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8 ways to get boutique hotel style bedroom

Wooden do not disturb sign hanging on white door

Make the most of a staycation this year and turn your bedroom into a luxury hotel room. As many of us will not be travelling away from home this summer let’s have a look at how to bring boutique hotel room style to your home and create a 5 star bedroom.

1) Make the bed the focal point

The bed is usually the focus of attention in a hotel room, dressed with a plush throw, plumped up pillows and a mountain of scatter cushions, all there is to add a touch of sumptuous luxury to your room. If you love the natural beauty of a reclaimed wood bed, we think you will love our Beam range. All beds and coordinating bedroom furniture is handcrafted right here in the UK using old reclaimed beams, perfect for a staycation bedroom. The Beam Buckingham (pictured below) has a wonderful high headboard, perfect for piling those pillows and cushions up against!

Photo featuring: Beam Buckingham Reclaimed Wood Bed

2) Go for a themed bedroom

If you like a minimalist look then consider a crisp, clean and airy Scandi themed room. If your favourite place to be is by the sea, you could create a modern beach themed bedroom using tranquil shades of blue and sand colours set beside pale wood, maybe add some beach hut style timber cladding on your walls.

Photo featuring: Hudson Living Kielder Oak Bed

3) Bedside cabinets

If you don’t have some already, bedside units are a must for a boutique hotel room, a place to stand a glass of water or your morning coffee, your holiday reading material and charge for your phone. With either drawers or cupboards, they also add extra valuable storage to your bedroom, so it remains tidy and serene.

Photo featuring: Winchester Reclaimed Wood Bedside Table & Worcester Reclaimed Wood Bedside Table

4) A good mattress for a great night’s sleep

It’s all well and good having a spacious king size wooden bed frame but it’s the mattress that makes it super comfy. A decent hotel quality mattress really does make a huge difference. The UK produced Simply Irresistible Mattress 1000 pocket springs and a sumptuous layer of Vytech Memory Foam and is also guaranteed for a full 10 years.

5) Get rid of bedroom clutter

Imagine if you walked into a hotel room with all sorts of clutter scattered around, it would make most of us turn around and walk right out! There is lots of advice available about how to start decluttering and what we really should not be holding on to anymore. A simple place to start is to spend 15 minutes every day in a different room of your house and declutter! And make the most of bedroom drawers to keep your boutique bedroom clear.

Photo featuring: Dulwich Small Reclaimed Wood Chest of Drawers

6) Relax in a bedroom seating area

A reading or relaxing area works great in a bedroom, a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of a busy home. A luxurious velvet armchair is an obvious choice for this spot, we love the Mateese Velvet Armchair in a soft pink and if this does not fit in with your colour scheme then the neutral Finchley Grey Velvet Armchair will blend into any scheme. And of course, you can always add a cushion to coordinate with your bedding.

Photo featuring: Mateese Velvet Armchair & Finchley Grey Velvet Armchair

7) Add a dressing table and floor standing mirror

Hotel rooms will always have a dressing table and a mirror so of course, if you have the space, you should have these in your room too. A place for pampering day and night.

Photo featuring: Amalfi Floor Mirror

8) Give the room some ambience

And now for the finishing touches and personalisation! Lighting is an important element and If you like to have music whilst you relax or to fall asleep to then add a bluetooth speaker or a docking station, just like in a hotel. Not only do reed diffusers look great they really can set the mood in your bedroom with their wonderfully subtle fragrance, or light a scented candle and let the flickering light calm the space.

How to feng shui your desk for success

Woman's hands typing at a lap top with tidy accessories on wood desk

Never has it been more important to focus on our wellness. We spend so much time sitting at our home office desk so let’s look at a few ways to get some wonderful positive energy flowing using the principles of feng shui.

