How to turn your master bedroom into a 5-star boutique hotel suite

Ever got back from a holiday only to want to go back to that luxurious hotel suite you stayed in during that time? Here’s a solution: Recreate that exact same feel in your master bedroom and you’ll never need to experience luxury just occasionally. We have the tips.

EMBRACE SYMMETRY

Most hotel suites tend to have a symmetrical layout. The reason being that symmetrical spaces are often more pleasing to the eye. They also help create a sense of calm and balance, which is great for areas like the bedroom where you want to feel restful.

To create symmetry in your master bedroom, centralise your bed—the biggest and weightiest furniture in the space—and then ensure that you have two of everything on either side of it, secondary furniture like nightstands and lighting.

You don’t have to be a complete stickler for symmetry though. Consider adding personal touches by your bedside table so your bedroom feels less sterile and more like a home.

BE BRAVE AND GO WITH AN OPEN CONCEPT BATHROOM

Removing traditional boundaries with their no-obstruction glass walls or freestanding bathtubs in the middle of the bedroom, open concept bathrooms are the epitome of chic boutique hotel suites.

While this helps to create a sense of spaciousness, recreating this look in your own master bedroom is reserved for the brave and only for those who wish to obliterate all sense of privacy forever.

There are ways around this if you want to maintain some semblance of modesty. Add blinds/curtains that can be drawn whenever you need, or consider frosted glass rather than clear glass, the former to leave more room for the imagination.

KEEP THINGS LOOKING SEAMLESS WITH CONCEALED DESIGNS

Getting your master bedroom to look as seamless and clutter free as an hotel suite seems like an impossible task, especially when you need to accommodate the clutter of real life. But the key is to go with concealed designs that can hide the mess without taking up extra visual space.

We particularly like this design idea by 13th Design Studio (see above), which used an extra panel flush to the wardrobe design to hide the toilet, lending an uninterrupted visual flow in the bedroom. Below, a dressing table—which can look messy with a cluster of makeup products and skincare—is hidden behind a set of closet doors.

CREATE A SENSE OF LUXURY WITH A NEUTRAL PALETTE

Neutrals are often the palette of choice in 5-star establishments. Hotels chose them for their inoffensiveness, but they also offer a sense of calm, which make them great for the bedroom. To create an environment suited for rest and restoration, choose darker shades or go with warmer undertones if you are opting for lighter hues.

Rather than just focus on the paint colours of your walls, consider your colour palette as a whole. Think also about your furnishing choices and your bedroom accessories. Doing up a mood board with the colours of your choice will help you to see if everything works together.

Vibrant hues should be used with restraint, or in smaller doses such as through accessories. Good accent choices for a hotel-like bedroom include metallics, dark wood tones or matte black, which are very classic choices and will elevate any neutral-hued space.

DON’T SKIMP ON THE MATTRESS

Perhaps the most important factor of a luxurious hotel suite is a proper bed, so make sure you don’t skimp on the mattress. When it comes to shopping for one, go thick for that extra support. Most hotel beds feature a pillow top for that cushioning and plush feel, so you might want to consider investing in a mattress that comes with one.

Should you go latex or memory foam when choosing a mattress type? Compared with memory foam, latex mattresses are firmer and will be suited for the back sleeper as it can help to support the natural alignment of the spine. If you don’t sleep with air-conditioning, opt for latex as it offers better air circulation and will retain less heat.

Memory foam mattresses would be a better choice for side sleepers since they tend to have more pressure points. A softer mattress like memory foam will therefore help to alleviate the pressure and provide better support. Memory foam mattresses are also great at absorbing movement, which makes them an excellent option if you have a restless sleeping partner.

INVEST IN YOUR BEDDING

Bedding choice is just as important in creating a luxurious sleeping experience. While thread count can determine whether you are getting a high quality bedding, it is not the be-all and end-all.

Some bedding manufacturers tend to inaccurately quote a too high thread count for their bed linens, either because of false advertising or erroneous counting. In a warm and humid environment like Singapore, you don’t want to have bed linens with too high a thread count either since it will feel too warm to sleep in.

In our climate, opt for 100 per cent long-staple cotton sheets with a 300 thread count. This material offers maximum comfort and breathability for the best sleeping experience. Also consider the weave type of your bed linens. Percale and sateen are the most common, with percale lending a crisp feel and the latter offering a softer, silkier touch.

To truly feel like you are sleeping on luxury, use natural linen spray on freshly laundered sheets. Choose light and delicate scents like lavender, which is known to alleviate stress and anxiety.

WINDOW TREATMENTS PLAY A PART TOO

Luxury hotels put up day and night curtains, which come with a sheer layer that affords privacy while still allowing light to filter in, as well as a blackout layer for maximum darkness to promote sleep.

Consider going for this option in your master bedroom to give you more versatility in your room. Hang them all the way to your ceiling—near the meeting point between the wall and the ceiling—for a sense of grandeur. But avoid the fabric pooling on the floors, which can give your space a very dated look. Choose plain fabrics or faintly printed ones to keep things looking chic and elegant.

While curtains can give your space a softer touch, there is no rule that says you can’t go with shades or blinds. Likewise, go with neutral-hued ones and opt for those that give you the flexibility to decide how much privacy and sunlight you want.

SET THE MOOD WITH LIGHTING

Hotels know how much lighting can add to the ambience of a space, and high-end ones will always go for a layered lighting scheme. Recall how you always fiddle around with the lighting controls in your hotel room? There are usually various types of lighting within the suite, each serving a different purpose. Similarly, this is how you should plan the lighting in your master bedroom.

In smaller bedrooms, a single flush-mount ceiling light or a small grid of down lights can serve as the primary light source—the ambient light. Include a dimmer control that lets you adjust the colour temperature to create different moods. Reading lamps can be set up on your nightstands or wall-mounted against your headboard as task lighting. To enhance the mood further, include accent lights in the form of soft, warm-hued cove lights either on your ceiling, under your bed or behind your headboard.

DO UP A SMALL SEATING AREA IF YOU HAVE THE SPACE

If you have the luxury of space, incorporate a cosy reading chair and a small table in your bedroom for that 5-star quality. It feels indulgent, but it can also be a really practical addition to your bedroom, turning it from just a sleeping area to a place for unwinding and relaxing.

Don’t have the square footage to spare? Don’t despair. Consider unlikely places like in front of your standing mirror, beside your nightstand or go with a long bench by the foot of your bed that you can double as additional storage.

DON’T FORGET TO ELEVATE THE EN-SUITE

So you have an incredible sleeping space, but what about that en-suite bathroom? For a complete boutique hotel experience, you will want to make sure your bathroom is just as luxurious.

Invest in proper closed storage to keep clutter—the bathroom will contain a lot of it—out of sight. You will also want to select nature-inspired hues for a calming atmosphere. Marble-like tiles are also an excellent way to create a sophisticated space. Get textured floor tiles to improve grip while adding a textural interest to the space. Plants (spider plants work really well in a warm and humid environment like the bathroom), artworks or small sculptural pieces will all enhance the mood of your en suite.

Think spa-like atmosphere accessories with a reed diffuser containing your favourite scent, plush towels, a rain shower (get it only if you have a decent water pressure), a soak-worthy tub, a waterproof Bluetooth speaker to play your favourite tunes while showering and a thick and fluffy bath rug for a soft underfoot.

This article was first published in Renonation.