Buying a New Home? 5 Things to Plan For Your New Bedroom
Even after researching online and speaking with family and close friends who already have property, finding the right advice to fit your situation often seems near impossible.
Buying a home can be stressful, especially as a contractor or first-time buyer, as the requirements are different from the more traditional employed status. However, once you have your finances in order and your mortgage agreed upon, here’s where the fun begins!
Whether it is your first house you are buying, a second step on the property ladder, or your forever home, your bedroom is possibly the essential room.
It would help if you felt relaxed enough to be able to sleep. It is a calm sanctuary away from other people – children or housemates – and it is your own space to assemble however you want.
It doesn’t matter whether the bedroom is big or small; there are many ways to make it the room of your dreams and avoid the stuff of nightmares. The prominent place to start is.
The bed
The size of the room will help determine the size of the bed you will be able to get for it. Smaller rooms may require a queen double, while larger rooms could accommodate a king or even super king-size bed if that is what you want.
The next thing to decide is whether you want a bed frame with a separate mattress or an all-in-one divan. There are two considerations here – the look and feel you are trying to create in the room and which you find more comfortable.
You don’t want something that looks great but causes you to have trouble sleeping, but you also don’t want a bed that looks out of place with the rest of your decor. These need to be planned hand-in-hand. Bed frames will often provide space underneath the bed, giving excellent storage for shoes and small objects. In contrast, many divans and ottoman beds have built-in compartments that can store spare bedding – or anything else you want to hide away but still keep handy.
Is a Queen size bed better than a King?
Here in the U.K., a queen size bed may be better known as a small double or even a three-quarter size, although many people get confused about whether it is bigger or smaller than a regular double. Probably due to its very grand-sounding title!
A queen bed comes in at just 4ft wide or 120cm and 6 ft 3in long or 190cm, which falls between a single and double, although slightly closer to a double.
On the other side of the double, we have the King size, and this is perhaps more suited to its grand title if dimensions are to go by. It measures 5ft or 150cm wide by 6 ft 6in or 200cm in length.
There are plus and minus points for both options depending on what you want and need from your bed, such as space within the room versus area within the bed itself.
A Queen will fit very well into a smaller room and is ideal for a single sleeper, a child transitioning from a single bed, or a guest room where space might be tight. However, it may be a bit too cosy for a couple to sleep in the long term – perhaps best suited to the honeymoon period – after which the King size may show its merits.
If space is plentiful, there is no doubt a king-size bed is a great option as far as sleep comfort goes. I’m sure if given a choice, most of us would like as much space to stretch and sprawl as we can get, especially when sharing the space with somebody else who also sleeps like a starfish. Let’s not forget the king is also longer, so it will have the added benefit for a taller person. Nobody wants freezing toes that hang out of the end of the bed!
So, if you’re debating between Queen and King, remember one size doesn’t fit all,
a large bed will dominate a small room, but a smaller bed can almost disappear in a large room.
Wardrobes and other storage
This leads nicely to other storage solutions: wardrobes, bedside tables, chests of drawers, dressing tables, bookshelves, ottomans, or trunks. The choice is nearly endless and again depends on what space is available to you.
The room may already have built-in wardrobes, which you might choose to keep or rip out and replace with freestanding varieties – especially if you have furniture you want to bring across from your old house. Or, if you are a dab hand at DIY, you may decide to build your bespoke bedroom furniture from scratch.
Some form of bedside unit is a must nowadays, with people wanting to keep their gadgetry close to hand. It is worth considering placing plug sockets about your bed and furniture too, for this reason.
If you have clothes that can be folded up and stored away rather than needing to be hung up, a chest of drawers can double as a bedside unit in smaller rooms. And over-bed shelving can increase the amount of storage space available – make sure it doesn’t fall on your head.
Practical lighting solutions
Lighting is quite a consideration when it comes to bedrooms. You don’t want anything too bright as you will be preparing to sleep most of the time, and you also don’t want the shock of a stark bright light waking you up in the morning.