1. Get rid of clutter

Clutter drains your energy! Set aside some time, a few minutes at the end of the day or a half-hour at the end of the week when you can go through and dispose of, or file, things that have accumulated on your desk and in your office. A home office filing cabinet should be a must-have to store work related documents, as well as personal documents, all kept in their place and easy to find when needed. De-cluttering should include what is on your desktop computer, back-up what you need and delete those old unused files to “create space” for new opportunities.

2. Desk position

If you can you should position your desk so you don’t have your back to your office entrance – you need to face the world and see what’s coming if this is not possible then you can adapt and hang a wall mirror over your desk which will have the same effect.

3. Which chair

The best office chair according to feng shui is one with a high back as this represents good support in the office, but this should also be put in the correct position. Whilst you want your desk to be facing your office entrance, try to ensure your chair is not in front of the doorway as this may allow positive energy to be drawn away from the space.

4. Bring in energy colours

Add some cushions to your workspace or add a rug in a colour that will inspire you. Use blue for career success and growth, green (plants for instance) improves health and balance. Yellow symbolises happiness and joy, and stick with white to encourage creative energy.

5. Add a touch of nature

Even a little bit of natural light is a great energy booster so try to get your desk near a window but if you do need artificial light make sure it is well-positioned and not casting a shadow on your workspace. Place one or more pot plants or flowers on your desk, the living energy of plants will refresh the energy in your space as well as your own personal energy. Wood is one of the five elements of feng shui so a natural rustic wooden desk fits in here perfectly.

6. Important areas

In feng shui there are three areas you need to think about to ensure good energy. The south is your fame and reputation area. As its energy is fire try not to add the colour blue here or anything to do with water as it will extinguish the fire energy. Water should be represented in the North which is the “career or path in life” area, this is the space for inspiring images, you can put these in black or white frames. The south-east area boosts productivity and positive energy, if possible this is the place to locate your office within your house. This space must always be kept clear and clutter free.

How to design the perfect home office for YOU

Laptop against pink wall with succulent in ceramic pot and white candlestick

The home office is a hot topic right now. Whether you love the natural beauty of reclaimed wood furniture or like the ultra-modern look, here are a few pointers to getting it right first time!

Location, location, location

If you are not lucky enough to have a separate designated office then you need to decide which room you are going to double up in. The living room? A spare bedroom or a corner in the kitchen. This is when you need to consider who else might use the room when you need it to work from. If you are on the phone with clients a lot, then background noise of rattling pots and food preparation noises will most likely not work well! If you have guests often then the spare bedroom may also not be the best choice.

Natural light and a room with a nice view would be an ideal choice but if you don’t have this luxury, you can always hang a landscape picture or pictures of friends and family on the wall and of course, add some houseplants for a bit of soothing greenery. Oh, by the way, blue or green work brilliantly with a rustic wood desk to create a stylish and soothing theme for your home office.

Size matters

As a rule of thumb, you should allocate an area of 210cm x 150 cm (approximately 84″ x 60″) for your workspace. You will most likely need more space than you think, a comfortable office chair can be bulky and you need enough room to get in and out of it without being a contortionist! Remember, if your chair has arms you will need more space to get in and out! And, if you have clients come into your home office then you will probably need a couple of armchairs that can be pulled up to your desk for meetings.

For a similar aviator style desk and chair see our Aviator Vintage Jet Brass Hornet Desk and Aviator Keeler Wing Chair.

Choose the right desk and chair

This, of course, depends on what you do – we would say a 120cm wide desk would suit most home workers with a laptop – so a reclaimed wood desk with a couple of drawers may be all you need, we love the industrial simplicity of the Standford desk (pictured below). But, if, for example, you are an architect and need to look at plans then you may need much more space. Do you need to have a printer on your home office desk? In trays? Reference books? All these take up valuable desk space. We also suggest you invest in the best office chair you can afford, it is all too easy to adopt a bad posture sat at a laptop in an uncomfortable chair all day.

