Choosing colours and fabrics for your bedroom

• Bedroom decorating - the essential guide
• Five steps to comfort and style
• Six hotel bedroom trends
• Choosing colours and fabrics for your bedroom
• Essential bedroom storage
• Useful contacts

Fabric is the simplest way to make a difference to a room. You can really afford to go to town with tactile finishes, luxurious materials and touch-me surfaces.

Add a range of patterns and texture to create interest on walls with eye-catching papers, textural hessian, silks, wood panelling or even polished concrete or plaster.

• Colour is key to creating a relaxing bedroom, and it’s important to select a shade that works well both first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

• It's essential to feel something sumptuous underfoot, so choose either a plush, deep-pile carpet or top warm wood floorboards with a soft rug. Avoid fashionable floor coverings such as sisal or coir as they’re too scratchy for a bedroom floor.

• 'We always use curtains in the guests’ bedrooms as it finishes the look and gives a real sense of luxury,' says hotel designer Kit Kemp. 'The look we create is soft, but not in a "swags and tails" way. Instead, it's more about tactile fabrics and texture.' However, custom-made curtains can be expensive, so choose yours with care. Other options include blinds, sheer curtains or even shutters to provide privacy.

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