How To Add An Extra Bedroom To Your House

How To Add An Extra Bedroom To Your House

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We spend about a third of our day in our bedrooms, starting and ending every day with the view from our pillows. So it's worth putting in some extra time to make your inner sanctum a restful, warm place to retreat. Here are some simple ideas for cozying up your bedroom.

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1. Use color to make the space more restful.

Interior designer Wendy Nolan, of 509 Design LLC in Spokane, WA, encourages the use of "warm neutrals"—light to mid-tone greys, beiges, and browns, as well as earthy slate-y blues. These colors provide a peaceful (but not dull) background that can be easily warmed up or cooled down with accessories throughout the seasons.

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2. Add warm, natural materials wherever possible.

Wood, linen, rattan, wicker, stone, wool, geodes: all of these add coziness to a room. (Try these 100 simple strategies to sleep better every night.) Use them liberally and, when possible, avoid large elements made with reflective metals and plastics, as they will make a room seem hard and manufactured. (Small metallic or plastic accents, such as furniture feet or knobs, are generally fine.)

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3. Make your bedroom truly dark for sleeping.

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4. Use comfy rugs.

The first step you take every morning is not something to take lightly! Tampa Bay-based designer Sara Chiarilli of Artful Conceptions suggests a high-pile wool area rug next to the bed. It both makes for a nice place to put your feet down and an opportunity to get creative with color and design: Choose anything from an antique Persian rug to a modern minimalist piece. (Become a morning person with these 7 tricks.)

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5. Do away with overhead lighting, then add lamps.

Overhead lighting is unnecessarily bright for a room where sleep is paramount. Either put your light fixture on a dimmer or get rid of it altogether, perhaps replacing it with a lightless wooden fan. Instead of an overhead light, use a variety of smaller lamps set at varying heights to provide a texture of light. Use low-wattage bulbs and sturdy lampshades to diffuse the light throughout the room for maximum coziness.

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7. Use glass containers for candles.

Burning candles in a bedroom can be a risky proposition: There's a lot of fabric around and it's easy to fall asleep while the candles are still burning. But they're an essential element of the increasingly popular Danish concept of hygge—a not-quite-translatable word that means not just coziness, but the warmth of human connection that comes from a cozy scene. You can add a bit of safety to your candle burning by using hurricane lanterns, geometric glass lanterns, or even glass terrarium boxes to light some pillar or votive candles while adding a pretty, modern touch to your room's décor.

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8. Give artificial candles a try.

If you're leery of burning candles where you sleep, or you don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for enough candles to get you through the winter in full cozy style, consider artificial candles. The technology has come far enough that they're actually quite lovely, and with no flame risk, you can place them everywhere. The ones made with real wax have a particularly beautiful glow. This set of 5 pillar candles comes with an auto timer, so you can set them to turn on each night at the same time.

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9. Hang fairy lights.

Not just for teenage girls' bedrooms anymore, fairy lights (also known as Christmas tree lights) can add soft light and twinkly ambience to a room—even a mature one! Modern versions—like these sophisticated copper wire fairy lights—can be swooped along the ceiling, hung behind a curtain panel, or even bunched up in a repurposed jar as an artsy DIY lamp.

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10. Choose calming, peaceful art.

Art selections are intensely personal and taste-driven, but Julie Daniel, from Los Angeles-based L'Abri Interiors, recommends avoiding high-energy colors such as reds, oranges, and deep yellows. Instead, choose pieces with blue, green, or gray tones that will help create a serene vibe in your bedroom, she says. (Check out the 6 biggest mistakes couples make in the bedroom.)

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11. Create art out of family heirlooms.

Put family heirlooms—particularly those of the linen variety—on display. Mat and hang some of grandma's lace doilies, for example, or cut a usable portion out of a tattered old quilt and frame it for the wall. This adds a personal touch while contributing to the multi-fabric texture of the room. (Find out how to Feng Shui your bedroom.)

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12. Add some plants.

Designer Liz Toombs of Polka Dots and Rosebuds Interiors in Lexington, KY, encourages clients to "bring the outside in by using flowers or plants with your other décor. It's so nice to have the feeling of life inside your home during these cold months." Choose easy-to-handle plants for a bedroom: cacti, succulents, and air plants all add a burst of greenery with minimal effort, and their pots can make for a nice design element. If you're brave, Toombs suggests an orchid: They're easier than you think, and they add a delicate, colorful element to your room.