Photo featuring: Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Desk, Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Filing Cabinet & Standford Grey Faux Leather Office Chair

Tidy desk, tidy mind

So the saying goes! If you have the space then invest in some office storage furniture. A sideboard, a small bookcase or some rustic shelves to store stationery, books, catalogues, office supplies, ink cartridges and any other items associated with your work. Not only will it keep your workspace tidy but it will also be much easier to find the things you need quickly! It’s also a good idea to tidy up and tuck away cables where possible, not only will your space look better but this can prevent you and others tripping on them.

Photo featuring: Quinton Reclaimed Wood Desk

How to make a white dining room work

Minimalist dining room with wood dining table with black steel legs and wooden chairs

The Scandi minimalist look is still a hugely popular interior trend right now. So if you have white walls and a white ceiling how can you give your dining room some texture and warmth? A blank canvas is a wonderful starting point for your dining room, below we look at some ideas to introduce some homeliness while still keeping it fresh, cool and clear.

Reclaimed wood furniture

This is a great way to start. Warm, rustic, and homely – the minute you add reclaimed wood furniture you’re adding a warm and natural texture. Choose a reclaimed wood dining table, the table-top proudly boasts natural markings and undulations from its previous life. The Dorset trestle table is white painted to really embrace a white dining room theme, it’s a shining example of minimal style, accessorise the natural finish dining benches with cushions and a small throw to give additional texture to the room. We love to see a pendant light hanging over a dining table, to keep things fresh choose an unobtrusive white one.

Photo featuring: Dorset Reclaimed Wood Extendable Trestle Table

White linen

White table linen on a rustic dining table just oozes dining room chic and you can, of course, add an accent colour to mix it up a bit. This is also a great way to link with other coloured elements in the room and keep the coordination going throughout your dining space.

Flowers and houseplants

Houseplants are so popular right now, especially while we have all been staying at home more. Adding pot plants into a crisp white dining space adds an element of nature that not only brightens your room but is also proven to have health benefits. A vase of fresh-cut flowers is another option, choose something seasonal – in summer impressive gladioli or bold sunflowers and in autumn, dahlias can be arranged in a clear glass vase.

Photo featuring: Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Extending Table & Bench.

Dining chairs

If you don’t like too many accessories then you can break up the white by using upholstered dining chairs or faux leather chairs. There are so many different styles and colours to choose from you will be spoilt for choice. You can mix and match benches with white dining chairs and cushions, or add coloured cushions yourself as another way to get some more colour into the room.

Photo featuring: Dorset Reclaimed Wood Chairs

Add contrasting elements

With all this talk about furniture and accessories, we must not forget the floor and the option to add a rug. For example, a green rug in a crisp white room with a rustic dining table and some houseplants will give your room a completely coordinated theme, team this up with a contrasting small armchair in a corner and again you are adding more features and interesting elements to your blank canvas.

Photo featuring: Louis de Poortere Fading World Oyster Green Rug

How to set the mood in your dining room

Two candles on a rustic wood table with a wool blanket

The dining room table is used for many things, not just eating and entertaining, it is often used as a home office, for homeschooling, homework, as well as crafts and hobbies. So when it comes to lighting it is a good idea to consider what it might be used for and when. During the winter months, it will most likely be dark when you eat your evening meal so lighting is an important element to consider.

Over dining table lighting

The dining table is the most important component of your dining space meaning a ceiling pendant over the table is always a good start. A bamboo pendant light hanging over a reclaimed wood dining table is a match made in heaven, the beautiful natural wood grain and natural bamboo work well together; hang one over an industrial dining table and it will soften the heavy industrial style. You can get double or even triple pendant ceiling lights to make something as simple as a light fitting, a whole extra feature in your room.

Photo: Bamboo Manta Tapered Pendant Light

Layered lighting

Take time to play with lighting in your dining room by layering the lights. Suspend a modern pendant light over the table, add some glass table lamps on a sideboard or console table, use fairy lights or candles to add subtle accent lighting around in the room. Use lighting to accentuate a favourite feature in your room such as an open fireplace or a wall picture.

