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“My bedroom is my sanctuary. It’s like a refuge, and it’s where I do a fair amount of designing – at least conceptually, if not literally.” – Vera Wang – American Fashion Designer.

Once you put a kitchen, bathroom and living room out of the picture, the bedroom is probably the one room you spend most time in, during your lifetime. Just consider that a normal adult will spend anything between five to ten hours every day sleeping in it. And I am not here counting the number of hours spent nursing a cold, a dislocated shoulder, a twisted ankle or a broken heart.

Bedrooms are all about rest and refuge. It is where we hide from the world, where we love and are loved, where we share good and sad times, where we watch over our loved ones as they dream. A bedroom is also the place we spend time ‘designing’, as Vera Wang says. We may not all be fashion designers but we all design in our own ways – we design plans for tomorrow, for the next meeting, for the next vacation, for the kids’ party, for the love letter or the resignation. Our fancies and fantasies take shape here. And we design our image, the way we dress, the way we present ourselves to the rest of the world.

It therefore makes good sense to invest particular attention to our bedroom. Let’s consider the bed itself first. The most valid thing about a bed is its sturdiness and its mattress. Design can come later, but technically speaking, we need a bed that can hold our weight well, and a mattress that can induce good rest. Before you embark on bed buying, make sure you measure up your bedroom space well. Mattress size determines bed size and is dependent upon room size. Vice versa, room size determines the bed’s frame form which will affect the mattress size you can settle for.

When shopping for a bed, you have to decide whether you want one that is just a bed or one that doubles up as a storage space as well. You have to decide if you want a bed frame plus bed base, or a bed frame that comes incorporated with a base to contain the mattress. The former variety allows you more flexibility in choosing the kind of base you would rather have – one that is composed of springs, or slats of varying sizes. Then again, your bed frame may come with or without a headboard and deciding which to go for will be guided by the general decor you want for your room. Again room size will determine a lot here – if your room is smallish, perhaps you will want just a bed base that incorporates storage plus head board, rather than a bulky bed frame as well. If need be, you can also do away with the head board and just use cushions or a wall tapestry for effect. 

Naturally, if your room is large enough, you can flaunt the space and choose a bed fit for a king, or queen, with the most prominent of frames, the most flamboyant of headboards and perhaps also something classical and impressive such as a four-poster complete with all the drapes.

Where mattress sizes are concerned, you will find King, Queen, Double, Twin or Single sizes. You may decide to purchase two singles if you are a restless sleeper and don’t want to disturb your partner. And you will need to try the mattress varieties in the store to decide if you want a hard mattress, a soft one, or an orthopaedic variety. Perhaps you will be extra brave and invest in a water bed, which, water bed owners claim is a totally unique experience. On the luxurious front, something which is rarely done in Malta, is adding a mattress topper that is either a feather filled top, or a goose down top. These are excellent winter warming options that add that added dash of comfort to your bed.

In the second part of this post, we will delve into other bedroom niceties to consider.