The little reading corner that keeps evolving.
Lately I’ve been getting (back) into home decorating. I moved into a new home in August and I think I was kind of overwhelmed with all of the decorating projects I’m now facing. So I’ve finally come up with a plan and am now focused on making my living space happy, healthy, and yes, of course fly. We spend sooo much time at home so it should definitely be a well place.
I started with my tween daughters room last month. She wanted “grunge”. I wanted “clean”. We figured out a way to make the two polar opposites work. The first thing on my radar was the bedding. If we can get that together, and get rid of everything else, we’ve got the clean part down.
Her focus was posters and plants. She’s starting a collection of both, which are coming along nicely. I just had to provide some guidance such as – posters need a backing and something more than scotch tape. And plants need cute pots.
Five bags of clothes, toys and books to give away, and a new bedding set later, we stopped at “clean”. And I’m satisfied with that.
If you ask me grunge is what it was before. But anyhoo…
A baby shower gift from my bff from high school and Spelman. This poster will be on my daughters wall forever if I have my way.
This child and her love for Drake.
I had so much fun working on her room that I may have slightly taken over her vision. Just slightly. LOL! But she seems to be really pleased with the outcome so far. This project will continue, but it’s off to a really good start.
Now on to the exciting part – our master bedroom. 🙂
I want “retreat”. He wants “clean”. I think we want the same thing so this should be easy. I’ve committed the spring to working on this one room. Focus, focus, focus.
The hunt for this aqua bengal pillow has given me so much grief. Sigh.
The first thing I did was pick one object to decorate around. So I chose a beautiful bengal striped aqua and chocolate pillow I got on sale at a cute little home decor and design boutique. Unfortunately I later realized that I needed 2 more of those pillows and had already purchased the last one. It took a couple of weeks but I’m finally giving up on locating any more of this fabulous pillow. 🙁
Once I resolved to live with the one pillow, I moved on to obsessing over the bedding. I went with some Candice Olson (of HGTV) designs. I’m working to keep it from being overly feminine. I think Candice does a good job of that. And aqua and chocolate seem to work well to create both a masculine and feminine style.
I’ve added more pillows but I’m not done, no ma’am!
The other night I was looking at tv, well, HSN, so technically I was window shopping. I just happened to tune in at the right moment. They were running a special on bed pillows. Perfect, because I had just earlier in the day dressed our bed in the brand new bedding, all except for sleeping pillows. I thought, I’ll get those later. Well after HSN got through talking about bacteria and keeping your bed clean, I pressed PURCHASE immediately. Did you know your pillow DOUBLES IN WEIGHT within a year? WTH??? Between body oils, drool, dust, multiplying dust mites and dust mite waste products, we are sleeping with lots of company. Lord help us.
Have you ever considered the fact that your bed could be making you sick? It’s crazy because that’s the place we go to when we want to feel better. Changing the sheets and mattress pad are a good start. But it’s like being on a treadmill if you do that and forget about the health of your pillows.
So I got these Concierge Collection pillows with pillow covers included. These pillows are washable – love it – and liquid, or I should say body fluid repellant – love it – and come with a cover. Perfect. I was already making up the bed with the blankets folded back to air out the bed daily, but this pillow thing wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, until now.
Needless to say I cannot wait to get my new pillows.
Flowers, real and silk, are high maintenance, but soooo pretty.
A few things to remember when keeping wellness at the forefront of your bedroom decorating project:
- Dust is and always will be a problem. Make sure you have a good air purifying system and a regular dusting routine. Also plants are wonderful for cleansing the air and of course they’re just plain beautiful. If you have silk floral arrangements like I do, remember to shake them out as part of your dusting routine. Or just get real ones.
- Changing your bedding often (weekly at least) is good. Buying new bedding is even better. Fold the covers back to expose the blanket or even the sheets when making up to the bed to allow it to dry out and kill off dust mites.
- By nature we are nocturnal creatures, used to sleeping in darkness. Make sure you have some room dark
ening window treatment if there is ANY light shining outside of your window at night, or during the day if you need to sleep during daylight hours. This helps for you to get more hours of deep sleep, the best kind. - I absolutely love the white noise app on nights when I’m just a little restless, or the room is too quite. Take your pick of air conditioner, rain, frogs and more. My favorite is crickets. Works like a charm.
Candles and holders from Pier 1.
- You probably already know you shouldn’t watch tv before bedtime. I’m creating a nice little reading corner to encourage me to get back into reading before bedtime instead of my nightly dose of Martin. Reading allows the brain to slow down and relax, ushering you into sleepyville much quicker.
- Soothing scents can help with relaxation at bedtime. I swear by Pier 1 candles because you don’t even have to light them to get a room full of loveliness in the air. I’m loving their new scent, Sea Grass. Ahhh. Pure relaxation.
- Bedroom colors, if chosen properly, can be calming and invite good rest. I’ve chosen mainly aqua, with a bit of chocolate and silver here and there. Nothing could be more tranquil than water, right?
- Feng Shui anyone? I won’t say that I keep up with all of the rules and details of feng shui, but if you happen to have some knowledge and/or experience with it, I’d love to hear all about it.
- Comfort is king. The next time you’re staying at a 4 or 5 star hotel, take note of what is so great about the room. Take pictures of the room. Duplicate what you love about it at home. For me, a whole slew of pillows on the bed is just so comfortable. So I made sure to double my bed pillow count, and yes, I’m happy and comfy now.
What can you add to this list? I’d love to know. I’m excited about spending time in my bedroom and not just in the bed (#bedtohalfmarathon) but in my new chair and reading corner. As I create this “well” space I’m discovering what I need to add piece by piece. So this will likely be continued. But just like my daughter’s room, I think it’s off to a good start. What do you think?
