Why you should buy top quality curtains and bedding

Although some high achievers like British ex-PM Margaret Thatcher famously make do with only about five hours' sleep, the rest of us normally need more like eight hours, which means we end up spending about a third of our lives in a bedroom. Yet many houseowners neglect this room compared with the rest of their home on the grounds that they 'only' sleep in there. As many new parents with babies know all too well, we can go for periods without much sleep but quality sleep time is vital to our wellbeing in the longer term. In fact, interrogators often use sleep deprivation as a less invasive form of torture to break down resistance to questioning! So, what things can we do to improve our bedrooms and sleep experience? The most important single piece of kit for sleeping has to be the actual bed, be it an upholstered divan, slatted wooden frame or futon; and equally important is the mattress.

However, you also need good quality bedding to keep warm as your body temperature drops at the same time that the air temperature drops. Unless you are an Inuit hunting in the Arctic, the days of using furs and skins on the bed have given way to another form of animal insulation: the downy feathers of geese or ducks. This amazing material provides one of the most thermally efficient products as well as being incredibly light, which is important both for flight and to protect eggs from cooling and breakage. Used both in duvets and pillows, our beds are truly like warm nests! Mattress toppings are essential to protect the mattress as well as to stop body heat passing though to it, while cotton sheets provide comfort and a convenient way of regularly cleaning the bedding. However, there is much more to bedrooms than beds and bedding. This is by definition a place to rest so the overall décor needs to reflect this. Soft lighting, attractive bedding fabrics, matching curtains (for privacy and to block morning light), plush carpets, comfy cushions and a gentle colour scheme all combine to help create a relaxing space.

Any visit to a DIY or interior design website will reveal the bewildering display of fabrics and paints on offer to the would-be bedroom decorator but unfortunately the result of all their hours of subsequent decorating often falls well short of creating the ideal bedroom space. One solution is to seek out a professional decorating company that specialises in custom made designs: they will probably cost you more than by trying to do it yourself but this is offset by the likelihood that they will get it right first time. Unless you have a friend who can make a personal recommendation, a quick trawl round the internet will throw up a list of company names to choose from. They should have a portfolio of their previous work to help you with your own thoughts and can provide various ideas on how best to create the bedroom of your dreams.