Success starts in the bedroom because the quality of your sleep affects the rest of your day. Start the day fully charged with these simple hacks from Studio Hooton on creating the perfect snooze room.
Clean carpets
Traditional carpets may suggest luxury, comfort and warmth but they can be a breeding ground for pesky dust mites.
Designer tip: If the idea of stepping on a hard surface first thing doesn’t appeal, go for a flat weave carpet or better still, a gorgeous sisal or woven grass floor covering from somewhere like Alternative Flooring or Crucial Trading as they won’t harbour dust mites like wool.
Image | Alternative Flooring
Clever storage
Dusty books by the bed, clothes on the floor and loose change on the dresser can overload the senses and make it hard to sleep.
Designer tip: Create a clutter-free bedroom with built-in storage. Even the simplest wall mounted shelving will hold more than a free standing unit, and will have been designed to store exactly what you need. Off the shelf objects should fall into one of two categories: useful and/or beautiful, such as the books you’re reading or stylish ceramic bowls for loose change.
Image | Marquard Design
Calming colours
Bright colours can stimulate the senses rather than promote inner calm.
Designer tip: Create the perfect bedroom sanctuary with clean white bedlinen and cushions and throws in calming accent colours such as soft blues and greens.
Image | Studio Hooton
Light solutions
Light tells our body it’s daytime and inhibits the release of melatonin which tells us it’s time for sleep.
Image | Knight Shades
Designer tip: Prevent daylight from waking you before the alarm by using blackout curtains, roman blinds or shutters with large louvres which will let in more light during the day and offer pitch-blackness at night. Wood shutters will also help to absorb that other sleep niggle: noise.
Fresh linen
Night sweats and bed-sharing with pets can rapidly turn your perfect sleep haven into a less than inviting space.
Designer tip: Nothing is more conducive to relaxing than a bed with clean white sheets. Choose percale sheets for a crisp, cool feeling, or sateen sheets for a silkier, smoother feel. Change your sheets weekly and throw back the duvet and open the windows daily to keep sheets fresh.
Tech-free rooms
Blue light from mobiles and other devices produce can affect our sleep/wake cycle and sabotage our sleep.
Designer tip: Make your zen den a tech-free space as even something as seemingly innocent as a TV’s stand-by light can affect sleep. If you really want a TV in your room, enclose it within a media unit and lock it away an hour before bed. Avoid all other technology in the bedroom, especially mobile phones prone to buzzing or ringing in the middle of the night!
Studio Hooton is based in London and Winchester and carry out contemporary interior design projects across the south of England, from Soho to the Cotswolds.