But, you may like to be able to read in bed, so you need to decide whether that is being done by an overhead light, wall lights, or a bedside lamp. And then, these need to be positioned according to how well the light disperses itself.
You may use a dressing table area for applying make-up or styling your hair, so again this needs to be factored into your thoughts when creating a lighting scheme for the room, as you don’t want to be doing either of those in the dark.
Painting and decorating tips
Now comes the fun bit – decorating the room to your tastes. When you buy a house, you can never be sure that the previous occupier will have similar design ideas to you.
“Often, what adds the most value to a house isn’t a full remodel but a series of small upgrades. A well-done painting job doesn’t need to break the bank but can greatly enhance the value of your home,” says Pete Mugleston of Online Mortgage Advisor.
Luckily, a bit of cosmetic paintwork is easy to do – whether you like wielding a paintbrush or roller in your spare time or are a decorating contractor yourself.
The colour you choose will affect how you view the room and sleep. Restful colours like light blues, greens, and yellows are often better in bedrooms than dramatic reds, purples, or navy. Grey is still a popular all-around option to avoid soft neutral tones.
Soft furnishings to style
Now is the time to arrange soft furnishings once the furniture is in and the room is painted. Choose whether you want blinds or curtains or a mixture of both. Are you going heavy on the scatter cushions or minimal with a pared-back look to your bedding?
Use contrasting colours to give a pop of brightness to the room or complement matching colour tones together for a more sophisticated look.
Money-saving tips when purchasing a new bed
We all know how vital our bed is to ensure a good night’s sleep and better mental well-being, but do we have to spend a small fortune to achieve this?
While you should never scrimp on something as important as a bed and mattress there are ways in which we can help tailor a bed to a budget by trying the following things:
Do Your Research
Everybody has different needs from a mattress, and the choice these days can be very overwhelming, so before you go throwing money around, research which type of mattress is best suited to you. Whether you look online, check forums and reviews, or go into a few stores and try some beds out in person, all this requires is a bit of time at this stage, and no cash splashed. Now you will have a good idea of what you are looking for. You can refine your search and look for what is more specific to your needs.
Determine the correct size
Think carefully about what size of bed you need compared to the room you want to use it. How many tales we hear of a bed not fitting on arrival is surprising. You may well dream of a substantial super king-sized bed to sprawl the night away when you can only sensibly accommodate a more modest double. What a waste of money! Now not only have you spent more than you needed to on the bed itself, but you may also incur extra costs for a delivery company to remove or exchange the bed.
Look out for bundle deals.
So now you’ve decided which type of mattress works for you and what size will comfortably fit in your room, you’re ready to buy. Shopping online is often the best money saver as there is far more choice. Many retailers will do bundle deals. For example, buy a specific base/frame, and you can add a mattress for a discounted amount, i.e. 20% off. There is usually an excellent selection to choose from to suit your needs and decent savings.
Check out the clearance section.
This speaks for itself. Whether in-store or online, retailers will usually always have a clearance section. Items can vary from end-of-line items that the retailer wants to sell off for a reduced amount to returned items that may be imperfect, perhaps not in original packaging. The price will reflect this.
Look out for money off coupons.
This would apply mainly to onsite retailers. Often websites will have money-off coupons on certain products, such as £50 off if you use the given code at checkout. These can be different coupons at different times, but if there is such a coupon on a bed you are already looking at buying, that’s a significant saving.
Don’t forget, though while we all enjoy a bargain and there is always a bit of cash to be saved, we should never scrimp too much where a bed is concerned. It’s not worth compromising your health.
Final thoughts
Buying a new home is an adventure, and styling the rooms is part of the enjoyment. It would be best if you took great pleasure in adapting the shell of a room to being your private pad and something to be proud of. Just remember, a bedroom is predominantly a room in which to get a restful night’s sleep, so this needs to be at the forefront of your plans.