Main Bedroom Design – Jess Neary Designs

Now that we’ve established why it’s important to design and curate a Main Bedroom intentionally and outlined what to avoid or limit – today, I am sharing what to include. With these 9 essentials you can design a bedroom that feels really good and helps empower your health + well-being.

If you haven’t yet read Part One, you can do so HERE. Feel free to also circle back to Part One to learn what areas in your current design can be removed or shifted in your space.

The 9 Main Bedroom Essentials are:

Command Position
Flesh tone or Pastel colors
Positive Imagery
Texture + Fabrics
Decorating in Pairs
Adding Plants + Greenery
Using Crystals
Adding a Variety of Lighting
Including a Rug

The placement of the bed is one of the most important furniture placements in accordance with Feng Shui. This is the spot where we lay our head at night. Ideally the headboard itself is made of wood or upholstered to feel fully grounded while resting. The Command Position specifically refers to where the bed is places in the main bedroom. This is also known as the power position. This position has the headboard against a solid wall, facing the door; however not in direct line with the door. Sleeping in the command position ensures that your body can relax fully allowing yourself to have the best sleep possible.

As for the colors in the Main Bedroom, I recommend using soft shades and tones. Ideally flesh tones, such as peach, olive, light brown or beige are wonderfully complimentary to the energy in the main bedroom. If you desire to include a bright or bold color, I suggest limiting the quality to a set of lamps, or a couple throw pillows as an accent.

Positive Imagery goes a long way! Especially when it comes to the subconscious mind. What do I mean by positive imagery? Well, photos of you and your partner, if in a relationship, from a positive experience (such as your wedding day) is a great idea. The high energy of the event and day can sprinkle and shine in this space. Further encouraging health in the relationship as well. If you are single, think of images that reflect love or self love for yourself. Perhaps it is a bouquet of roses or peonies. Perhaps it is images of a pair of love birds sitting on a branch.

Including a variety of texture and fabrics will create a more dynamic and deep design in your space. The different tactile surfaces allow the senses to be constantly delighted and stimulated as you traverse the space. Likewise, having a variety of lighting options, also the space to be setup for many different activities. For instance, bright lighting for when getting dressed to see yourself fully. Or perhaps dimmed lighting for creating a soft environment for intimacy or winding down for sleep.

Decorating in pairs is a helpful tip to encourage balance with oneself and with others. The main bedroom symbolizes love and relationships in accordance with Feng Shui. Therefore, I encourage yourself to think in pairs when choosing to include any new items. It could look like an even number of pillows on the bed, two nightstands flanking the bed, and a pair of lamps atop those nightstands.

Plants and crystals are gorgeous décor pieces that can serve your main bedroom in wonderful ways. They are both natural and bring in a lively fresh energy to the space. When selecting your ideal houseplant for your main bedroom, consider:

the care and maintenance of the plant
the size and shape of the leaves
including a pair

Likewise, when selecting your ideal crystal for the space, consider the purpose of the crystal, color, shape and size. You can most certainly add them in pairs as well. Rose Quartz, the stone of unconditional love, is one I will often recommend having on either side of the bed.

And finally, I wrap up my list of Main Bedroom essentials with adding a rug. Rugs are incredible at creating boundaries in life and in your space. They work particularly well when used in large bedrooms to help create zones for various activities. Rugs, when placed under or around the side, present a soft cushion for your toes to land on when entering and exiting the bed. Rather than have your feet be met with a cold and hard surface, a soft rug can provide brilliant effects.

In conclusion, intentionally designing your main bedroom provides results that extend beyond just creating a pretty space. It also presents you with the opportunity to fully enrich your sleeping habits, which then supports your energy even further throughout the day. A main bedroom truly reflects yourself and therefore having energy dedicated to this space is an act of self love.

If you are interested in having 1 on 1 support to design your main bedroom, check out the various design services available HERE.

As always, have a wonderful day! I look forward to sharing more helpful tips to intentionally design your space in the next blog post.

Jess

Designing a main bedroom is important because it is one of the rooms in our life that we spend the most amount of time in. In a 24 hour day, each of us are in this one room on average of 6 to 8+ hours. That is a good chunk of our day, week, year, life occupying this space. Not only do we spend so much time in this room, the activities we engage in this room are incredibly valuable to our health and wellbeing. I intend to share with you various design applications so you know how to intentionally design your own bedroom for rest, self-care and pleasure.

