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Creating a Cosy Bedroom For The Cooler Months

Welcome and Happy New Year, I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas.  This is my first blog of 2020 and I’m here to talk about creating a super cosy bedroom for the winter months.  We’ve been pretty lucky where I am in Lincolnshire so far on the weather front, but if last February is anything to go by the worst is yet to come.

In my last post, which you can read here I shared our master bedroom renovation, having a beautiful bedroom to enjoy during the lazy mornings which go hand in hand with the Christmas break has been wonderful.  I can’t tell you how many cups of tea I’ve leisurely enjoyed in bed with a magazine whilst contemplating plans for the days ahead, which to be fair didn’t take much planning, our chilled family Christmas has mostly consisted of scoffing leftovers and chocolate as if our lives depended on it, long dog walks and enjoying the Christmas booze delivery.  With my daughter home from her first semester at Uni I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way.

I always find that the house feels a little bare once the tree and decorations are gone.  I must say though I have enjoyed updating a couple of rooms by “Shopping my home”, basically re locating items into other rooms to give things a fresh feel without breaking the bank.  I’ve gathered blankets from around the house and filled a basket with them in the lounge and ensured that there’s at least one on each of the beds too ready for when the temperature drops and we all want to feel a little cosier.

Creating the perfect winter bed

I’ve always been a bit of a cold fish, I recall staying with my grandparents as a child in their house that had neither double glazing or central heating.  Each night before bed my Gran would send Grandad upstairs to switch on the heated blankets.   For me the secret to a cozy bed is lots of layers, a bit like Princess and the Pea, just underneath all the layers rather than on top of!  I love a heavy down quilt, lots of feather filled cushions and my beautiful Christy velvet throw, a snuggly blanket is a must too, I’ve even been known to layer up with super soft sheepskins and I’m no stranger to a hot water bottle on the coldest of nights – oh the glamour!  I find natural materials, cotton, wool, velvet and linen to be perfect for the bedroom.

I’m seeing so much more lovely nightmare around than I did a few years ago, Desmond & Dempsey founded by Molly Goddard and Joel Jeffery back in 2014 aim to “make Sundays better” with their fabulous range, they have the most beautiful prints in stunning colour palettes.  US brand Wallace Cotton also have a gorgeous range in the softest cotton.  A dear friend bought me a pair of Brora cashmere bed socks one Christmas and I’ve treasured them ever since.

 

 

 

Window treatments

Window treatments are an important consideration when creating a warm cozy atmosphere is a priority.  When we moved into our new home the rail which was holding up a pair of floral curtains fell down the first night I drew them, never to be put back up again.  The 18 months without window dressings had resulted in many mornings waking at the crack of dawn and the purchasing of black out eye masks.

Being in a barn conversion mews we have small windows and very thick walls, a sloping ceiling in the bedroom above the window really limited our options for dressing it.  Curtains would have swamped the small window and shutters would have allowed even less light to enter the room, so I opted for a roman blind with a thermal lining.  I collaborated with Hillarys’ Blinds, I chose Garrett Peat from their Abigail Ahern range, a lovely soft mid grey linen look fabric trimmed with a simple cotton fringe (Collette) in a darker grey (Kohl), whilst it suited the new decor perfectly I also chose the fabric as I knew I could make it work with anything should I choose to change the decor in years to come.

My Hillarys’ advisor first visited to measure up and go through all the options with me and returned the following week to fit them.  The blinds fit snugly into the recess and serve to keep the light out and the heat it, perfect.  I also chose another Abigail Ahern fabric for our en suite bathroom, this time choosing Harkness Gasoline a patterned velvet, trimmed with the same Collette fringing used in the bedroom.

Shown below are blinds by Hillarys’ Blinds – Left to right: Thermal lined Roman blinds in Garrett Peat and Harkness Gasoline, both trimmed with Collette fringing in Kohl.

Above – a selection of images taken during my consultation with my Hillarys’ Blinds advisor which helped me decide on the perfect fabric and trim combination for the bedroom and adjoining en suite windows.

Bedroom Heating

Prior to our bedroom renovation we had two radiators that as well as being hideous to look at (having been painted lilac by the previous owner) had also been installed when the property was first renovated some 20 years earlier.  We realised in the depths of winter last year that they really didn’t heat the space effectively, so when planning the renovation as well as looking for radiators that would suit the rustic origins of the building and complement the colour scheme of the room the replacement radiators would need to be highly effecient.

I was lucky to be approached to work with Best Heating and when given the chance to choose from their extensive range I decided on the Milano Windsor Anthracite Traditional Cast Iron Style radiators , I must say I’ve been really impressed with the heat output and they look incredible within the scheme.  I was delighted when I came across the Milano Windsor Traditional Thermostatic Radiator Valves in bronze too.  I was so pleased to find these, as modern valves would really have let down the traditional style of the radiators.

The quality of the radiators and valves is fabulous and I’m confident they’ll look wonderful for many years to come.

Warm under foot

Another huge consideration for us when renovating our bedroom was what flooring to choose.  I’ve never been a huge fan of carpets, I love the look of wooden boards and hoped that we might find them when we lifted the carpet.  Alas the carpet was hiding a chipboard floor.  Rather than install a wooden floor we decided on Karndean’s LVT flooring, which has the look of wood and is lovely and warm underfoot, I’ve layered this with rugs to make it even cosier, I chose La Redoute’s Gembira, sheepkins and a flokati rug too.  There are so many great rug options out there and some great bargains to be had in the sales too, see below for a selection of my favourites:

Clockwise from top left:  Leopard Palm Light – Wendy Morrison Designs from 220cm x 300cm £1,494.   Louka Berber Style Runner La Redoute £185.   Botanical Paradise – Mary Katrantzou for The Rug Company, from £4.688.   Genuine Icelandic Long Wool Sheepskin – Taupe Rockett St George £95.   Selection of sustainable Moroccan rugs available from @sundayandstory.   Gembira Wool and Cotton Rug La Redoute from £281.25 in the sale

Lighting

We’ve opted for soft lighting in our bedroom, the soft hue of filament bulbs gives a lovely soft warming grow, I used some micro fairy lights on our mantle at Christmas and enjoyed the subtle twinkle so much that I’ve kept them for the time being.

Scent

I thoroughly believe that scenting one’s home can have a mood altering effect.  I discovered Chapter Organics last year and their Peace Atmosphere and Linen Mist is one of my favourites to use in the evening.  Essential oils of lavender, Patchouli, Ylang Ylang and Bergamot are expertly blended to soothe the mind and ease stress, perfect for the bedroom.  A candle, reed diffuser and hand and body lotion are also available in the range.

At a time when there are so many bugs around there is no better time to have house plants in your bedroom, many plants, including one of my favourites, the Boston fern are known to absorb harmful contaminants from the air, I find there’s something so uplifting about having flowers or plants in the bedroom too.

Personal items

For me surrounding myself with things I love of a personal nature has always given me that warm fuzzy feeling.  So much so that I decided to install a mantle in our bedroom to display sentimental items that I love.  It’s a veritable moving feast but in the in the central photo below you can see how I’ve used the space to display some of my treasured pieces.  I’ve included some of my daughter’s pointe shoes displayed in a glass cloche, one of her Liberty bunnies, photographs and scent bottles that were received as gifts and look beautiful too.

Thank Yous I was very lucky to work with some wonderful brands for our bedroom makeover some of which I have included within this post: