After a long day, we all deserve to retreat to a bedroom we love to be in. Your bedroom is the final scene of your day and sets an opening scene for your dreams. How you nod off affects how you sleep and your mood when you wake up. So if your last image is of chaos and clutter, you’re not setting the right stage for a good night’s rest.

1. Start with these daily rituals

Make your bed every day, open your curtains or blinds to let the sun shine in. When you come home at the end of the day, hang your clothes or place them in the laundry basket. Avoid the temptation to drape them or pile them on something. To avoid bedside clutter, keep just one of everything out. Scrutinize every new item that you introduce into your bedroom. You can avoid the problem of accumulated clutter by making conscious choices in the first place.

2. Furniture:

Having too many dressers, tables and chairs jammed into a space makes it feel smaller. And stuff attracts more stuff. As we add more pieces, we tend to fill them, inside and out.

3. Prioritize your necessities

Consider what items you use on a regular basis and find a way to organize them so that they are both functional and attractive. A decorative bowl can rally together keys, wallets, and your cellphone on your nightstand. A pretty tray can hold perfume, jewelry, and eye-glasses on the dresser.

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4. Limit your accessories

Limit your decorative accessories to your favorites. Only keep the things that serve you well or make you happy. Find a new home for anything that doesn’t belong in your bedroom or that you don’t use on a daily basis.

5. Simplify your linen

Sometimes the bed itself including all the attendant bedding and pillows can create visual clutter. Instead of piling on the pillows, pare down to only those you actually use. It makes for a Zen-like bed, and you don’t have to juggle all the extra “show” pillows when you get into bed at night.

6. Clothing: The Hidden Culprit

Anytime you declutter a bedroom, you invariably run into a surfeit of clothing, shoes and accessories. Usually instead of working through our wardrobes, we cram in another piece of furniture to accommodate the overflow. So set aside half a day (with a decluttering buddy, if you can find one) and go through your wardrobe ruthlessly, donating what no longer fits, what you haven’t worn in a year or two, and what’s outdated.

7. Consider concealed storage

For a bedroom that makes you feel calm and relaxed, concealed storage makes more sense than open storage. Closed storage will keep visual clutter to a minimum and help you to feel more organized, too! Under-the-bed storage can be a convenient way to conceal less frequently-used items without them filling up your main storage areas.

8. Cure Clutter Spots

Look around at where clutter tends to pile up. How could you eliminate that clutter hotspot? Find solutions for everyday items that create piles of clutter so your room can stay serene.

9. Create a reading basket

If books, newspapers and magazines tend to clutter up your room, designate a basket to keep them close at hand, but out of sight!

10. No Place for Your Home Office

Your bedroom should be a haven for sleep and retreat—not a place where you pay bills, play games or update social media

11. Choose Calm Colors

Carefully choose colors for your space based on what makes you feel the best. Paint your walls a color that is soothing to you and bring in your favorite calming colors through accessories and textiles. Try sticking with neutral tones or pastel hues.

12. Unplug

Now this one is tricky – Keep electronic clocks and other gadgets away from the vicinity of your bed for a more restful sleep.

13. Treat yourself as a guest

Think about how you would prepare a bedroom for a guest and then make changes in your own room accordingly.

Now is the time to turn our bedrooms into the serene oasis we want them to be! One sheep, two sheeps, three shee……

 

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