How to Decorate a Bedroom for a Shift Worker Without Compromising Style

When my shift-working husband and I bought our new home, we knew we would have to make some major decorating changes, especially to the all white, very large master bedroom. The light colored walls and carpet along with the cheap, flimsy blinds in no way created a dreamlike atmosphere for a day sleeper.

We had moved from a much smaller home with a bedroom size being approximately eight feet by 10 feet. I had painted the walls deep purple and hung black drapes. Although not tastefully decorated, it served its purpose of maintaining darkness in the bright light of day and I am sure it was a room even Dracula would have been safe in from the deadly daylight hours.

When we purchased our new home, which was only four years old, all the rooms were painted white and we decided to repaint all the rooms an off-white color, including the master bedroom, as we were tired of the rainbow of colors that were on our walls at our old dwelling. Our old house had rooms that were painted periwinkle blue, brown, orange, purple and tan. We also wanted the master bedroom to exhibit a décor that was not only useful but tasteful as well. We thought the decision to keep the walls white might make this task too difficult, but with a little thought we were able to come up with some ideas to make our master bedroom comfortable and stylish for my day-sleeping husband.

After giving the walls a fresh coat of Dove White paint, we headed for Lowe's to purchase blinds that would be attractive but also block daylight. We had a good idea of what we wanted and knew that this purchase would be a costly one, considering it was window blinds we were buying; but we felt the cost was well worth it if my husband would be able to sleep during the day without having to don a sleep mask.