Beauty in the Sheets
A guide to making your dream bedroom.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Brooklinen! If you know me, you know I’ve been lounging around in Brooklinen since 2019. Duvet covers, bathrobes, sheets, towels, quilts—this is a Brooklinen household. Always has been, always will be. 🛏️
Our bedrooms are often the very first space we get to decorate.
At the age of 8, I finally got to have my own room. I opted for an 8-piece pink satin bedding set that my mom and I found at the Hispanic bazaar in Dallas (our go-to place for bedding at the time). The bedding was made of a cheap, scratchy fabric, but I didn’t care. I hung up my only wall decor—a pink crystal rosary— and looked up at the ceiling. I was living my dream.
Over the years, I’d switch between various bedding colors and patterns—polka dots, zebra stripes, neon green, pastels. I painted my walls two shades of pink and hung up string lights. Tumblr was my biggest inspiration as I entered teenagehood. I’ve had many different bedrooms throughout my life now: some with roommates, some on my own, and some with Aaron. They all hold a special place in my heart.
I’m now on my 11th bedroom. I’ve spent the last month paging through The Bed and Bath Book by Terence Conran for inspiration. I’ve been thinking a lot about this excerpt because it’s something I’ve been guilty of doing before:
It seems sadly incongruous that the bedroom, which is by far the most personal room in the house, is also the most neglected. The reason, I suspect, is that it is usually not in public view, and this becomes an excuse for taking shortcuts in designing and planning…A good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed, a leisurely selection of your clothes from a well-ordered wardrobe, a warm, well-lit room with a floor that is pleasant to touch, and a bed that is easy to make, and, above all, a room that looks good to your eyes, will help you face the world in a relaxed frame of mind.
Decorating my bedroom has moved to the top of my list recently and I’ve been having fun rearranging furniture, adding decor, and making my bedroom as cozy as possible.
How to put together a bedroom that feels like a dream
Get the high-quality bedding
If you’re like me and also slept in mediocre bedding your entire life, you probably remember what it felt like to slip into your first nice set of sheets. Oh, so this is what life is supposed to be like. Good bedding isn’t just for hotels. I was 24 when I first got proper bedding (Brooklinen ofc) and never looked back. I love these Classic Percale sheet sets and have them in a few different colors. I recently learned what “percale” even means—a percale weave means the yarns go one over and one under, so the fabric stays cool and crisp forever.
Confession: I didn’t know duvets were a thing until I was an adult because I never grew up around them. I have a few different Luxe Sateen duvet sets and as annoying as all duvets are to put on, they make my bed feel luxurious. The ones I have are buttery soft because of the sateen weave, which means the yarns go three over and one under for ultimate softness. I’ve always been curious about what classifies certain bedding as “crisp” or “soft” or “buttery” so it’s good to research your yarns. You gotta give a sheet!
Design your perfect nightstand
I’m a firm believer that a nightstand has a lot of power over your habits. You want to journal more? Have your journals next to you. You want to end (and start) the day reading? Have a pile of different books on your nightstand. You want to apply a lip mask every night? Have a little catchall with your favorite lip products. Right now, I have books on design, poetry, fashion, short essays, art history, and finance next to me. You never know what mood you’re going to wake up in and having those books next to you makes reaching for your phone first thing in the morning *slightly* less tempting.
Set the mood
Lighting is everything. I have a few different lamps in my room. One of them has a smart bulb with I love setting to red or deep pink when I’m winding down for the night. It makes it feel like I’m in a movie. If you want some lamp inspo, I really enjoyed this piece on lamps by
called where did all the good lamps go?
Be intentional about the bed placement
Last year, I experimented with having my bed in the tiny half-room office space instead of the actual bedroom. It was good for a while but it wasn’t sustainable. The bed took up most of the room and I didn’t have space for a nightstand (which meant I wasn’t reading or journaling as much anymore). Making the bed was also near impossible because of how small the room was, so it became a burden to make it. I’d shut the accordion door and call it a day. So ultimately, I needed to swap the rooms. Now, my bed is in the properly-sized room and I feel like I can breathe again.
Have fun with colors
You don’t have to commit to a specific color scheme for your bedding. In recent years, I’ve done sage green, buttery yellow, navy, white & blue stripes, pink, ivory, and beige. I tend to switch out the colors seasonally. Right now, after a long run of blue and brown for the winter, I’m going for an off-white stone color and a clove-y neutral to welcome in the spring.
As for the walls, I’m all for painting your bedroom. A few years ago, in a previous kitchen, I painted the walls pink. It changed the entire vibe of the kitchen. I also painted the office room a bright yellow. But the last and only time I’ve painted my bedroom was when I was a teenager! I’ve been debating what to go for: a cream-ish color would make it feel elegant and cozy, but I also love the idea of going for a calming, soft blue or a limewash texture. I’ll keep you all posted.
Finding your (bedroom) style
In my bed book, Conran talks about finding your style and making a room feel special:
There are a host of factors, financial, spatial, and social, that will influence the final appearance of your rooms, and unless you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve before you start, you could end up with a hodge-podge of compromises…once you have understood just what it is that distinguishes, for instance, "the “country house” look from the “cottage”, or the “town house” from the “seduction den”, you will be able to marry up the various elements that together create a successful scheme.
Read up on the different types of styles. Skim old magazines. Scroll through Pinterest and Cosmos. Follow interior designers and creators you like. But ultimately, you do you. Rather than fully copying a reference, ask yourself, what elements do I like from this? How can I incorporate some of them into my own space? How do I make this my own?
Add the cherry-on-top
Hang the art, add a massive mirror, have lots of lamps, bring in the decorative pillows, and most importantly, fill your bedroom with meaningful objects that bring you joy and make you feel calm. Your bedroom is a place for leisure, love, pleasure, and rest — and it should be decorated as such.
P.S. Lounge around in comfy clothes
I wrote this newsletter while wearing my Brooklinen bathrobe. A bathrobe is another one of those things where once you get one, it’s like, what was I doing before? Whether it’s a bathrobe, pair of sweatpants, raggedy t-shirt, pointelle set, Victorian-esque nightgown, or sultry satin dress, wear what makes you feel good in the bedroom.
These bedrooms are the blueprint for me. Enjoy!
Source: Cosmos
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LOVE IT
Just moved and in the process of putting my bedroom together, going to refer back to this for inspiration.
And my first Brooklinen was also that pink :) reminds me of ice cream!