Bedroom à la hotel, film noirs and ramen.
As well as plenty of suggestions for your weekend.
Hello, it’s great to
see you again!
Editor – Phoebe Tully
—
This is just going to be a quick introduction from me this week.
I’m mostly head-down working on client projects at the moment and not really doing anything especially interesting outside of that, except re-developing my online course, Build The Right Business.
I do have a few fun things planned in the next week that I’ll be able to debrief on in the next edition. But for now, enjoy this shorter and sharper TST!
Go to your room.
I was hanging out at my sister’s place recently and because she was surrounded by packing boxes, we took our cups of teas to her room and lounged around on the bed like teenagers.
Remember the amount of time you spent in your bedroom as a teen, your personal corner of the house? “Your room” can lose its specialness as we age (and the entire place becomes “your room”), and I have spent a lot more of my attention on making the “entertaining” parts of my new apartment feel nice – the dining area, the lounge, the balcony.
So I’m here to talk about making your bedroom feel fabulous, like a fancy hotel or a personal retreat. Good things happen in bedrooms! Why not make yours worthy of those good things?
Here are some key ingredients:
The most important thing to me is reading lamps ($), because you can’t just have one source of light in a bedroom. My grandparents had touch lamps ($$) in “my” guest bedroom when I was growing up and I still think of them as the ultimate. At least the shades should match one another.
Good bedding is worth spending money on. Everyone’s budget is different, but it’s one of those things that is always on sale, so hold out and splurge a little. From pure white Sheridan cotton ($$$) to soft European flax linen ($$$), this is a place to treat yo’self considering how much time you spend in bed. (Just make sure it’s easy to wash! I almost spent hundreds of dollars on a set that couldn’t go in the dryer, and there’s no other option in my apartment with a King-size bed. I miss my sun-dried sheets, but them’s the breaks for living 70 metres from Lune Croissanterie.)
Bedrooms should smell nice. From a boujie candle ($$) to light as you get ready for bed to incense that burns as you have a shower ($) to a DIY pillow spray, there’s an option for all budgets.
I have still not found my perfect pillow, but I continue the investigation. I just move around too much to follow advice for “back sleepers” or “side sleepers”. What about “bad sleepers”? Anyway, I do at the very least recommend a silk pillowcase ($, on sale) for keeping skin clear and hair smooth.
Every bedroom needs a chair ($$$) or ottoman ($$) for both chair-drobing and putting-shoes-on purposes.
I also think you could do with something on your walls. A little wire script sculpture ($$) and a Geoffrey Johnson original ($$$$), preferably.
And, as per my previous email, you clearly need a sleepwear wardrobe bursting full of pyjamas, nighties, robes and slippers. And a hook to hang tomorrow’s clothes. And a silently sweeping alarm clock.
Sleep well!
DO | book a night away somewhere to cuddle up by a fireplace, go for long rambly walk-and-talks, drink mulled wine and read books.
MAKE | ramen from scratch, which will probably take you at least two days. This much less traditional one also looks delicious.
READ | The Box of Delights by John Masefield (must be the edition illustrated by Quentin Blake!)
WATCH | a film noir, such as Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) or the famous Double Indemnity (1944)
LISTEN | Awake – Tycho