Sweet dreams

A-list interior designer Joanna Plant shares her expertise to make the most important room in your house a true sanctuary. From linen to the essentials every bedside table should host, discover Joanna’s tips for a perfectly curated bedroom.   
The bedroom, more than any other room in the house, should be a place of comfort, refuge and pleasure. The most private of all spaces, it is where we retreat to at the end of a long day and where we are most ourselves. 

A beautifully made bed is a thing of great joy and I like to go big and high regardless of the size of the room. Inevitably, it will be visited by small people with little legs and hairy ones with four, so the more room the better and as Goldilocks found, it is best that they are tried and tested, as there is nothing more subjective than the too soft/too hard/just right conundrum.  There are so many good linens available at all budgets these days.  Personally, I find dark sheets vaguely sinister and almost always go for white; whether it be smooth cotton, glamourous sateen or a crisp pyjama stripe is up to you.  However, if you are iron-shy, washed linen that can be thrown in the dryer and has a lovely soft, crumpled feel is a great low maintenance option.  Although I cannot bear any sort of bed cover in a hotel, at home it is where you can have some fun choosing a pretty pattern or a fabulously bold textile - it also stops the bed looking like a huge white car parked in the middle of the room.

I like as large a bedside table as possible, preferably with a drawer and of a similar height to the top of the mattress.  An upholstered headboard elevates the look of a bed and provides something to lean against when reading.  I like to use the same fabric for the headboard and the valance which makes for a very pulled together look. If you want to go for a very decorated room, then have the curtains in the same.  Throw in the matching wallpaper and you are really talking, it makes for a wonderfully enveloped feeling the boldness of which is rarely regretted.
 
And a last word on spare bedrooms. No guest likes to fight their way through what is usually a dumping ground. Clean sheets, an aired but cosy room and an extra blanket are essential.  Make sure there is at least a drawer and some hanging space for your guests clothes, a bedside light, some reading material, a carafe of water, a bunch of flowers and oh what joy it is to find a small radio, especially for insomniacs. 
 




Joanna’s favourites:
 
Ensemblier for the Rolls Royce of headboards
www.ensemblier.com
 
Norris Bedding for mattress and divan
www.norrisbedding.co.uk
 
Pierre Frey for wallpaper and fabrics
www.pierrefrey.com
 
Volga Linen and La Redoute for bed linens
www.volgalinen.co.uk
www.laredoute.co.uk