A bedroom for sleeping, and nothing else
We took everything out that was not about sleep, painted the ceiling dark and bought linen.
- Where
- Size
- Room
- Budget
- Time
- Style
We asked one question when we redesigned our bedroom: what does this room need to do? The answer was short. It needs to help us sleep. Not to work, not to watch television, not to store the ironing. Everything we did followed from that sentence, and it cost £850 over two weekends.
Take things out first
Before buying anything, we took everything out that was not about sleep. The desk went to the spare room. The television went to the living room, and then to a charity shop. The exercise bike went to a friend who promised to use it.
The room was suddenly quiet, even before we changed a single wall.
A darker colour than you think
We painted the walls a deep, warm grey-brown, a colour that feels like the inside of a wooden box. Dark colours in a bedroom make the corners disappear at night, and the room feels smaller in a good way: wrapped, not cramped.
The ceiling is the same colour, which surprised everyone who saw it. A white ceiling above dark walls makes the room feel like a box with a lid. The same colour everywhere makes it feel like a cave, and a cave is a good place to sleep.
- #5E5147 Walnut — walls and ceiling
- #EFE7DA Linen — bedding and curtains
- #A8795A Clay — cushions and one lamp
- #7C8A6E Sage — a plant, and the rug border
The bed and the bedding
We kept the bed and changed everything on it. Washed linen is the best thing we have ever bought for a bedroom: it is cool in summer, warm in winter, and it looks better creased than ironed, which is good news for people who do not iron.
Washed linen duvet cover
Stone-washed European flax, soft from the first night. Our pick after trying six.
Light
A bedroom needs three kinds of light: soft light for the evening, a reading light for each person, and no light at all at night. We removed the ceiling bulb and added two bedside lamps with warm bulbs and dimmers, plus lined curtains that close fully.
Storage
The fastest way to ruin a calm bedroom is a chair covered in clothes. We solved it with one rule and one piece of furniture: clothes go in the wardrobe or in the laundry basket, and there is a hook behind the door for tomorrow's clothes. That is all.
What it cost
- Paint and a roller for walls and ceiling: £140
- Lined linen curtains and a pole: £290
- Linen bedding: £260
- Two lamps and warm bulbs: £160
Total: £850. The curtains made the biggest difference, and the paint the second.
We did not make the bedroom beautiful. We made it boring, in the best way.
Maren Holt
Three months later
We fall asleep faster, which may be the dark curtains, and we wake up less tired, which may be the absence of a phone charger by the bed. We moved that to the hallway too.
The floor
Bare boards look lovely and feel cold at six in the morning. We added a large wool rug that reaches under the bed on both sides, so the first step of the day is always onto something soft. The rug is a warm oatmeal with a thin sage border, and it softens the sound in the room too.
Sound
A calm bedroom is also a quiet one. Heavy lined curtains, the rug and a fabric headboard absorb far more noise than you would think, and the room now sounds soft, the way a room in an old hotel does. The street outside has not changed; we just stopped hearing it.
Air
We open the window for ten minutes every morning, whatever the weather, and keep the radiator low. A cool room, around eighteen degrees, is the easiest improvement to sleep there is, and it costs nothing at all.
The one thing we would add
A small upholstered bench at the foot of the bed. It would give the clothes that are worn twice a home that is not the chair, and somewhere to sit to put on socks. We have measured the space three times and not bought it yet, which is, perhaps, the most bedroom-like decision of all: no hurry.