Candles

Candles are a timeless classic when it comes to mood lighting. You can use a couple to create a romantic and intimate mood and can use more to give the feel of a grand banquet. Scented candles are great after you have enjoyed your dinner, choose a relaxing aromatherapy candle to wind down at the end of the evening.

Table lamps on sideboards

If you have a sideboard in your dining room you can place a glass table lamp on it. You may not always want bright overhead lighting for a more laid back and romantic feel. After you have finished your meal you can switch to more subtle indirect lighting for after-dinner drinks with your dinner party guests.

Fairy lights

Fairy lights are very popular and are perfect if you prefer not to light candles in your home. We love these wire weave fairy lights, you can leave them as a decorative feature on a sideboard and when the dinner pots are cleared away pop them on the dinner table as a centrepiece which gives a soft and cosy glow.

Photo credit: @justalittlebuild

Mirrors

Mirrors are always a good choice for helping with lighting issues. A cleverly placed wall mirror will work with well-placed lighting to give a feeling of more space, brighten a dark corner, break up a wall with no window as well as reflect light around the room.

House Tour: A Constant Dreamer’s Cotswold Home

Sarah Moorhouse, Instagrammer behind A Constant Dreamer, opens the door to her beautiful home in the Cotswolds.

Standford Medium Reclaimed Wood Extending Dining Table

Images of Sarah’s light-filled and sophisticated home attracted not just our attention, but thousands of followers who lust after her timeless and effortless style as much as we do. The four bedroom home exudes a modern farmhouse feel, mixing warm neutral shades and textures with investment pieces, statement art and beautiful accessories to create a space that you’d expect to see in a glossy interior magazine.

HOUSE AT A GLANCE

Who lives here: Sarah & Tim & their two pups, Pip & William

Location: Cirencester, Cotswolds

Size: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

TYPE OF PROPERTY

A Georgian townhouse located in the centre of town arranged over three floors with a cellar. Sarah was drawn to the house because of its room proportions, ceiling heights and location. They purchased the property in 2014 and lived in the house for three years, doing only a basic make-over, until the Spring of 2018 when they started a full renovation.

On the ground floor Sarah’s focus was to restore the period features that had been stripped out. She renovated the kitchen first, adding new limestone flooring, then moved on to the living room, office and creating a new shower room and courtyard. She then worked her way up the remaining two floors, including redecorating three of the bedrooms, adding period features, such as coving, new curtains and blinds and carpets (twice!), alongside the family bathroom. The fourth bedroom is currently unused, but Sarah has her eye on converting it into a dressing room. “I love that from the outside at the front the house looks like a two up two down, but once you step inside it opens up and surprises everyone who first visits.”

KITCHEN

The kitchen is the hub of Sarah’s home and was one of the first rooms she renovated. It has a large sash window at one end with a lovely long window seat underneath, which creates a stunning focal point. The original cream units and orange coloured wooden worktop made the room too dark, so Sarah brightened it up by replacing the cabinet door fronts and end panels, adding a quartz worktop and a Lacanche range cooker, which along with our very own Standford Medium Reclaimed Wood Extending Dining Table, are showpieces for the room. “It took me 18 months to find the right table and it’s ‘the one’. I love the reclaimed sleepers; it’s the perfect marriage of old and modern and fits in perfectly with its surroundings.”

LIVING ROOM

Located at the front of the house and bathed in natural light in the afternoons, Sarah made the most of the light and space in the compact living room. She added a Georgian style marble fireplace and painted the walls in French Grey Pale by Little Greene. The 100% polypropylene carpet was one of Sarah’s best investments, especially with two small dogs! “Before that, we had 100% wool carpets which we had to replace after our pups destroyed them after 18 months. That hurt!”

MASTER BEDROOM

The master bedroom is still work in progress. Sarah painted the walls in Cornforth White by Farrow & Ball and bought a new king size bed to go with the mixture of ebay finds and upcycled old furniture to add colour. The window dressings is the next part of the room to complete with Sarah wanting to add curtains with colour and print.

