Relaxing Bedroom Ideas: How to create a calming master bedroom sanctuary that recharges you after a long day! In this post, you’ll find the best tips for decorating a soothing bedroom!
*This is a sponsored post by Philips Hue. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.
After a long day, most of us want to come back to a relaxing bedroom to unwind. But most people tend to decorate their master bedroom last. I’m here to tell you, it should be one of the first rooms you decorate–and here are easy steps to create a beautiful, relaxing bedroom (some even just take minutes to implement!)
RELAXING BEDROOM IDEAS
8 Key Components of a Restful and Beautiful Bedroom:
Below, I’ve listed the 8 key changes you can make to your bedroom, so it becomes a serene sanctuary. Read on for details on how to implement each idea!
- Soft Ambient Lighting
- Soothing Color Scheme
- Sumptuous Bedding
- Fireplace
- Quality Mattress
- Comfortable Furnishings
- Clutter-free Surfaces
- Natural Motifs and Textures
#1: Ambient Lighting for a Relaxing Mood
The most important aspect for creating a relaxing atmosphere is lighting–and lucky for you it’s the easiest to change! Use soft, cozy lights in your bedroom–even the best paint colors will look horrible with harsh lighting!, Layer your lighting by using a combination of lighting sources like bedside table lamps, recessed lighting, and/ or overhead lighting.
Quick Tips for The Best Lighting Atmosphere in Your Bedroom:
- Use lighting that has adjustable brightness and warmth:
- I love using using Philips Hue’s White Ambiance Bluetooth light bulbs in our bedroom because they make it easy to customize our lighting! I can quickly adjust the color temperature and level of light all using the Philips Hue Bluetooth App on my phone. During the day, I like to have crisper, energizing light, and at night I like to use dimmer, warmer shades of light at night to relax.
- Still nervous about picking the right color temperature? Philip’s Hue App has pre-programmed lighting scenes like Energize or Concentrate that are great to use during the day, and Read or Relax to unwind in the evenings!
- Minimize wires and clutter:
- By using smart, wireless dimming technology with your Hue Bluetooth lights you will have fewer plugs to manage!
- Plus, you never have to get out of bed to turn on/off the lights–Just use the Philips Hue Bluetooth App or your voice with a command to Amazon Alexa.
- Layer your light sources: mix overhead and task lighting for the best results.
- We have three light sources in our room–one overhead light and two bedside table lamps.
- By using Philips Hue White Ambiance bulbs in each of them, I can control each light source one by one, or as a group in the Philips Hue Bluetooth App. *The Philips Hue Bluetooth App can control up to 10 light sources in a room!
The best part is that Philips Hue Bluetooth lightbulbs take minutes to install and are really intuitive to use! These light bulbs have been such a game changer for how our home looks and functions, that we are going to change out the bulbs in our family room as well and install a Philips Hue Bridge, which gives us even more lighting capabilities!
#2: Use a Soothing Color Scheme
The overall feeling of your room is largely determined by your lighting and the colors on your walls. For a relaxing master bedroom, you’ll want to use calm colors like light gray, soft white, and pastel light blue paint colors (see my favorite master bedroom paint colors here.)
For our master bedroom, we wanted a neutral light gray paint color that felt relaxing and airy during the day, and still had some warmth during the night, so we used Benjamin Moore Classic Gray. Use the same colors in your bedding, with accents of color if that is your thing–I love using blue and white because it’s such a clean classic color palette. Below, I’ve listed my favorite relaxing paint color schemes that help set the mood for a serene bedroom.
Relaxing Paint Color Schemes:
- Best Bluish-Gray Paint Colors
- Light gray paint colors
- Soft white paint colors
- Greige paint colors
While I love bright colors, I would recommend using a soothing or pastel palette in your bedroom and then adding pops of brighter colors with throw pillows, bedding, and art. As always sticking to three colors at most will help you create a cohesive look for your bedroom!
#3: Soft and Sumptuous Bedding
You spend 1/3 of your life in bed, but since I often work my bedroom during the daytime as well, I spend even more! With the three older kids (2,4,6 at home as well as a newborn), the downstairs can get pretty loud. Hence, I often retreat upstairs to my bedroom during the mornings to work when our nanny is here (about 15-20 hours a week.) It’s quieter there and the kids are less likely to come in and interrupt me when there is a floor separating us!