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13. Decorate for the seasons.

Who says you have to keep holiday and seasonal decorations confined to just a few months? You don't want to go overboard, but a Christmas wreath or bouquets of fresh garden flowers in the summertime adds warmth and a quietly festive feeling to a bedroom.

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14. Create a reading nook.

If your bedroom has space, make yourself a comfy reading spot with a small table and a luxurious chaise or cozy oversized chair. (Curl up with one of these steamy books to help set the mood in your bedroom.)

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15. Incorporate fabrics beyond standard bed linens.

Fabric is a beautiful and soft way to create texture, color, and coziness in a room. Drape a cozy blanket artfully over the back of a chair. Add mix-and-match throw pillows to the chair in your reading nook. Fold an antique quilt or a contemporary woven blanket at the foot of the bed (we love this vibrant Pendleton blanket and pretty tartan throw).

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16. Keep technology out.

Glowing lights and intermittent hums from electronics do not provide a restful sleep environment, and omnipresent television sets make it too tempting to watch TV before bed, which, according to the National Sleep Foundation, can manipulate our circadian rhythms, making it difficult to sleep soundly. If you simply must have a TV for the occasional movie-in-bed night, consider draping it with a pretty blanket or piece of fabric when it's not on. It'll keep dust out and your mind off it. As for your laptop? Tempting as it may be, leave it in the living room. (Here are 6 things you should never do in your bedroom.)

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17. Bring books in.

Reading, on the other hand, is a great pre-sleep activity, and a good one for general relaxation, as well. Put your reading nook to good use by adding a small bookshelf to the room, stocked with both novels and coffee table books, which make for great relaxing flipping. Magazines, as they're flimsy paper, tend to pile up and feel like clutter—remove them once you're finished reading. Books can stay. (Here are the 4 biggest clutter culprits in your home.)

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18. Beware of overstuffing the bedroom.

Creating a cozy reading spot is lovely, but bringing in too many elements (side tables galore, multiple sets of bookshelves) will begin to make the room feel busy and cluttered.

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19. Banish laundry.

That towering heap of unmatched socks and shirts that need buttons sewn on? Out with it! Of all the places in the house where it's crucial to cut clutter, the bedroom is the most important. If the first thing you see every morning is a heap of clothing (which is to say, a pile of tasks that needs doing), it sets you up for a tough day. Either fold your clothes and put them away immediately or leave the unfolded clean ones elsewhere in the house. (Find out what the perfect bedroom for a great night's sleep looks like.)

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20. Buy a good mattress.

A bedroom isn't cozy if the bed isn't comfy! Buy a good mattress and keep it in good shape by rotating/flipping it (if the manufacturer recommends it) and keeping it covered with a waterproof mattress cover. Most manufacturers recommend replacing mattresses every 5-10 years or as soon as you find yourself waking up with aches and pains that can't be explained by other factors.

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21. Splurge on great linens.

There's really nothing better than slipping in between a gloriously soft set of sheets after a long day. Of all the places to really splurge on bedroom decor, good sheets with a high thread count are by far the best. A good down comforter or down alternative is also a must for a good night's sleep. "Everyone needs a down comforter or duvet insert," says Daniel. A medium-weight comforter is plenty for most anyone who isn't living in arctic climes; it's easy (and cozy) to layer a few extra blankets in the coldest winter months.

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22. But save money on your duvet cover.

Daniel recommends bargain shopping for duvet covers, which allows you to buy "two or three cheaper duvet covers that you swap out with the seasons. They're a great way to bring a fresh look into your space every few months."

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23. Slip into something elegant at bedtime.

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24. Use an essential oil diffuser for scents.

Remember to attend to all five senses! Lavender essential oil is well regarded as an aromatherapy tool for anxiety and restlessness. Put a few drops in your rinse cycle when you wash your sheets, or simply add some to an essential oil diffuser before bedtime.

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25. Embrace white noise.

Well-made blackout curtains help somewhat with noise, but if you're near a busy road (or even nestled in a forest among overly-enthusiastic songbirds), you need to pull out the big guns. The Marpac Dohm can disappear all sorts of sleep-disturbing ambient noise, making it much easier for you to both fall asleep and stay asleep. (Follow these 20 ways to sleep better every night.)

How To Add An Extra Bedroom To Your House

Source: https://www.prevention.com/life/g20504813/extra-cozy-bedroom/