Whether you’re moving into a new bedroom or looking to refresh your current space, choosing the right layout can contribute to better sleep. Understanding how your furniture arrangement influences sleep can help you achieve a good night’s rest in the room of your dreams.
What’s the Best Bedroom Layout for Sleep?
There’s no single bedroom layout that’s perfect for everyone. The best furniture arrangement will depend on personal preferences and features of the room like its dimensions and shape.
Regardless of the exact layout you choose, your bedroom should be arranged with one main purpose in mind: sleeping. To enhance your sleep, you want a calming space that helps you relax and unwind. It may help to keep the room as simple and clutter-free as possible by including only the furniture that you need like a bed, dresser, and vanity.
What to Consider in a Bedroom Layout
You want a sleep environment that’s dark, quiet, comfortable, and relaxing at night. Arranging your room with these qualities in mind can help you get the best possible rest in the space you’re working with.
Light Exposure
Windows, light fixtures, and electronic screens affect the amount of light in your bedroom, which has a powerful impact on sleep. Darkness and light provide important signals that tell your body when it’s time to sleep or be awake and alert. Too much light at the wrong time can make it difficult to sleep well.
Take note of any potential nighttime light sources from outside your bedroom windows. Things like street lamps and vehicle headlights could interfere with your sleep. If your window faces a busy street, try to position your bed away from the window or install light-blocking window coverings like dark shades or blackout curtains.
When it comes to lighting fixtures, you should try to have multiple brightness options for different times of day. It’s best to avoid using bright overhead lights in the two hours leading up to bedtime. Instead, get a dim bedside lamp in a warm color. This softer light helps the body naturally prepare for rest. You may also consider a red night light that isn’t too bright to use along your path to the bathroom.
Another best practice is to avoid TVs and computers entirely in your bedroom. Screen-based devices emit blue light that can interfere with the body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that makes you feel sleepy at night. On top of that, these devices may distract you from sleeping. If you want a TV in the room, try placing it inside a cabinet or on an adjustable mount so it can be hidden from view.
Noise Levels
Noise is a common problem that can easily disrupt your sleep. The ideal bedroom is silent at night, but it usually isn’t realistic to achieve total silence. Instead, you can design your bedroom to minimize excess noise and encourage overall peace and quiet.
As you’re positioning your bedroom furniture, make sure to think about whether you live next to a noisy street or expect to hear sounds from a neighboring room. You might want to place your bed in the quietest part of your room, with more distance from windows or noisy neighbors you share a wall with.
If you sleep with a partner or have neighbors below you, consider placing a rug under your bed or beside it. The soft surface may help limit the sound of footsteps from people getting out of bed late at night or in the early morning.
Air Quality
A stuffy bedroom can interfere with a good night’s rest. When planning your room layout, try to avoid blocking any windows with furniture because this could limit ventilation. Keep windows easily accessible so they can be opened frequently to let in fresh air.
While houseplants are often thought to improve air quality, research on this topic has produced mixed results. Some research even suggests that plants could negatively affect air quality in your bedroom at night by adding carbon dioxide to the air.
Allergens
If you have indoor allergies, such as from dust mites or pet dander, think twice before surrounding your bed with soft furnishings. Curtains, rugs, carpets, and even stuffed animals can collect dust and allergens, and it’s possible to breathe in these particles while asleep. Try to use these items sparingly or place them away from the bed if you’re sensitive to allergens.
Comfort and Relaxation
A bedroom should feel relaxing and safe to sleep in. Many people prefer to place their bed across the room from the bedroom door as this may offer a sense of safety that comes from having a clear view of the entrance while still remaining somewhat distant from it.
Ideally, the bedroom should only be used for sleep and sex, so the furniture layout should support a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere. Things that remind you of work or other worries can bring unwanted stress that makes sleeping difficult.
Despite this, it’s becoming more common for people to use the bedroom for other purposes. If your bedroom must have multiple uses, add features like curtains or dividers to separate the sleep space from the areas used for work or other activities.
Lastly, find a place for items that add a personal touch and make you feel at home. Maybe this is a reading area for winding down at the end of the day or a painting or photo that brings a smile to your face. The bedroom is your safe haven and comfort zone, so plan it with your own preferences and needs in mind.
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How to Create a Bedroom Layout Plan
With a floor plan, you can map out your bedroom layout before doing the heavy lifting. Several steps can help you create the most useful floor plan.
- Measure: Take careful measurements of the room’s length, width, and height. Measure the precise location and size of doors and windows as well as any other built-in fixtures you can’t move like closets and radiators.
- Make a floor plan: Many websites, software, and smartphone apps can help you make your own floor plan, or you can draw one yourself. You may want to make multiple copies of the floor plan to experiment with different furniture arrangements.
- Place your furniture: Start with choosing the placement of your bed. In choosing its location, keep in mind how it will be positioned relative to windows and doors. After that, you can put the rest of your furniture in place with the goal of creating a restful space for sleep.
References
About The Author
Staff Writer, Sleep Health
Afy is a writer and creative strategist in San Francisco with a master’s degree in international health policy from the London School of Economics. She has written for VeryWell Health, BlackDoctor.org, and Paste magazine and edited peer-reviewed journal manuscripts for Elsevier. Afy says her work with The Sleep Doctor is anything but “sleepy.” She enjoys the opportunity to learn new information and share knowledge that gives people the power to make better choices. Afy also likes to read non-fiction, do creative writing, and travel solo.
- POSITION: Side Sleeper
- TEMPERATURE: Hot Sleeper
- CHRONOTYPE: Bear
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