Luxury Bedroom: calm comes from order
What good hotel rooms do differently, and how to rebuild it at home
Waking up in a good hotel room almost always feels calmer than waking up in your own bedroom. That is rarely down to the bed alone. It comes from symmetry, from few materials, from closed storage and from light that can be switched from the bed without getting up.
This page works through the bedroom in the same order: bed and clearances, headboard, light, textiles, storage. The sequence for the whole flat is under furnishing an apartment, the lighting plan in detail under lighting a flat.
The bed determines everything else
The bed is the largest object in the room and its position decides the whole layout. It stands with the head against a solid wall, ideally opposite or to one side of the window, never with the head in front of it. From the door you should not look straight at the foot end if it can be avoided.
The most important figure is the walkway: seventy centimetres on every side that is used and at least sixty at the foot. A bed pushed against a wall on one side saves floor area and costs comfort every time the linen is changed.
The headboard: the wall everyone looks at
A tall upholstered headboard is the quickest route to a bedroom that looks like a hotel. It frames the bed, gives the wall a shape and makes piles of cushions unnecessary. A height of around one hundred to one hundred and twenty centimetres above the floor works well, and more in tall period rooms.
The material decides the effect: velvet and dense weaves catch the light and make the surface look soft, buttoned upholstery in the chesterfield manner gives depth, carved and gilded headboards set a classical tone. Classical shapes are under baroque furniture, quieter lines under luxury furniture.
Symmetry is half the luxury
Little is as calming in a bedroom as symmetry: two identical bedside tables, two identical lamps, two identical pictures. The eye has nothing to sort out, it recognises a pattern at once and settles.
If one side stands against a wall and there is no room for a second bedside table, one trick helps: the same lamp on the wall on both sides, even where only one side has a table. The symmetry then comes from the light rather than the furniture.
Light at the bed: the three tasks
Reading
The cone of light belongs on the book, not on your partner. Wall lamps with a narrow beam, lower edge around sixty centimetres above the mattress, are the cleanest solution.
Orientation
A very dim light for the night, on an easily reachable switch. It stops you turning on the main light and losing your sleep for the next hour.
Presence
A chandelier or ceiling light centred above the bed gives the room a middle. It rarely burns, but it shapes the room by day.
Wall lamps beat bedside lamps because they leave the surface clear and because their height can be matched exactly to the reading position. Where drilling is not allowed, table lamps on the bedside tables do the same job. Colour temperature stays very warm, around 2200 to 2500 kelvin, anything cooler keeps you awake.
The rug at the sides of the bed
In a bedroom the rug has one very concrete task: it is what you step onto in the morning. It therefore lies under the bed, not in front of it, and projects clearly on both sides and at the foot, around sixty centimetres.
If a large rug is out of the question, two narrow runners at the sides of the bed are the second best solution, and certainly not a small mat at the foot. Materials and sizes are under rug sizes for the living room, the range under rugs.
Textiles: the layer that softens the room
A bedroom with hard surfaces echoes and feels cool. Curtains are doubly useful here: they damp the sound and darken the room. Two layers are the proven solution, a light fabric for the day and a heavy, opaque one for the night.
Curtain rods belong close under the ceiling and clearly wider than the window, so the fabric stacks beside the opening during the day. That makes the room look taller and the window larger. For bed linen the same principle applies as for the wall: few tones, good quality, no patterns competing with the headboard.
Storage that does not disturb
Nothing takes the calm out of a bedroom faster than visible storage. Open shelves, clothes rails and boxes on top of the wardrobe are tasks you look at before falling asleep. A wardrobe with a closed front reaching the ceiling solves that and looks calmer than a low one with a box on top.
In addition a commode takes what is needed daily and carries a mirror at the same time. Where dressing and sleeping share a room, a clear boundary helps: the dressing area gets its own light and stays dark in the evening, which makes it recede.
What makes a bedroom look expensive
- A tall headboard that turns the wall behind the bed into one surface.
- Two identical lamps left and right, ideally wall lamps rather than table lamps.
- A large rug lying under the bed rather than in front of it.
- Curtains from ceiling to floor, wider than the window.
- Closed storage, nothing open in the field of view.
- One single ornate piece, for instance a gilt mirror, everything else quiet.
What Casa Padrino supplies for bedrooms
The range includes beds with tall upholstered and carved headboards, commodes and wardrobes, mirrors in every format as well as lighting and rugs from the same source. Dimensions and materials are given for every item, which with a bed decides whether it fits the room.
All models are new productions in the respective style, not antiques. The same terms apply to private customers as to hotels. For an overview see luxury furniture and the home page.
Thought out from the bed
Beds with tall headboards, matching commodes, mirrors and lighting, all with complete dimensions.
View beds View lightingRead on
Frequently asked questions about the bedroom
How much space is needed around the bed?
Seventy centimetres on every side that is used and at least sixty at the foot end. Less is possible but makes changing the linen awkward and makes the room feel tighter than it is.
How tall should a headboard be?
Around one hundred to one hundred and twenty centimetres above the floor. In tall period rooms it may be considerably higher, in low new builds it should not reach almost to the ceiling, otherwise it presses the room down.
Wall lamps or bedside lamps?
Wall lamps, where drilling is allowed. They leave the surface clear and can be aimed exactly at the reading position, with the lower edge about sixty centimetres above the mattress. Table lamps are the good alternative in rented flats.
Which colour temperature belongs in a bedroom?
Very warm, around 2200 to 2500 kelvin. Cooler light with a high blue content keeps you awake in the evening. It also matters that the light can be switched and dimmed from the bed.
How large should the bedroom rug be?
Large enough to lie under the bed and project about sixty centimetres on both sides and at the foot. A small rug in front of the bed does not do the job, because you step beside it in the morning.
What if one side of the bed is against a wall?
Create symmetry through light: identical wall lamps on both sides even where only one has a bedside table. The picture stays calm although the floor plan does not allow it.
Does baroque furniture suit a bedroom?
Very well, as long as it remains one ornate piece. A carved headboard or a gilt mirror above the commode is enough. If bed, wardrobe, commode and mirror all arrive in the same style at once, the room becomes restless.
Which wall colour works?
Calm, warm and slightly broken tones: sand, greige, warm white, muted sage, or a deep blue only on the wall behind the bed. What matters is that it harmonises with the headboard, which fills the largest area in view.
How do you get order into a bedroom?
Through closed storage. A wardrobe to the ceiling, a commode for daily use and nothing open in the field of view. Clothes rails and open shelves are the main source of unrest.
How do you achieve the hotel feeling at home?
With symmetry, few materials, plain bed linen in one tone, curtains from ceiling to floor, dimmable light on both sides and a large rug under the bed. It is almost always these six points.