“I love a mix of old and new pieces in homes to make it feel more lived in and I love colour, prints & texture.”

What’s your favourite room in the house and why?

My favourite room changes all the time and usually because of the seasons! At the minute I would probably say our top-floor bedroom because of the light and the views. We often go up there to sit and read and the sash window makes a real feature of the room. However, once spring hits you’ll usually find me in the courtyard!

What would be your dream property?

I would quite like a Georgian cottage in the future with a lovely garden. I love Georgian properties for their symmetry, well-proportioned rooms and high ceilings.

Whose interior style do you lust after?

I don’t lust after one particular person’s style but rather a collective of styles. I’m an avid Instagram user and love following interior accounts for inspiration.

For some more interior inspiration, check out Sarah’s Instagram account @aconstantdreamer

All images Sarah Moorhouse @aconstantdreamer

How to choose a large dining table for your family

Large wood dining table with food and arms

A dining table is most likely the place where you and yours all sit down together at the end of a busy day, a place where you enjoy your dinner and talk over the day’s events. It’s always a good idea to have a big dining table so you have plenty of space to put dishes on the table and plenty of room to spread out and dine comfortably. But what if you have a large, or growing, family? Here we look at some large super stylish rustic and reclaimed wood dining tables, which can be paired with other reclaimed wood furniture, as well as with a more contemporary interior.

Size matters

How many people normally sit around your dining table? Do you have guests often? Does your dining table double up as an occasional workspace? Do the kids use it to do their homework? Do you need a bit of space to fit a highchair around it? If you have the space for a large table then all is good and you can get a lovely large homely rustic dining table with plenty of chairs to fit around it. If your dining space does not allow it then an extendable dining table might be just what you need.

The Portobello oak extendable wood dining table is a great choice. A gorgeous light solid oak dining table, in a minimalist Scandi style which can be combined with a dining bench, perfect for the little ones to squeeze up when you need a bit of extra space! Another rustic option would be the Farringdon dining table, it extends from the centre of the table with a cleverly hidden mechanism to ensure little fingers won’t get caught.

Reclaimed dining table

A reclaimed wood dining table is a clever option, the nature of the wood used means it has beautiful natural texture and undulations in the wood so small “everyday use” marks, chips and dents easily blend in. A reclaimed wood table is a homely and warm place to sit around and will make a stunning centrepiece in your kitchen or dining room.

The Standford extendable wood dining table is crafted from reclaimed wood often over 100 years old, with old nail marks adding interest and plenty of character, it easily extends to become a six-seater dining table. The Dorset is another super stylish extendable trestle table, for which there is the option to add a combination of benches and / or chairs.

Spider leg table

A spider leg table just makes so much sense when you need to add extra diners as there are no table legs to compete for space with! You can position your chairs anywhere you like, move them up a bit when you have guests and spread out when you have none.

The stunning Sussex oak oval dining table has a spider leg, is 2.5 metres long, it combines style and industrial elegance with a classic parquet top. It will also give the impression of taking up less room because of the rounded corners – meaning an oval table is a good choice if you still want a large table in a smaller or narrow room. Another bonus is the little ones not banging knees into table legs, so hopefully no kicking under the table!

5 ways to style your bed like a pro

reclaimed wood bed with white bedding and throw

We no longer consider our bedroom a “tucked away” room in our homes. A bedroom can be a refuge in a busy household, a place for a bit of quiet time during the day as well as a relaxing place to wind down before sleeping. Here we have a look at how the pros style a bed and get it looking so inviting.

1. Add a throw to your bed

Adding a throw to your bed is a quick way to give your room a new look. Choose a heavier one for autumn and winter, such as a faux fur or a rich velvet to give a warm and cosy feeling. In spring and summer, you can choose a lighter and brighter cotton, or satin for a more airy and cooler feel. In a neutral coloured bedroom you can play with different colours as well as different fabrics. A reclaimed wood bed is a natural and neutral piece of furniture offering you a great base to play with your style.

