Where To Start

If you feel tired, with a lack of energy, finding it difficult to drag yourself out of bed, you might need to give your bedroom a boost with a quick makeover. When your room is drab and dated, it can sap your energy levels. This makes you feel more lethargic than before you went to sleep. If you’re looking at a tired and dated bedroom, it can make you feel anxious with a disturbed night’s sleep.

What you see before you go to sleep should help you to feel rested and calm. What you see when you wake up should make you feel revived and invigorated. Your bedroom should bring down your stress levels for sleeping, and then pep up your mood in the morning. If it doesn’t then it’s probably time to refresh your bedroom.

When beginning any interior makeover, take a moment to think about how the space feels at the moment. Then write down a couple of words that describe how you’d like it to feel once finished and looking lovely.

What’s The Problem

Here’s a bedroom that I’ve recently transformed. It’s a picture from the estate agent’s details of how the room looked when the 2 bed property was viewed.

How does it make you feel? It’s tidy, if a little cluttered with furniture, and feels fresh with the floral bedding.

In reality, however, the room was very dark with a low energy level that made it feel sad rather than relaxing.

This apartment was for a guy who had epilepsy, so the bedroom had to be a calming space when he needed to rest after a seizure, but also an invigorating room to give him energy after a fitting session. Like any bedroom, this is what we all want – a space to help us relax, sleep well and wake up feeling invigorated.

When you look at this bedroom, can you see what’s making the space feel dark and dull?

The first problem was the pendant light, with a low wattage energy bulb, that won’t provide sufficient artificial light to brighten the room. It’s also ugly, when you’re lying in bed looking up at it. The style of pendant light and the type of bulb needed changing.

The second problem was the wall colour. Although it was a pale cream, it had too much grey in the colour which dulled the room. The colour needed changing to brighten the bedroom.

The third problem, making the bedroom feel dark, was the vertical window blinds. Although they were sheer, the fabric was quite dense and minimised daylight from entering the room.

It’s no wonder the space was feeling dark and sad with a lack of natural light, paint colour sapping daylight and insufficient artificial light.

The Interior Design Solutions

Taking the time to understand your space and the problems will:

• save you money because you’re not buying things that won’t help you fix the problems
• optimise time because you’re not shopping for things and putting your efforts into solutions that won’t create your dream room
• reduce your stress because you’re focused on resolving specific issues with your room

This is an effective way of creating a strong design and a quick makeover that looks so stylish. Here’s the finished room and how I resolved the problems:

PROBLEM 1: LIGHTING

I swapped out the pendant bulb for a white ceiling light fixture. It has a stronger bulb and the inside is a reflective silver, which helps to bounce the light around the room. I’ve also added flexible wall lights that move to different positions depending on where you need the light. These change have incorporated a much improved and stronger artificial light into the bedroom.

PROBLEM 2: WALL COLOUR

The dull cream paint has been replaced with a fresh pure white. To prevent the bedroom from looking too stark, I’ve also incorporated a blue wall around the bed. This creates a feature of the bed, making it feel cosy and nurturing.

PROBLEM 3: WINDOW BLINDS

A white, sheer voile curtain has replaced the vertical blinds. This allows for more daylight to enter the room, whilst still providing privacy and adding a softness to the bedroom.

It’s now a comfortable and relaxing bedroom that looks bright and refreshing – the perfect bedroom sanctuary.

If you’d like to know more about how to successfully prepare for your interior makeover, read CHAPTER 1 of my interior design book – A HOME TO CHERISH. It will guide you on the fundamentals to create a successful design scheme for any room in your home.

In next week’s blog (Part 2 ) I’ll share with you HOW TO CHOOSE THE PERFECT LIGHTS for your bedroom, and the 5 LIGHTING LEVELS you need to have in every room. This will be particularly useful if you have a dark room or even a dark corner within your room.

If you’re modernising your home, particularly your bedroom, and are
uncertain about the layout or worried about making an expensive mistake,
just phone me for a chat and I’ll help you create your dream sanctuary.

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR BEDROOM TRANSFORMATION

Gwendoline

BIID Interior Designer & House Dr Consultant

M: 07841 519802