5 Tips to Achieve a Hotel-Like Bedroom

Okay! We’ve been wanting to talk to y’all about achieving the hotel experience at home for a while now and are so excited today’s the day! We’ve spent years curating the perfect bedroom furniture for our clients and we basically have the perfect formula for a restful oasis. You may even be surprised that some of the tips are probably not what you’re expecting!!

Ya know that feeling when you walk into a luxurious hotel room? Your body immediately starts to relax, you take a deep breath, throw your bags down, and flop right onto the massive white plane of crisp, clean bedding? Yeah, you do! We began wondering a long time ago, “what made that hotel experience different than our at-home experience?” What are the components missing from our homes that don’t offer the same level of “ahhhhhhhhh” that a hotel offers? Well, we’ve put in the time, done the research, implemented our hypothesis, and have come up with a list of 5 things that every bedroom needs to give you that restful, relaxing hotel experience!

1. Upholstered Headboard

First things first, y’all! Let’s get into this because this one is a big deal! We almost exclusively source upholstered headboards for our clients and there’s a huge reason why: COMFORT. When we were kids I, Katie, had a wood headboard and Sarah’s was iron. They made absolutely beautiful beds (and are certainly the perfect choice for children who can’t handle the luxury of upholstery), but those hard materials do leave something to be desired in the comfort category.

Whether you’re a late-night movie watcher, an early-morning reader, or the queen of breakfast-in-bed; the upholstered headboard delivers maximum appeal. Even if you’re none of those things, think about how you lay in bed. I’d be willing to bet you have one arm under your pillow. With an upholstered headboard, that arm now has a warm, soft, cozy additional pillow to rest up against at night.

There are literally limitless possibilities when it comes to upholstered beds, so no aesthetic is out of reach. The addition of a soft material in such a grand scale in a bedroom adds to the luxurious feel that always accompanies a nice hotel room! And if you’re worried about damaging the thing, go for a stain-resistant fabric, or spray it every 6 months with scotch-guard just for extra protection!

2. Matching Bedside Lamps

Sometimes I wonder why this hasn’t already been implemented in every bedroom in America! I can’t even fully deal with overhead lighting, like it’s deeply upsetting to me!! It’s crazy to me that it’s a whole part of the movie “PS I Love You!” Y’all have seen it, right? Like a whole pillar of their relationship is the lack of bedside lamps?! I’m like, “what are you people thinking?!”

We prefer to do a symmetrical matching pair (even if your nightstands don’t match) so that the height of the light is the same on both sides of the bed. The cast of light being at the same height helps your eyes relax and the space reads as more calming than when light is cast from different heights!

As an interesting alternatives to bed-side lamps, and depending on your space, a great option is to go for wall sconces or ceiling-mounted pendants as your bed-side lighting. They offer all of the same lighting benefits as lamps, but can add more styling flexibility in terms of bed-side tables, accessories, etc.

3. Puffy White Bedding

Now, we fully understand that part 3 is controversial to many people, but we stick by it! The clean, crisp, puffy luxury of white hotel bedding is unmatched by any other option! Many people express concern about keeping the bed clean but this is where we totally have to put our foot down because A, bleach that thing, friend! Simple as that! And B, we do not want our beds to be disguising dirt and grime and whatever else! We want them clean, safe, and sanitary! So white is all the more helpful to let us know when’s the right time to pop the whole thing in the washer. We often go for a simple, white duvet cover. Pro tip: use 2 duvet inserts and/or fold your duvet at the end of your bed for a much puffier look! (The puffier the better in our book!)

4. Window Treatments

We’ve always been huge believers in the power of drapery. In fact, we could write blogs, blogs, and more blogs about how important and crucial the perfect window treatments are. Especially if you’re creating a luxurious bedroom experience like that of an upscale hotel!

For the truest and best experience we recommend combining roller shades with a full length drapery panel. The panels can be functional or stationary, but the softness, sound-absorption, and beauty of a drapery panel can’t be beat. For the roller shade we recommend considering both privacy and light control to create the perfect oasis. We most frequently recommend stationary drapery panels that have no function except visual appeal combined with black out, or light-filtering roller shades.

5. Scent

Last year for my birthday, my husband and I drove through Colorado and stayed at this wonderful hotel in Boulder! Nicest hotel I’d ever been to! We walked into our room (which of course implemented the first 4 tips above) and were greeted by a vase of fresh eucalyptus and lavender. The fresh, clean scent was such a restful and welcoming experience—it truly left a mark in my memory!

Now, of course, fresh eucalyptus and lavender would be a wonderful daily blessing to come home to but a simpler approach we recommend is to include a diffuser. As boujee as this all may sound, it’s a fact that the olfactory system has been proven to be a primary factor in reducing tension, stress, and anxiety.

My Home

Our recommendations for creating a hotel-like bedroom apply not only of course to you, and our clients, but even to our own homes! Here is the master bedroom in my house! In the master bedroom you can see I’ve followed each of the suggestions down to the letter to fully create a peaceful space. In the other 2 bedrooms, I was a bit more choosy with which steps to implement because let’s be honest, kid rooms and guest rooms don’t need to be hotel-like! HA! You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit in those rooms!

These simples steps will create a space you can fully rest and experience peace in, and we could all use a little more peace in our lives! Something we have to remind our clients all the time is your bedroom is a priority! Often, we’re so busy making the kids’ bedrooms special or the living spaces welcoming for guests that we entirely neglect the importance of our own bedrooms. We truly believe it’s hugely important that you invest in a relaxing oasis for your own personal use and say “there’s no time like the present!” Don’t put it off another week!