2. Scatter cushions

Cushions are a great way to add style and interest to your bedroom. You don’t even need that many to get the look, three is a good amount for a king size bed. Just buy good quality cushions and then swap, mix and match cushion covers made from different fabrics like satin, faux fur and leather, velvet, cotton and linen, to give your room different looks. You can choose different shades of your main colour or add some eye-catching accent colours or striking patterns.

3. Layer like a designer

We all agree that layering on beds just looks so wonderful in all those designer images. This look is actually really easy to achieve. Start with a plain bottom sheet on your bed, a reversible duvet set is definitely a good starting point for this look, pop it on your bed and fold the top end back and you already have some layering happening. Now add a folded back throw to the bottom half of your bed and for the finishing touch simply add a few scatter cushions.

4. Under-bed storage

A storage drawer under a rustic wooden bed is a very practical way to make your bed look complete, a perfect way to add storage and style! These can be used to store so many things – seasonal clothes, spare bedding, towels…. all these items can be tidily tucked away in an otherwise unused space.

5. Create a theme or colour palette

Think if you want a theme to your bedroom before choosing your bedroom furniture. Do you like the light and airy Scandinavian style? Are you a nature lover and want natural fabrics and living plants in your bedroom? Do you like vibrant bold colours or an ultra-modern look? Reclaimed wood bedroom furniture is a great choice, giving you a versatile product which is easy to base a modern, rustic or traditional bedroom theme on.

5 best wardrobes to keep your bedroom looking tidy

We all have so much to store in our bedrooms, making the right choice in storage options is paramount to creating your ideal place to wind down and relax in.

Below are 5 important things you might want to consider when choosing the perfect wardrobe for your bedroom. Of course, this is also the perfect time to give the items you no longer need, or wear, to a charity!

1. Choose a wardrobe with drawers

A wardrobe with drawers is always a great choice. This will present you with valuable extra storage space especially in a small room if you don’t have enough space for a chest of drawers as well…. A light coloured wardrobe would be the perfect choice for you. Drawers also save on hanging space in your wardrobe – socks, vest tops, thick jumpers and items that don’t crease can all be popped away in them. A drawer organiser will help you keep them tidy and ensure that your clothes are quickly and easily found when you need them!

2. Brighten your room with a white painted wardrobe

If you like minimal clutter and clean crisp white in your bedroom then consider a white painted wardrobe to reflect light and brighten the space. Add coordinating reclaimed wood bedroom furniture to bring your room together. A white-painted reclaimed wood wardrobe works wonders to brighten a dark room and gives a small room the feeling of more space.

3. Add character with reclaimed wood

Reclaimed wood wardrobes come in many styles, shapes and sizes – From a natural finish to white painted, to a dark retro/ antique look – there are plenty to choose from that will suit your style. A reclaimed wood wardrobe oozes character, their history is there for all to see in the old nail holes and in the beautiful undulations of the wood. Rustic wardrobes offer versatility, blending as perfectly in a modern room, filled with bold and vibrant colours as they do in a farmhouse style or neutral colour scheme.

4. Open hanging

Not everyone wants to hide their favourite clothes away in a wardrobe! An open wardrobe adds a light and elegant touch to your room, a sort of traditional Provençale farmhouse feel. With a shelf for storing folded items and shoes on, it could be all you need! These are also great in the hallway for hanging coats on and a brilliant idea for your guest bedroom.

5. A touch of Nordic rustic

When discussing wonderful wardrobes we could not overlook the hugely popular Scandi furniture trend! Natural light, clear and clutter-free spaces, clean lines and neutral colours are a great foundation to style the perfect bedroom. A solid wood wardrobe would tick all these boxes, offering storage as well as style. Pair this with other reclaimed wood furniture, soft rugs and light and natural fabrics to create a room that will be hard to leave in the morning!