This guide is going to be primarily focused on the most effective things you can do to improve your bedroom. There are a lot of reasons you might want to improve your bedroom. The biggest one is stress and anxiety. If your room is a mess and you follow these tips you should palpably notice yourself being less stressed and anxious. Another reason is a junky room might actually screw you out of getting intimate with someone.
I am not an interior designer but I do know a thing or two. This guide is going to cover basic stuff that matter the most.
Before we get started the thing that’s going to make the biggest difference is cleaning and decluttering. Throw away everything you don’t need and organize everything you do need. Keep things like furniture, fans, and trashcans near your walls to open up your room. You’re also going to want to start using zip ties for cable management. A bunch of tangled wires not only looks ugly but becomes a pain in the ass down the road. Now let’s move on to air quality.
I really never knew how big of a deal air quality was until I had a girl over and she commented on how dry my room was (and consequentially, probably her as well.) Somehow, despite living by five Great Lakes my room was literally drier than the Sahara. This wasn’t super obvious to me and at first I thought she was just being a nitpick… until I started to work from home two years ago and I started having skin issues during winter I never did when I wasn’t at home as often. At that point I made it a priority to get a humidifier. If your room isn’t dry you probably don’t need one but if you’re noticing yourself having the same issues I did I highly recommend one. You’re not going to want to skimp and get a cheap one because you have a risk of putting mold in the air.
I would also recommend getting a houseplant. Houseplants not only act as air filters but also improve your room’s appearance. Me personally, I’m a huge fan of peace lilies because they look pretty and they’re extremely easy to maintain.
Also, don’t smoke in your room. It fucks up your walls and it makes everything smell. This includes cannabis smoke. You ever notice how you go to a bonfire once and if you stand too close the smoke your clothes smell like smoke and it’s a pain in the ass to get the smell out? That’s what you’re doing to your clothes every day. When you’re a smoker you have no idea how much you and everything you own reeks because your nose is desensitized to the smell. I used to smoke a pack a day and when I quit smoking I could smell someone who smoked from a mile away. I highly recommend switching to vaporizers if you need your nicotine or THC fix. That or smoking outside.
Next we’re going to talk about scent. I’ll preface this by saying you have no idea how your room actually smells. This is because, just like with smokers not being able to smell the smoke on their clothes, your nose is desensitized. If you smell even a little bit of foul order in your room that means that scent is at least two magnitudes stinkier for everyone else. In order of most important to least important this is how you deal with a stinky room:
1. Throw away food and beverages when you’re done with them and use a garbage can with a lid.
2. Clean your fabrics. They hold in odor like nobody’s business.
3. Try not to use anything with a harsh smell while cleaning. Avoid bleach like the plague.
4. This should probably go without saying, but shower often.
Once you deal with the source of odor in your room you’re going to want to open your windows and air it out a few hours (unless you live by a factory or something.) Once you have odor taken care of you can work on fragrancing. You never want to scent your room when there’s still foul odor because instead of covering of the odor it’s just going to make your room smell like a weird combination of scent and stank. This is also why you don’t want to wear fragrances when you smell. When it comes to fragrancing your room you want to GO EASY. Err on the side of too little instead of too much. I’m a huge fan of candles. They also add ambient light to your room to create depth. I’ve tried things like Glade sprays in the past and recently I’ve been testing other room fresheners as well. I tried the one pictured below and it’s much better than Febreze and Glad sprayse but the smell is actually a little obtrusive. I’ll be testing similar products in the future and if I find something I like I’ll update this guide. Glade PlugIns work great as well but they’re a fire hazard.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret I do as well. If you have a cologne multiple people have complimented you on here’s what you’re going to want to do: After laundering your bed set, once you have slept on it for one night, hold your cologne a few feet over your bed, point it towards your ceiling, and spray it ONCE. The reason you wait until you’ve slept in your bed for a night is so that the cologne mixes with your body chemistry and makes your sheets smell like how your cologne smells on you. If you were to spray it on your bed without sleeping in it then this would only make your bed sheet smell like the tester strip version of your cologne. It’s extremely subtle but assuming your partner enjoys your scent they’ll be flooded with oxytocin.
If you’re using plastic or wire hangers I HIGHLY recommend replacing them with wooden hangers. They not only make your room look better but they’re better for your clothes as well. I personally refuse to have any other kind of hanger in my closet. It’s probably the only thing I’m a bit of a snob about.
If you don’t have central cooling and your bedroom isn’t large try a standing fan instead of those circular ones. They are MUCH more effective. Personally I just bought one from Walmart.
Don’t cheap out on your bedding. You spend at least 6~8 hours a day on your bed. I’m not saying you need to get $400 hotel sheets but at least avoid the synthetic crap (ESPECIALLY if you have skin problems.) BUT IF YOU DO HAVE THE MONEY FOR IT consider Egyptian cotton sheets, a down filled comforter, and down filled pillows. I also recommend at least a full bed or even a queen if you’re above 6′ tall. Comfortably trying to fall asleep with two people in a twin is NOT fun and I spent 4 years of my life doing it. I hated it and my girlfriends at the time hated it too.
If you have hardwood floors a well-placed rug can really put together a room as well. Speaking of floors, you should clean them at least once a week and your walls at least once a month.
In terms of decoration I like to stick to paintings, movie posters and album covers that mean a lot to me. In my opinion television, comic book, videogame, cartoon and anime posters are a little juvenile. I love the Starcraft 2 competitive scene but you will NEVER see a Starcraft 2 poster on my wall. The only exception I can think of would be signed posters. There’s nothing sexy about being a manchild.
I’m also a HUGE fan of supporting local artists and friends. Pictured below is a print I bought from a very good friend of mine that I usually leave set against a wicker shelf.
A lot of guys I know also have leather chairs that are basically dirty disgusting and falling apart. It’s super gross and unpresentable. If this is the case for you PLEASE replace your chair. Personally I’m a fan of mesh chairs because they seem to last MUCH longer. Also please don’t buy a gaming chair. They look tacky and are less ergonomic than other chairs in the same price point.
That’s it. Your room won’t be the pinnacle of interior design but if you follow these tips you’ll have a bedroom to be proud of and for others to feel comfortable being in.
Edit 4/21/2020:
These lights are AMAZING. I don’t mean specifically that brand. I mean color changing LED lights. Perfect for ambiance and mood lighting. I highly recommend getting some for your bedroom. If you don’t want to sit around in goofy colors all day make sure you get one that has an option for daylight and room lighting as well. I bought two for my overhead fixture and they’ve been worth every dollar.
Thank you for reading!