There are few pleasures as simple yet satisfying as sinking into a beautifully made bed. However, if you’ve been hibernating over the winter, it’s time to throw off the blankets and turn your bedroom into the ultimate sanctuary. After all, March is National Bed Month. Rethinking your colour scheme, replacing a mattress and including plenty of storage will make sure it’s as inviting for early nights as it is for long, lazy lie-ins.

Rethink your décor

Focus on your walls, windows or floor and you can transform your bedroom with minimum hassle. Rather than replace like for like, there are lots of stylish designer tricks you can try. With 2018 predicted to be the year of the feature ceiling, the bedroom is the ideal place to experiment. For example, you could use a section of patterned wallpaper behind the bed and continue it across the ceiling to add a feeling of height to the room and a visual ‘canopy’. Flowing floral or vine designs will be especially effective. Another option is to choose pale cream or white painted walls with a pretty pastel shade on the ceiling, continuing it on the very upper section of the walls. This is a great technique for adding interest in a room that lacks decorative features.

Windows are another place to be creative. Rather than choose one treatment, the latest look is to combine, such as a patterned Roman blind with plain pencil pleat curtains or sheer voiles twinned with a blackout blind to provide coverage at night. Alternatively, painted shutters are ideal for adding a block of colour if you prefer to keep the rest of the room neutral. Don’t overlook artwork as a way of adding personality and colour – an eye-catching canvas or wall decoration can change the focal point of a room, shifting the style or tone in a different direction. Even better, it can be instantly updated

Smarten up storage

Unless you’re lucky enough to have a separate dressing area, it’s likely that your bedroom will be where you house your clothes, so it’s important to include enough dedicated storage. Built-in wardrobes and made-to-measure shelving tends to be the most efficient way to use your space but even then it’s wise to plan it around your lifestyle. For example, if you have lots of long garments, such as dresses, you’ll need to include enough tall hanging space. Similarly, if your shoe collection covers every occasion, it’s best to store these behind a door or in a drawer to protect them – lots of shallow-depth storage is ideal – or you can put them in Perspex boxes so you can see which pair is where at a glance. Include other types of storage too, so your bedroom stays clutter free. Under-bed drawers or an Ottoman-style bed that lifts up make great places to stash off-season clothes, handbags or shoes.

Add an en-suite

An en-suite is the ultimate haven, combining privacy with the luxurious feeling of staying in a hotel. There are a few different ways to create one, such as sacrificing space from your bedroom, ‘stealing’ it from an adjacent room, or repurposing an airing cupboard or dressing area. As the space is often taken from other areas, it may present design obstacles. However, it’s better to embrace the quirks than skirt around them, such as turning boxed-in pipework into bespoke storage.

Drainage should be your first consideration. As en-suites are connected to the bedroom, quiet plumbing is essential, so no one’s woken up by night-time flushing. You’ll also need to check that your water system has sufficient pressure to cope with an additional shower or bath. If your en-suite doesn’t sit above or below an existing bathroom, so that the drainage can be connected, you may have to extend pipework and fit a macerator pump. The pump will allow you to site pipes further from the drainage and soil pipe, whisking away waste water.

Ventilation is vital for keeping an en-suite dry, especially if it doesn’t have a window. It’s also a must for preventing humidity transferring to the bedroom and damaging soft furnishings. Invest in a powerful yet quiet extractor and control it independently from the lights so that it doesn’t come on during the night.

Finally, consider the aesthetics. Slimline basins and short-projection WCs will take up minimal room, while wall-mounted pieces free up the floor area for a spacious look. Another option for creating a feeling of space is large-format tiles, plus you can often splash out on a more expensive design. As en-suites are used less than a busy family bathroom, there’s no need to tile them all over and risk creating a sterile box. Try tiling halfway up instead and choose colours that complement or echo those used in your bedroom.