In Feng Shui, the main bedroom is one of the top 3 most influential spaces in your home. The primary purpose of the main bedroom is to enjoy a deep restful sleep. As such, there are several recommendations on what to avoid having in this room.

For today in part 1, I am going to begin with what to avoid in this space:

Electronics (such as the television, laptop/desktop or tablets)
Clutter
Family Photos
Tall or Heavy Furniture
Bright Colors
Mirror Across From Your Bed
A Collection of Books

Most of what I’ve listed above deflect rather encourage rest. You may notice that electronics is the first item listed… this is intentional ha. I have worked with many clients who have a television in their bedrooms. However, the television broadcasts a lot of information, entertainment that can be quite energizing and having this easy access to it – encourages more “unintentional” channel cruising than focusing on rest. I have also worked with many clients who’ve found that having their home office in their main bedroom created many issues: restless sleep and working too much. Together we were able to move the office equipment out of this important space to help fuel their personal energy by putting aside work and focus on sleep.

Clutter, defined as anything that is no longer serving you, can include broken furniture, clothes that no longer fit or require repair, a candle with no wick left to burn etc. It is a blanket term that can apply to many things. Clutter has the ability to “cloud the mind”. Again, it is a distraction.

Family photos are an interesting subject. They are simply lovely to have in your home and are a tremendous addition to other rooms in your home, such as being hung in beautiful frames arranged one by one heading down a hallway, on a family wall collage or in your children’s bedroom. They are not encouraged in a main bedroom as it presents another distraction. On one hand yes they are a reminder of an abundance of love and support, however they also represent responsibility which is a distraction for putting all responsibilities aside for a restful sleep.

Tall or heavy furniture bring the energy down in a space with it’s weight. Having dark furniture or furniture that is to tall to easily reach the top drawers can leave one feeling that they have to reach for items. This plays a very strong role in the subconscious mind. Having one feel as they if what they need is “out of reach” or they need to stretch themselves to get what they need. Ideally furniture used in this room will be easily accessible.

Bright colors are an interesting subject as well as I have worked with clients who have intentionally chosen bright colors to include on their walls to inject their own personality into their bedroom. To this I say, yes! The main bedroom is a place to have creative expression; however, I did encourage this one client to be very intentional on the quantity of this bright fuchsia was used. One wall was painted a deep fuchsia, from navy blue, and it has yielded very positive results for herself. When choosing the color palette for your bedroom – think of how you currently feel with what you have and how you desire to feel. Adding small pops of red can turn up the passion and intimacy. Too much red could be overpowering and cause restful nights. Their is a balance here.

Having a mirror in your bedroom can be really beneficial. They allow you to see yourself, fully if it’s full length. Saying that, mirrors also amplify what they reflect. As such, they are not recommended to be placed in a main bedroom especially if facing you from the end of the bed. While sleeping, your subconscious mind is still scanning your environment for threats. I mean when we sleep, we are in a vulnerable state. With a mirror, any toss or turn in bed could be alarming. This could prevent you from sleeping deeply and staying asleep throughout the night.

The last item that I will discuss in today’s post is having a collection of books in the main bedroom. Books are full of information and entertainment, similar to the television. However, unlike the television, they are enjoyed individually. If you share your bedroom with a partner, books could encourage you to stay up reading yes, but it could also separate yourself from your partner. To this, I encourage you to limit the number of books to possibly or two. Bonus points if these books subjects are related to creating intimacy with yourself and/or partner, such as the Kama Sutra.

Bravo for making it through all 7 items to avoid in your main bedroom! These are common things I have seen in client’s main bedrooms – that I enjoy explaining further why they are not encouraged from an Interior Design and Feng Shui perspective. With a thorough understanding of what to avoid, let’s dive into what to include in your main bedroom in part 2 of Intentionally Design Your Main Bedroom…

Until then, if you are interested in working 1 on 1 to design your main bedroom, you may be interested in an Interior Design Consultation. Head on over to Design Services to check out the various offerings provided by Jess Neary Designs to help you intentionally design spaces you love!

Cheers, Jess

Category: Main Bedroom Design

Intentionally Design Your Main Bedroom Part Two: What to Include

Intentionally Design Your Main Bedroom Part One: What to Avoid