying new pillows, I keep a record for a
week about the position we slept in before deciding that we both needed pillows
for side sleepers. Whilst I would love to have Hungarian Goose Down pillows
they are an extravagance whilst there are still other things to get for the
house. Instead we have these
White Company Duck Feather Pillows and Pillow
covers since neither of us is allergic.
We also have a duvet which comes in two parts which clicks
together meaning that we can tailor the warmth of the duvet depending on how
cold it is outside. If you really struggle and need a different level of cover
than your partner you could always try the Swedish tradition of separate single
duvets in matching fabric.
Linen Bed sheets
When I accidently dyed a very expensive white Egyptian cotton
duvet pink (thank you stray red sock!) I researched what fabrics were best to
help regulate your body temperature and stumbled across various articles about
the benefits of linen sheets. We bought these 100% linen ones from TKMaxx for
£50 for a king size set which is incredible value compared to others I have
seen.
I did not notice a huge impact when we initially switched to
linen covers but come the summer months they were a god send and since they
look best crumpled (trying to iron them is fruitless) they have the advantage
of being pretty low maintenance compared to other bedding.
In case you are interested the second set of pillow covers is from the
John Lewis Croftcollection and is off white and slate stripe. We also have a Moroccan Blanket
which works like a weighted blanket as it is very heavy, which can help when
feeling restless to reduce your movements.
Air cleaning plant
At the beginning of the year we went to Homebase to buy more
plants for the Study and I picked up a peace Lily for the bedroom (there were a
lot of Hot Fuzz references made for the week following that purchase) to help
with air quality in the bedroom.
According to
NASA research Peace Lilies are excellent at
removing the following pollutants from the air; benzene, formaldehyde, ammonia,
trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene. Which means that they will help improve
the quality of the air you breathe in during your sleep.
They also increase air humidity by up to 5% which has the
benefit of reducing the effects of low humidity which include; static energy,
dry skin and hair and helps with respiratory conditions.
There are other plants which have similar effects but Peace Lilies
are resilient to my notorious plant neglect since they only need watering once
a week and can survive you forgetting to open the blinds. They are however
toxic so you need them out of the reach of pets and children.
Texture over pattern
One thing you may have noticed from my pictures is that we
have not gone for lots of pattern in the room and other than the vintage rugs;
we have used white, warm neutrals, shades of grey with brass and black fittings.
We intentionally chose texture for interest over patterns to
make the room feel as cosy and calming as possible without distracting us
whilst we try to get to sleep. Any shapes and patterns used in the room are geometric or
circular rather than floral or abstract to ensure consistency.
I am not sure if it will completely stay that way, we need to get a fire place for the other end of the room which I did not take a photo of, but
anything we add will need to be carefully considered to ensure that it does not
create undue distractions when going to sleep.
Scent
Pretty much everything I have ever read about aromatherapy
and sleep recommends that you use lavender. I personally find lavender overwhelming
and it tends to give me a headache so I band it from the house and give it a
wide berth.
I do however use a jasmine as a substitute fragrance to
assist in relaxing.
A Study undertaken in Germany in 2010 found that the scent
of Jasmine had a similar effect on people’s mood to valium consequently it
helps relieve anxiety and improve the quality of sleep.
You could always buy a Jasmine plant for your bedroom or you
can try room sprays and air diffusers with jasmine. You could also try
Calm pulse point balm from Kiss the Moon to help you wind down which is Jasmine
rather than Lavender based.
We currently have
White Company's Cashmere diffuser which has notes of Jasmine as well as tuberose and cashmere woods which to my mind is the smell of comforting luxury. I have put a few suggestions below if you like me
suffer from lavender induced headaches.
I hope I have given you some ideas to help you sleep, let me
know if you have any of your own sleep tips.
