Win at Sleeping with Ikea: Making Changes to Improve our Sleep

If you’ve been following the blog lately, both here and over on my Instagram feed, you’ll know I’ve been working with IKEA  on their Win at Sleeping campaign.  With the aim of helping us solve our sleep issues and, in turn, our health and wellbeing, the campaign is centred around what small changes we can make at home to improve our nighttime routine, sleeping habits and general sleep preparation.

As I talked about in my first post in this series last week, we have worked with IKEA to identify our own family’s sleep problems and in order to try to solve them, we will be trying out some IKEA products over the coming weeks.  We were very excited to take delivery of the products at the beginning of this week and after lots of flat pack fun in the ensuing days, I can finally show you what we chose to try out in the hope of better sleep preparation and comfort ahead…

For our own bedroom, we were in desperate need of a new mattress as we were well past the recommended 8-10 year lifespan of the old one, as I’m sure many of you reading this will be, too!  We chose the HÖVÅG pocket sprung mattress in medium/firm, which offers great support with its individually wrapped pocket springs.  Onto this we laid the TUSTNA mattress topper for added comfort – we personally prefer a softer sleep surface and the TUSTNA certainly provides just that; it is heavenly to relax onto at the end of a busy day!  The other advantage of a mattress topper is that it can extend the life of your existing mattress as it protects it from the ‘three evils’; namely, body perspiration, bacteria and indentations.  It can also be turned frequently and more easily than a heavy mattress.  Definitely a good investment!

The other issue we have that is affecting my husband’s sleep in particular, is that I go to bed later than him and often disturb him getting ready for bed or if I decide to read for a little while.  Basically, the lighting set up we had just wasn’t working, so IKEA suggested I try out an angled wall lamp, ideal for getting dressed for bed and a spot of reading, too.  I chose the RANARP wall light in off-white as I loved its slightly industrial look and the brass detailing.

It was super easy to assemble and attach to the wall, however it can be clamped onto a bed frame or shelf if necessary, too.  It also comes in black.

And for all urban dwellers everywhere, a pair of blackout curtains is an essential to keep out the light from those pesky street lamps!  I chose the MARJUN block-out curtains in grey, along with a sheer drape (the BORGHILD) to soften the look.  I would recommend using a dual curtain pole combination to hang these in two layers, so that for extra privacy, the sheer drapes can simply be drawn across without cutting out the light entirely.  I had never considered layering my curtain solution before, but I love the effect it has on the overall room – it makes it feel really cosy and welcoming.  The RAMSTA heart lighting chain I already had; they offer a soft glow in the evening, perfect for creating that much needed bedtime ambience to unwind in.

And if, like us, your kids have sleep niggles too, then IKEA can help you with some great products aimed just at children.  My son needed somewhere he could snuggle up to enjoy a bedtime story with us or to play quietly in before bedtime as a way of unwinding.  His top bunk was awkward for reading a story to him from and I know from chatting to fellow parents that this is a common problem.  IKEA’s STUVA loft bed combination offers a solution; your little one can still enjoy the thrill of sleeping on the top bunk, however the built-in desk below can be situated in different positions to create space for a cosy reading corner, as I have done here (I chose this particular combo):

The JANSJÖ LED spotlight is the ideal reading light, as it can be easily moved around and angled perfectly thanks to its cleverly adjustable arm.  The built-in shelving on the inside of the STUVA combo allows your child to have their reading books and small toys close to hand, so it really makes for a brilliant little den!

Another common nighttime niggle is a child’s fear of the dark and our youngest can become worried if she wakens during the night, so we gave her the SPÖKA night light to try out.  This little fella is just the ticket!  She absolutely loves him and is happy to take him to the bathroom during the night, avoiding the need to waken half the household to switch the lights on for her on a nightly basis!  So everyone is happy with this new addition to the family.

SPÖKA is charged up as he’s plugged in, and when switched on, gives off a lovely soft glow that subtly changes colour – my littlest loves to lie in bed and watch his colours change as she drifts off to sleep.  Zzzz…

So, hopefully with a few weeks of uninterrupted sleep, I will come back totally refreshed and reinvigorated at the end of March to report on how we’ve all got along!  In addition, I look forward to sharing some other ideas of products you could use to help with other areas of sleep you may have problems with over and above those mentioned here.  Finally, I’ll be chatting about our progress over on my Insta Stories from time to time, so keep an eye out for that if you follow me over there, too.

In the meantime, sweet dreams everyone and have a restful upcoming weekend.

K x

** This post has been written in collaboration with IKEA UK as part of their Win at Sleeping campaign, however all views and opinions expressed are honest and my own.**