Interest piqued?

Ever wondered why, in the grip of winter, a day under your duvet feels particularly appealing? In Baltic temperatures – and with scant sunlight to boot – our bodies’ melatonin is in short supply, so you can rest assured in the knowledge that your desire for a few extra hours’ kip doesn’t come from a place of laziness… And while it might not be the 

excuse to your boss from a WFB(ed) day as cosy as it sounds) we’d certainly recommend you soup up your sleeping quarters in the coming months, not least if health and happiness are your top priorities this new year. As well as fortifying your immune system, it’s proven that sleep improves your mood, reduces stress and helps strengthen your metabolic system in the process.

With that in mind, we’ve looked through our listings in search of the best bedrooms currently up for grabs, from a homey cottage nook to a bright light London billet with treetop views. Happy hibernating!

While many like their bedrooms minimal, we happen to think that there’s as much merit in more maximalist spaces too. With its charmingly wonky wooden floorboards, unpainted beams, prettily patterned wallpaper and shabby-chic floral fabrics, this bedroom stands as case in point on the appeal of abundance.

If this kind of Cabbages & Roses cottagecore is your bag, take note: a cheerful mix of different patterns, textures, faded colours and lashings of limewash should be your lodestars. Alternatively, you could just move in here. All you’ll need to top it off is a good book.

The current owner of this house in Kensal Green – homeware designer Alice Palmer – has turned the top floor of her Edwardian villa into a veritable psalm to slumber, with a bedroom, en-suite and dressing room. While the rest of the house is defined by its largely pastel palette, the master suite is a more neutral affair with off-white walls and relatively muted printed textiles. As well being beautiful, it’s sensible too: studies have shown that cooler colours help lower blood pressure, making for more peaceful nights.

The interiors also make the most of the wonderful light this room gets. A vast picture window takes up the majority of one wall, giving way to views of nearby treetops. Hooray! we say, since green is known to be stress-relieving too. Meanwhile a generous skylight sits above the bed, as suited to stargazing as it is to waking up with the sun come summer. Bliss.

Archery Villas, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex

On the subject of views, surely nothing beats those of this bedroom, one of six and the main suite in a Grade II-listed Regency townhouse with an enviable St Leonards-on-Sea address and even more covetable prospects through the pair of sash windows.

An outlook like this is undeniably good for the soul – and we all recognise the meditative effect that looking at the sea can have. It helps when the room you’re looking from is free from distractions, though that’s not to say this pared-back scheme is lacking lustre: we particularly love the pink and green accents, and emphasis on texture (who can resist a rattan lampshade?). Such subtlety does the architecture proud too. Originally designed as a holiday home for Londoners by the architect of Regent’s Park, Decimus Burton, the building is a fine example of 19

-century restraint. It’s not just the bedroom that’s the stuff of dreams…

And now for something completely different – in size, shape and story. The sole bedroom of this remarkable home in south London’s Forest Hill has always been a space for solace and peaceful reflection, even if it hasn’t always been a bedroom…

It’s set within a former parish church built by Ewan Christian in the mid-19

 century, which has since been elegantly sliced into sophisticated apartments in which past and present mingle magically, blending minimal modern interventions with ancient-feeling architecture. Up in the bedroom, this takes the form of warm wooden floors and smart metal windows with sliding shutters – all framed by the point of an arched doorway and sloping eaves. Put simply, it’s heaven.

Harlington Manor, Harlington, Bedfordshire

 a goodie: this handsome bedroom sits within the 16

-century section of Harlington Manor, a house with a rich and illustrious history – pure catnip to us heritage buffs.

But while Charles II is said to have spent the night in the grand red bedroom, hung with scarlet damask, in fact it’s the one next door that has captured our imagination, with its impressive vaulted ceiling and handsome exposed beams. Bringing drama without visual distraction, the architecture of this space is simply sublime, with the power to make anyone sleeping here feel like a king or queen. That’s not to say, however, that it isn’t improved by the prudent addition of some period-appropriate crewel-work at the head of the four-poster…

And with that, we’re off to Bedfordshire – quite literally. Night!

Homes

Now’s the time for nesting, which is why we’ve rounded up five of our favourite sleeping spaces from homes currently on the market, for bed heads of every breed

A Polite Request

Pillow Talk: five of the best bedrooms from our listings

Now’s the time for nesting, which is why we’ve rounded up five of our favourite sleeping spaces from homes currently on the market, for bed heads of every breed