Ok, aside from the obvious, there are many things that I have observed which are important to men when designing the bedroom. Here are the top five things to remember when designing your master Bedroom that seem to keep the ‘Men’ happy as well:
1. Add a TV
I can hear you all shrieking ‘No!’ to this option and of course, all the sleep experts agree, this is not a good thing to add to your bedroom. But many of my male clients really want a tv in the bedroom. So, if you decide with your partner that you both can live with a television in the bedroom, then add it, but lets follow some basic rules.
- Make the Tv size-appropriate: this is not the room for a big screen.
- Put the Tv on a wall-mounted bracket so it is easy to move and hopefully maneuver out of site when not in use.
- Make sure you purchase a television with a sleep-timer option so you can set this at bedtime. (And learn how to actually use it)
- Set some sort of rules about watching television too late into the evening. It can be very stimulating so sleep becomes difficult. (Maybe even make a no sports zone in the bedroom?)
2. Create a “drop-zone”
This is somewhat more important for men than women, particularly for men who regularly wear suits to work. Unlike women’s clothing, which for some reason doesn’t have pockets, menswear is filled with pockets. In these pockets are kept everything from change, to notes, business cards, gum etc. At the end of each day, these small items need to go some where.
If you want to keep your shared bedroom neat, find a space or area where all this miscellaneous stuff can be dropped and eventually sorted. A large table-top tray or shallow drawer is a good start for placing these items as it is all contained and still accessible.
3. Create easy hanging
I don’t think this is an issue only for men, but again, I have noticed my male clients spend no time at all hanging up jackets or ties when it requires more than dropping them over a chair or throwing them on a hook. For this reason I say, if you want to at least stop the spread of clothing all over the floor, create areas where items can simply be hung up on a hook or stashed in a clear-faced drawer or open shelf. (Hangers seem to represent a lot of work to some un-named men!!)
At the most basic, this may mean adding hooks to the back of all doors, and even hooks mounted within closets on walls. A more costly but definitely superior option is to opt for closet organization where maximum space is used and your partner gets his own area, just like you, ok, maybe the shoe area won’t be equal to yours, but give him some space too.
4. Make the room dark!
I have many clients who tell me they don’t need a dark room to sleep, but studies consistently show that a lack of complete darkness at night can result in long term health problems as deep sleep is not achieved. In addition, daily ‘crankiness‘ seems to be an ongoing result!
Now before you get excited and start designing fancy drapery to add over your windows for “health reasons” what I mean is for you to add room ‘blackening’ blinds or fully operational drapery panels with lining. This includes Blackout Roller Blinds and floor to ceiling drapes through which no light can pass when they are closed.
So no shutters or wood slat blinds on their own as they don’t block the light enough. (Perhaps now, a certain someone will wake up in a better mood!)
5. Lose the pillows!
Ok, even this one is hard for me to accept but, put a cap on the number of pillows going on to the bed! Be selective and choose the ones that will make the most difference to the overall design of the room. Of course, hide your sleeping pillows behind decorative shams, and of course, add some toss pillows but try to hold back from adding many more.
It is important to avoid the following types of pillows :
- those with cute sayings like “A Princess Sleeps Here”, (although it maybe true)
- Resist adding fluffy, furry, bedazzled, lacy, frilly or otherwise “girly” pillows to the bed as you will find they are the first to have an anonymous “accidental cat incident” for which an explanation is not quickly forthcoming.
Of course, none of this may apply to you if you live in a home where the basic motto of the household is “Happy wife, Happy Life” which means you have a free pass to decorate the bedroom however you want, no matter what the men in your life think!
