Even for homeowners, your bedroom is your inner sanctum. It is where you go to relax, be yourself, and wear your most comfortable pajamas without worrying about what others might think of you. Teens and adult roommates retreat to their bedrooms for complete privacy and parents often find that their bedroom is the one place where they can find complete solace.

Even if you live alone and the entire house is yours from dawn to dusk, merely having a personal space dedicated to non-work and non-social activities is rejuvenating. And when the day is over, the perfect sleep environment awaits.

The Life-Bed Separation

It is for these reasons that most people spend too much time on their beds. We know, it sounds crazy. Your bed is designed to be tempting, optimally comfortable, and cozy to snuggle into when your responsibilities are over for the day. But take a moment and think about it.

After that last bedtime snack and a few episodes of television or chapters of your book, how easily do you get to sleep? Does your mind continue to go over the events and conversations of the day, what you just read or watched, or what you have planned for tomorrow?

Believe it or not, this isn't just the natural consequence of a busy life.

You're having trouble sleeping because your bed isn't a place just for sleep. To help you get those eight hours of quality slumber you deserve, we're here to help you keep your bedroom privacy and relaxation time while still making your bed a special place to let everything go and slip away into dreamland.

1. A Total Room Transformation

The most important thing to remember about getting to sleep at night is that your mind and body like to know what to expect. Your brain wants to work with you and drift off peacefully at bedtime, but when the only transition between 'wake-fully relaxing' and 'sleep time' is switching out the lights, it just doesn't have time. The key is to give yourself clear signals between when you expect yourself to be awake and when you want to be asleep. The more you can change your environment; the more your brain will be able to cooperate.

Even if you practically live in your bedroom, there are some central elements you can change to make the room much more welcoming to sleep. First, adjust the temperature and make the room colder. Turn the AC colder, turn off any local space heaters, and spin up your ceiling fan. Most people sleep best in a place that is about 65 degrees with a warm, breathable blanket. Next, change the lights. If you hang out with your lights off, find another way to change the lights to signify sleep time versus relaxation time.

Finally, change how you interact with your bed. Your bedroom may be your inner sanctum, but the bed itself needs to be the foundation of your perfect sleep environment. Reserve the bed for sleeping so that crawling into bed is a clear full-body signal to relax and drift off. Don't worry, if your bed is a powerful piece of furniture in your room, we have a few solutions for you.

2. The Duvet Method

The best way to change your room from a wakeful place to a sleeping area is to hide the bed entirely during the day and give yourself back that floor space. However, because most people don't have Murphy beds or the time and energy to build a hide-away solution, we'll start with the tried and true duvet method.

A lot of different blankets can be called a duvet, but it is a top comforter that comes with a washable cover. In bedrooms where the bed takes up most of the floor space and winds up being your primary seating and work surface, the two most significant problems are crumbs and wakeful association. The duvet can solve both issues.

First, a duvet pulled completely over the bed from headboard to footboard can act as a protective cover. It allows you to relax, eat, work, and play on top of your bed without getting the sheets gritty.

Second, the duvet creates two distinct modes for your bed. Pull the duvet over, and even hide the pillows when they’re not in use. Then, when it's time for bed, you throw back the duvet to reveal a bed made up; however you prefer to sleep. Make throwing back the duvet a part of your bedtime ritual and your body will take it as a clear signal that it's time to tuck yourself into bed.

3. The Fold-Away Murphy Bed

Of course, if you can get your bed entirely out of the way, this is an even better solution. This way, the room itself takes on two forms based on whether or not it's time to be awake or asleep. Murphy beds come in a wide variety of designs and even secondary uses. Some can be desks when folded up; others become couches for more compact and upright seating options and some double as bookcases or decoration displays. Murphy bed designs are a great way to efficiently create the perfect sleep environment with a little setup and creativity.

4. The Slide-Away Platform Bed

Another interesting approach to putting your bed away until you're ready for deep dreamless slumber is the platform bed approach. If you've been thinking about an awesome DIY project for your bedroom, building a small platform for a desk, seating area, or your favorite hobby can hide a rolling bed that slides beneath it. You can spend your daylight hours in a cozy sitting room, home office, or craft room right up until the moment you're ready for your head to hit the pillow. In that instant, merely flip off the lights and slide out your bed. The change will be profound enough to tell your mind that it's time to let go of the day and fall quickly to sleep.

5. The Lofted Bed for Dynamic Floor Space

Finally, if you're looking for something unusual, visually dynamic, and need to conserve some space, you can always build yourself a loft bed. By lifting the bed off the ground, you can get even a sizeable King-sized mattress to free up a surprising amount of floor space underneath. Here, you can put a desk, a bookcase, additional closet space, a dressing room, or anything else that you've wanted space for in your bedroom. By placing the bed up high, you ensure that you won't flop on it or use it as a surface during the day, keeping that lofty shadowed space a perfect nook to crawl into when it's time for slumber.

Getting to sleep often has more to do with how you sleep than what you do during the day. With the right mattress for your body, your favorite kind of sheets, and a cold dark room to sleep in, your bedroom transformation is sure to help you drift peacefully off to dreamland.