The holiday season is filled with travels, late night parties, and to-do lists galore — all of which can take a toll on the quality of one’s sleep! If visions of sugar plums are being replaced by holiday stress headaches, Sleep.com has you covered.
When your date book’s packed with holiday outings, you deserve to return home to a space that is calming, warm, and outfitted for the season with festive and cozy accents. Below, we’re sharing three key ways to add wintry vibes to your room ASAP.
1. Decorate your nightstand with candles and cards
Your nightstand is the last thing many of us look at before we doze off at night and the first place we reach for to hit the snooze button each the morning, so it’s important that the area is both calming and free of clutter.
The top of your nightstand should really be dedicated to items that will bring a smile to your face on dark, chilly winter mornings. Prop up Christmas cards from friends, frame a picture of your kids playing in the snow, or display a photo booth strip from a past holiday party. All of these images will remind you of the wonder and excitement of the season.
If your nightstand doesn’t offer built-in storage, consider keeping any non-festive essentials — magazines, skincare products, and the usual clutter — in a chic woven basket or lidded bin. Then reward yourself for getting organized by picking up some seasonal trinkets that will make you look forward to unwinding each evening. Think: a balsam-scented candle that will help you relax, some pine-scented hand lotion to soothe dry skin, or a new sleep mask with a witty holiday phrase that you’ll look forward to nodding off in.
If you’re in the market for a new nightstand altogether, we suggest shopping for one with drawers or even just a shelf on which you can place a storage basket. That way, you can hide all of the items that usually pile up, and leave room for only the most soothing accents, plus a small table lamp, and your latest read (this time of year, we love a good British romance novel, such as One Day in December).
2. Make space for a cozy, Christmas nook
Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, it’s important that you take time for yourself to recharge and put your feet up between work events, neighborhood gatherings, and family commitments. That doesn’t mean you have to make it festive-free though. Set up a space in your bedroom where you can take a break from the go, go, go period of holidays to end of Jan, without losing the festive spirit.
It’s also nice to have a place to sit and curl up that isn’t the bed. A comfortable accent chair (or chaise lounge, if you have the space) stationed in the corner of the bedroom will make for a wonderful spot in which to curl up with hot cocoa on winter nights or a festive novel on weekend afternoons that are free of plans. Twinkle lights can help brighten your reading space and add a little additional cheer.
Take advantage of this calming space and write down a wish list of seasonal activities you’d like to do with family or friends before the season is over, or make a shopping list of seasonal items you’re hoping to catch on sale. As we all know, sitting down on your mattress for just a moment can quickly lead to an hour-long nap, and most of us don’t have time for such a luxury — especially this time of year!
3. Bring in seasonal flowers and plants
Even the most beige of bedrooms will feel full of life with the addition of a pretty pothos plant or a mini Christmas tree from the grocery store. Whether you opt for a potted poinsettia or a few stems of berries, of course, you’ll want to choose a green friend that doesn’t require too much maintenance. This will also help eliminate any unnecessary stresses.
If you’re not a gardener, you can easily find bouquets galore at your local farmer’s market, and this time of year, vendors will be selling lots of seasonal arrangements, too.
And there you have it — you’re officially three simple steps away from a festive and soothing sleep space. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, after all, and you deserve to feel calm and well-rested (as well as merry and full of joy!) all season long.
