Easier than you think
Apart from room service and fluffy bath robes, one of the many things we miss about staying in a hotel is the pristine environment. From neatly placed furniture, to crisp white bed sheets, just walking into an organised space has the power to instantly relax someone.
While we still don’t know when our next staycation is going to be, there is no reason not to have a five-star level set up in your own home. Brown’s, one of the most historic hotels in London’s Mayfair, have let us into a few of their secrets — including how to perfectly make your bed.
Now all you need to do is slip into something comfy, pretend Deliveroo is room service and chill.
Keep the room smelling beautiful with air freshener. A lovely scented candle or a bowl of potpourri replenished with a few drops of your favourite essential oil should do the trick. Fresh flowers are also a wonderful addition to brighten the space visually and for scent. Of course, freshly washed sheets are always lovely to snuggle in, preferably ironed if possible. One fun tip is to place a few drops of an essential oil onto a tissue and draw it into your vacuum cleaner – this ensures a wonderful smell is powered through when vacuum cleaning.
Keep your bedroom presentable and tidy (imagine you can still invite guests into your home) by getting into a routine each morning of making the bed and tidying your room. Additionally, ff you can do a light tidy up before you go to bed, a decluttered space can help to achieve a better night’s sleep.
Introduce a few indoor plants into the bedroom to add a luxurious feeling to the place, as well as fresh flowers. In terms of lighting, switch to a warm yellow bulb, usually referred to as warm white or natural white – this adds an overall warm and cosy atmosphere to the room.
The best combination for bed linen is 400-thread count and 100 per cent white cotton. This combination is soft and long-lasting and can be used all year round. A natural goose feather or goose down duvet at 10 tog is suitable for all seasons. For a warmer night (moving from spring to summer), a 100 per cent pure cotton blanket makes a good alternative.
Preference for beds at Brown’s is four pillows, two king size and two standard size, these are a mixture of feather (75%) and down (25%).
Pull back the bed covers, draw the curtains/blinds and light a candle (a chocolate on the pillow is at your discretion). Turn off the TV and radio if you have them in the room, put your mobile phone in another room and create a noise-free space.
- Bed pillows should be evenly placed and centred on each side of the mattress (in order to take the correct measurements in the case of a king-size mattresses, think of an imaginary line dividing the bed into two single mattresses). The pillows do not need to touch.
- There should be four pillows on the bed – possibly a combination of down, feathers and non-allergenic pillows.
- The bedspread should be placed in such a way as to cover the gap between the mattress and the bed base and the top third of the bedspread should be folded back on itself.
- The duvet should be pulled up to approximately 25cm from the head of the mattress.
- Scatter cushions should be centred in front of the pillows, slightly on a slope.
