Rules Of The Bedroom: Organizing and Decorating Your Space

 Written by Kendra

To clarify from the title, this post will be about decorating and organizing your bedroom. Carry on now

Awhile ago, I read an intriguing post from lifestyle blogger Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere called “Rules of the Bedroom” where she explained what was important to have and not have in her bedroom. I was surprised at how many things I agreed with in her post, so I thought I’d give you a quick tour of my very simple, minimally decorated (read: decoration-challenged) bedroom.

When deciding how to organize our room, the first question to answer was this: What is the purpose of this room? That’s what we should ask for every room, really. If there are things in a room that don’t contribute to its intended purpose, it’s clutter and should be moved.

Our bedroom’s purpose is threefold: to sleep, to relax, and for building family bonds. Every person’s vision can be different of course, but this is ours.

I got this very simple yet cute (in my opinion) bedroom set from IKEA. I’m in love with shades of purple so we got this pretty comforter. I also like how the bed is close to the ground…it seems to make it feel more cozy.

Our bedroom is filled with reminders of our faith and commitment to our marriage. We have a photo of us from our wedding day, as well as a statue that says “to love and to hold” on our nightstand. Jesus on the crucifix is directly above our headboard…to me, it symbolizes that He is in charge. Seeing him there reminds me that the goal of my morning and nighttime prayer is to discover His will for me and to find out how to follow His plan and not my own.

I’ve made a lot of changes to what is sitting on our dresser throughout the last year, and it’s *still* a work in progress! I recently created a “love” section where I save some of our notes and cards to each other. When I need a reminder of how much my husband loves me, re-reading those words really helps. I’m still figuring out where in the world to hang up this random flower wall hanging I found at Target The statue was a gift from the monks at the St. Meinrad monastery and seminary as a blessing to us (we were engaged at the time). I use the silver butterfly “plate” (I actually don’t know what its intended purpose is) as a place to display my most-loved jewelry for easy access.

The little things in the room matter to us, as well. We have excellent dark light-blocking curtains to help us get more quality rest. My late grandmother’s rose-colored recliner is next to the closet, and serves both as a beautiful memory of her and a place to hold my child as he falls asleep. I have a vintage butterfly nightlight near the bathroom from my husband’s grandmother to lead the way if any one of us is up at night.

I love this sign above our master-bath door. A sweet little reminder <3

As the post I linked mentions, it’s important to us as well what *isn’t* in our room. We don’t keep a tv there. We don’t use the room for projects, storage, or any clutter that detracts from its purpose. Everyone is different, but the simpleness and lack of “stuff” helps us to feel relaxed, rested, and renewed at the end of each day.

My vision of a perfect bedroom has evolved over the years. As a child I just wanted bunk beds and my walls painted purple (I got both eventually, and bunk beds aren’t all they’re cracked up to be ). As a college student, my bedroom represented both my studying and [lack of] sleep. While engaged, my bedroom was where I studied, played, slept, ate….well practically everything, because confining my living to a single room helped the apartment feel less empty and lonely. I imagine for each one of you reading this that your bedroom is even different than all of these visions, because all of us have different goals, tastes, visions, and more!

What do you think? What are your “Rules of the Bedroom”? How have your bedrooms changed over the years and through life changes?