Decorating the Bedroom for Summer

With ever-changing trends in interior design, it can be tricky to pick a stylish but timeless look for your bedroom décor. Once again this season, the nautical look is big news, in particular sailor chic a firm favourite with those looking for an easy and stylish theme for a bedroom makeover.

Marine colours are ideal for the bedroom; cool blues and crisp whites are particularly soothing, enabling you to create an oasis of calm which is conducive to sleep. You may not even need to repaint to work this look into your own home. With beachy bits and pieces on sale in homeware shops across the country and a continuing vogue for sailor-themed fabrics, you can bring a bland blue or white room up to date relatively cheaply and easily.

Many older houses have wooden floors in upstairs bedrooms; while bare wood can be super stylish, wooden floors can feel a little bare and chilly in the bedroom, especially during the cooler winter months. One easy way to add a little warmth to a wooden floor is to add a rug. Cotton rugs in cream or pale blue tones really help to make a room feel lighter and more inviting, without being stifling or distracting from other focal points in the room. If you want to take the nautical theme a little further, a blue and white striped woven rug can add a laid-back, beachy vibe.

Sailor chic is notoriously understated, so less is definitely more as far as fabrics and soft furnishings are concerned. Roman or Venetian blinds make a sharp, chic alternative to swathes of curtains, helping to maintain a cool, minimalist vibe. Blinds are a great alternative to curtains as they ensure that your room feels light and airy during the day, whilst being very effective in blocking out unwanted light from streetlamps and cars at night.

Keeping your décor classic and simple will also help to ensure that your room is a healthy and relaxing environment for sleep. Excess clutter can make bedrooms seem busy, storage beds and Ottoman beds from companies like www.bedroomworld.co.uk are the perfect solution for smaller rooms.

While scatter cushions can make a room seem cosy and inviting, they may make smaller rooms appear crowded. However, a few carefully placed objects can serve as points of interest, helping to tie the theme together without dominating the space. Paintings and posters of seaside landscapes can also be used to emphasise the nautical elements of a sailor-themed bedroom.

Placing a mirror on the largest wall is a well-known way to create the illusion of space, and is particularly effective in a light coloured room. If you want to reinforce the maritime elements in the room, why not use a large, driftwood framed mirror? Surrounding a mirror in driftwood creates a unique piece of wall art which is both unique and functional. A couple of large attractive shells, placed strategically around the room on shelves and bookcases will add a calming sense of homeliness to the room. Using pieces picked up while beach-combing is a really cost-effective way to refresh a bland bedroom or bathroom.

Nautical styles look set to be a key trend once again this year, both in fashion and in the world of interiors. Just a few simple changes to your soft furnishings, and the addition of a few key ornaments can transform a basic blue or white bedroom into a beach-side haven, without breaking the bank.