Jonathan Scott on how to style your bedroom for better sleep
It probably comes as no surprise that the most important thing for good sleep is a good mattress, but did you know that making a few design tweaks to your bedroom can also help? We chatted with Jonathan Scott of HGTV's Property Brothers about bedroom decor, transitioning your space from season to season, and how it can all help you get a better night's sleep.
"The mattress is the most important investment, because it's the piece of furniture you use the most in the entire house," Jonathan told us, "So making an investment for luxurious sleep is important, but it's also a psychological thing -- choosing specific colors, palettes, textures, all those different things help make for a better sleep as well."
It's a lot more simple than you might expect, but making these changes can make all the difference. The key takeaways Jonathan wants you to know? Read on below.
1. Style your room so that it's appropriate for the season you're in.
If it's the fall, you may want to incorporate an extra layer to your bedding, or switch out your sheers for heavier curtains. Adding drapes in the fall, Jonathan says, can help to insulate your room and make keep it warm when it's frigid outside. Good bedding is key -- find great sheets, and layer your blankets so you can have as much or as little as you'd like. "Even finding warmer tones helps. In winter, I'll swap out accents with something like brass or copper. Introduce warm tones, and psychologically it makes you feel warmer. It's weird but true."
For spring, Jonathan encourages using pops of color. "If you think about the emotions you're trying to evoke in spring," he said, "it's a new, fresh start, revitalized, exciting and fun." The key to using color, though is to do it strategically. Don't only use pattern or only use solids -- find a good combination of both, and then run with it. And one final color tip -- "The same color should be carried through the design in at least two or three places in order for it to work."
2. Make sure it's appropriate for both people living in it.
If you're married, your bedroom shouldn't be too masculine or too feminine. It's as simple as that -- you both need to feel comfortable!
3. Furniture placement is more important than you think.
There's a reason a lot of people swear by the harmony of feng shui, but even if you don't believe in it, you want your space to have good flow. Don't place your bed right next to the window if you have single-pane windows, or you'll be too cold. And don't put a bed or couch directly underneath a heat or air conditioning vent, or you'll never be comfortable. Try not to obstruct access to different points of your room like the closet or the bathroom, and do what makes the most sense for the space you have to work with.
4. Invest in the pieces that really matter.
When you're making a change to your bedroom, you'd be surprised how easy it is to totally revamp the space with pops of color, but those pops shouldn't be expensive. Instead, you should spend your money on the items you plan to have for a long time -- or that you'll use the most, like your mattress. Jonathan teamed up with Stearns & Foster to create his own mattress from the Reserve Collection, and he's obsessed. "I have been bragging for years about how good my mattress is, and everyone's sick of hearing it!" he joked. But they also all have started getting their own, as soon as they try it.
5. DECLUTTER your space, and never, ever work in your room.
"Storage is sexy," Jonathan says. If you come home to a bedroom that's filled with kids' toys, clutter, or -- worst of all -- piles of work you've taken home from the office, it's impossible to relax. He acknowledged with a laugh that if you live in a studio (guilty!), you can't really avoid doing work in your bedroom but that's why he says storage is so important. Let your bedroom be where you melt away stress, and get ready for a new day.
6. Design around keywords that are important to you.
When it's cold outside, what do you want from your home? You want it to be cozy, warm, comfortable -- so design your space around those words. Grab an extra fluffy throw blanket that you can tuck away in the summer when it warms back up. In Jonathan's words, you want to design a bedroom where you want to "jump in and stay there all day." Sounds like the perfect Sunday to us!
7. Big ticket investment items should be neutral.
When you're choosing the big furniture pieces that you'll hopefully have for a long time to come, you want them to be fairly neutral. They should be able to work in a variety of seasons, or be easily transitioned with a few accents, and not something you feel that you would need to change because it's trendy or seasonal.
8. Don't overthink it.
"Start with the stuff that's important — your mattress, sheets — and then one by one, change out the pieces until you have an eclectic mix of beauty in the room."
