** This is a very old post I am re-issuing because so many of my housekeepers are having trouble finding it…**

It is late and HouseKeepers,  I am exhausted. Some mornings I open my eyes and I just can’t wait till bedtime so I can crawl back into bed. Then other days I am so wrapped up in what I am doing that I put going to bed off until I am nearly dropping with tiredness. Tonight is one of those nights. Upstairs my cosy bedroom is waiting for me and here I am talking about it when it would serve me much better to be in it…

I am fussy about my bed. It has to be made exactly the way I like it and just one little thing out of place can make all the difference to my day…

So here I present the BrocanteHome guide to a scrumptious nights sleep…

1. First the mattress should be prepared. I vacuum it once a week to make sure it’s dust free, the spritz it with linen spray, and apply a quilted mattress protector.

2. On top of this I layer a sheepskin liner,(scrumptious), a feather filled mattress topper, then a cotton  base sheet and a second heavier guage cotton sheet, and the bed is then ready to start layering on the top sheets etc.

3. We have six pillows: feather is my preference because I like a fluffy (occasionally spiky!) pillow. We have four housewife pillows and two square European ones for reading. All of the pillows have quilted pillow protectors, then white cotton pillowcases and then decorative pillowcases to suit. I usually go for two ruffled pillowcases and two plain ones and search for decorative square covers for the pillows at the front. A lavender sachet is slipped inside each pillow and all the pillows sprized with linen spray.

4. I then tuck a top sheet onto the bed, place the pillows on top and then because I can’t sleep without a duvet, the duvet goes on top of this.

5. The bed is finished off with a patchwork quilt and a crocheted blanket folded at the bottom of the bed, two bolster cushions and two decorative cushions.

Making the bed and indeed laundering it is a mammoth task, because of all the layers, but the extras like the feather filled mattress topper and the extra sheets and pillowcases make all the difference, and are something I first noticed in a beautifully luxurious hotel in London…

Just as if I was in a hotel, I start to prepare the room for bed early in the evening. When Finley is in bed I open the window in the bedroom and turn back the duvet. I burn a little lavender oil and close the door so the scent is captured in the room. I turn on the bedside lights, replace our drinking water and go downstairs for the evening.

By the time I retire to bed, the room is cool and comfortable, the lights are low and my senses aren’t jarred by having to switch on the lights to see. The scent of lavender lulls us to sleep and the bed is nothing short of heavenly.

Just occasionally as I drift off to sleep I remember how much I have ached to be there at certain moments of the day and I open my eyes and really try to be in the moment: in the pure, luxurious, security of my very own bed.

Nite Nite…