One of the best things we’ve invested in is crisp white bedding. It’s incredibly soft, and honestly, having white bedding is just easier with kids–you can always bleach something out.
To create a relaxing bed, make sure you have all the right components: a soft down comforter, a soft throw blanket, throw pillows for decor, and Euro pillows for height, in addition to your sleep pillows. For our king size bed, the ideal pillow situation includes two sleeping pillows for each person, three Euro pillows, two King size pillows, one throw pillow for aesthetics. Yes, it’s a lot of pillows but it makes our bed so soft! Add a cozy throw blanket on top so you don’t have to unmake your bed during the day–plus it’s a great dose of texture!
#4 Install a fireplace or a faux fireplace
We currently have a faux fireplace in our master bedroom which looks lovely but isn’t incredibly practical. Down the line, we will be installing an electric fireplace to amp up our coziness factor, especially for the cold Wisconsin winter months! The warm light from a (real) or faux fireplace will make your bedroom incredibly cozy and relaxing–and somewhere you will want to curl up under a blanket and relax!
#5 Invest in a Quality Mattress
Earlier this spring, we made the plunge to invest in a new mattress–and it has been a game changer! At 32 years old, I was waking up in the morning with a stiff back. Add pregnancy back pain to the mix and you can imagine what a pleasure I was to be around! So we said goodbye to our 10-year-old mattress and bought a new and improved one! Now, I can sit in bed and work on my laptop without rolling into the middle and we sleep so much better (that is, when the baby is not up 🙂
#6 Home Furnishings and Fabrics
This year we also made the move to invest in a new bed with an upholstered headboard and frame. We also changed out our reading chair in front of the mantel, so we have a cozier spot for reading. By investing in quality home furnishings, you will be more comfortable in your room.
Think about soft textures like a cushioned tufted headboard, or using soft textiles like velvet–these luxurious textures will make your room soothing! And don’t forget your curtains–your master bedroom is supposed to be a sanctuary where you retreat from the craziness of life! Curtains help soften the look of windows and filter light helping you sleep better. Invest in some lovely floor to ceiling curtain panels.
#7 Eliminate Clutter
The biggest stressor for me is a clutter. If my house is cluttered, I cannot relax or think straight. Is your bedroom messy? Remove items from your nightstands and keep only the necessities. By using our Amazon Alexa as an alarm, and a voice-enabled control system, we have a clean and simple bedside table. And that’s the beauty with smart technology–it should help us cut down on clutter! No longer do we need a million cords for things because we have lightbulbs that can be controlled via voice! By controlling all our lighting with either the Philips Hue Bluetooth App or through Alexa, I’ve cut down on unnecessary dimming cords and controls, which reduces clutter!
#8 Add Greenery with Plants or Natural Textures
Add living plants to your bedroom (or faux ones in my case!) Either way, having natural textures and plants helps you relax more. And if you choose to use living plants, you can even have improved air quality. Since I’m just an amateur with houseplants–here are several that are foolproof (and look great in your bedroom!)
- golden pothos
- bromeliads
- mother in law’s tongue (aka snake plant)
- succulents
- spider plant
- lucky bamboo
- dracena species (D. draco and D. marginata)
Put a houseplant on the floor in your bedroom, or a small potted one on your bedside table. It will help you destress and improve your air quality!
If you still aren’t keen on living plants (or faux plants), think about other ways to integrate natural textures in your room. Whether it’s a woven basket that serves as a hamper for dirty clothes, a sisal rug that warms up a cold floor, or a grasscloth table that adds a coastal feeling to your bedroom, by adding natural textures, your bedroom will be more beautiful!
How to Make Your Bedroom More Relaxing
To summarize, there are so many ways to make your bedroom a sanctuary–but these eight relaxing bedroom ideas listed above will have the biggest impact. So, today, look at your lights! This is the quickest and easiest fix!
Do you have soft ambient lighting in your bedroom that helps you unwind from a stressful day? By switching out our old bulbs with Philips Hue White Ambiance Bluetooth light bulbs, we made our bedroom more usable (I can use it as a productive office during the day and a bedroom at night), it reduced clutter (no more wires), and improved the overall bedroom ambiance! Setup of the smart light bulbs took no time, and now I can easily control them all via my phone’s app or with a voice command using our Amazon Alexa!
We all need a spot to unwind from the day, so make these changes today!
Yeah, these ideas are great. Mainly changing of the color of the lamp and changing the brightness.