If you don’t feel like you’ve been getting enough sleep lately, maybe you should consider your environment. Specifically, is your bedroom a place for slumber, or is it a station for chaos? Too often, people create bedrooms thinking only about the daytime, sometimes even converting them into shared workspaces. But if sleep is hard to come by, you may need to soften your bedroom’s edges and create a place conducive to snoozing. Here are four suggestions for turning your bedroom into a peaceful place so that you can catch a few more Z’s.
Go With the Flow
Whether you believe in the power of feng shui for your bedroom or not, it can still help you create a less busy and more restful space. Eliminate extraneous items from your bedroom’s walls and floors, and keep a clear path from the bed to the door, closet, and desk. Clearing the clutter from your bedroom makes it easier on the eye as well as easier to navigate. That can translate into better sleep since you’ll have less on your mind regarding the real world and more time for the dream world.
Here in the Black
Unless you’re one of those people who likes things to stay lively even when you sleep, turning down the light in your room is a plus. Invest in blackout curtains for the windows to prevent the barest glimmer of streetlights from creeping in during the night or sunlight in the morning. Turn any clock radios or similar light-emitting devices away from your bed, especially phones that can flash sudden alerts at night and wake you up. Adding a door sweep to the bottom of your door keeps out hallway lights as well. Extra darkness can mean extra sleep throughout the night.
Placid Paint
Paint can say a lot about your personality, but when the sun goes down and the stars come out, even the biggest extrovert might want to tone things down a little. Go for a pleasant and soothing color palette rather than loud and brassy colors. Some colors are more calming than others. Consider pastels, particularly along the blue, green, and pink spectrum. Whites and grays are another option, though they may grow a bit boring during your waking hours. After you lay down the paint, keep the artwork you hang equally pretty and neutral.
Natural Ambience
Here’s the last of our four suggestions for turning your bedroom into a peaceful place. Bring nature to your bedroom through plants that thrive in limited light. Philodendrons, snake plants, prayer plants, aspidistras, and various ferns and palms don’t require that much sunlight, are low maintenance, and bring beauty, fresh air, and fragrance to your room. Adopt a green thumb and bring some leafy friends into the mix!