This post is part of a larger series on home design. Be sure to look out for our other blogs on perfecting your kitchen, your living room, and your bathroom! In this blog, all photos were taken by Matthew Garsky (@matthewgarsky).
Bedroom 101
Your bedroom is more important than you think. Where else in the world do you start and end your day? Often times, we overlook our bedrooms and opt for maximum comfort (not a bad thing, by the way) while giving minimal effort toward making our bedroom look its best. In this post, we’ll explore a few tips on how to design your best bedroom and why we think it’s so important.
Know Your Space
Does your bedroom have exposed brick? Where are the windows? The outlets? The closet space? What type of floor are you working with? Even your ceiling matters. On a practical level, you want to be able to get to your clothes without having to hurdle your mattress. It would probably be nice to have a dresser that doesn’t block out half of your natural light. These things all come together when you consider the ways that we navigate putting together a bedroom. Poor spacial management will lead to terrible looks and major feelings of claustrophobia. It doesn’t matter how comfortable your mattress is if your bedroom feels cramped and uninviting.
Before worrying about what furniture you want to buy, look at your space and decide how furniture would fit the space. When it comes to making your bedroom look great, you wouldn’t believe what ends up mattering.
Staging Your Curtains
If your only goal with curtains is blocking out the sun, feel free to skip this section and opt for cardboard over your windows. This often surprises people, but the thing that most often makes people feel like their bedroom is cramped isn’t the side of their bed, but the height of their curtains. Usually, we assume that curtains should be installed no higher than the top of the glass they’re covering; however, if you install curtains just a few inches above the window frame, you’ll find the room feeling vast and open. Why? Well, a longer curtain creates the sense that the ceiling is higher. For the most part, a short curtain means a small (feeling) space.
Area Rugs Help Areas
There are times when your bedroom can feel like a lot of small islands. There’s the island of your bed, the island of your dresser, the island of a chair, and so on and so forth. We’ll usually attribute these feelings of separation to not having the right furniture or spacing. Often times, it’s an easier fix than you might think.
If you’re dresser sits in front of your bed, simply place the area rug under the end of your bed and place its other end beneath a dresser, a chair, or whatever item you’re trying to pair. You’ll give your room continuity and coziness. And guess what? You might save money on heating, too. Check out more of our tips on how decoration can cut your cooling costs.
DIY Decor
Building up your dream bedroom (or any room, for that matter) can be an expensive endeavor. At first, splurging for a piece of furniture seems fine. Then there’s another piece. And another. And another. Like a snowball gaining size as it rolls down a mountain, the costs of decoration add up and get out of control before we know it.
Instead of breaking the bank on a dresser in a certain color, try refurbishing an old piece of furniture and giving it the look you want. Instead of buying expensive striped curtains, cut and sew pieces of two old fabrics together. The list goes on. Sure, these things take time, but you’ll save money, come away with real satisfaction for your hard work, and enjoy something that is uniquely you.
Beds Against Windows
Framing your bed against windows can add symmetry to your room. Additionally, if your windows face sunrise, you’ll be able to wake up to natural light. While the framing is a plus, make sure that your windows are well sealed. In the winter time, old windows can leak and have you looking like an icicle in the morning.
Declutter The Room & Your Mind
We’ve all ended the day exhausted, come into our bedroom, and thrown our clothes to the ground. We’ve all used our bedroom more as the place where we store extra stuff we can’t fit anywhere else. We’ve all decided that we can just double our bedroom as a study. These decisions take away from the whole point of a good bedroom. When you’re waking up and going to bed, you should find a sense of peace in this very personal space. As much as you can, declutter your bedroom, stop working in it, leave your tech in the living room, and make this space a sanctuary for rest and recharging. It might seem small, but we think you’ll end up enjoying the room a lot more and having better days because of it.
At The End Of The Day
At the end of the day, your bedroom is where you go at the end of the day. As the most personal, intimate room there is, effort and energy needs to go into the place where you lay your head. We’ve seen incredible bedrooms from our tenants, each different from the other, but the best we’ve seen are always the result of time, attention, and ambitious vision. Don’t cheat yourself for a thrown together place. Give yourself your best bedroom.
