Nothing can replace a good night’s sleep in the comfort and safety of one’s own home. If you are among those who are not sleeping well, and feel somewhat unsafe in your home, perhaps some home improvement projects can decrease your loss of sleep and increase your sense of safety.

Interior Comfort Improvement Projects

Change the Bedroom Dimensions

Changing the size of the bedroom can make it feel like a new room. Often, the new space, even a few feet, can give you enough room to re-arrange the furnishings and add new decorations.

First, decide which walls can be moved and how far. Knowing how far you can move them tells you whether the project is worth the challenge or not. Locate and avoid moving main support walls to keep the improvement project as simple and inexpensive as possible.

Enlarging the room by removing or relocating walls is a huge undertaking. Unless you have the tools and experience, you need to call a professional.

Reduce Noise Levels

Add Sound Diffusion Panels

In addition to re-configuring the room, you can reduce noise level for a quieter room. If your bedroom is near a busy street or a loud heating and air conditioning unit, consider adding noise reducing panels on the wall where the noise source is.

While these panels will not completely eliminate noise, they will reduce it to a more tolerable level. Check out this YouTube video that shows how you can make them for $5.

Change Flooring

If you have hardwood or tile flooring, check out ways to make it quieter and warmer. The quick, easy fix is adding plush rugs. The more permanent solution is to install carpeting. Be sure to include thick, high quality padding under the carpeting to increase comfort and reduce noise.

Quiet Vaulted and 2-story Ceilings

High, cathedral ceilings are beautiful, but they also increase noise level. The best way to reduce this noise source is by hanging long acoustic panels in an alternating pattern. The more radical fix is lowering the entire ceiling to eight feet and installing acoustic panels to cover the entire ceiling.

Less Radical Improvements

If you seem to have misplaced your hard hat, you may opt for more subtle changes which are a lot less rigorous.

Start with your window blinds. Replace them with new, darker colors. Doing so darkens the room. Darkened rooms create a better sleeping environment.

Install longer, heavier curtains. Lighter, shorter sheer window coverings do little to reduce light or noise in a room. Combining upgraded blinds with heavier curtains helps decrease light and noise.

Couple your darker windows with less intense bedroom lighting. The wrong kind of lighting or too much light can negatively impact sleep patterns.

Automate

Install sensors and controllers on your blinds, curtains and new lighting. The blinds and curtains automatically open and close in response to varying amounts of light.

Automation is alluring if you enjoy having things you normally do for yourself done for you. To see what a fully automated home would be like, check out some videos on youtube.

The Elephant in the Room

Do not overlook the most obvious furnishing in the room, your bed. Invest in a new bed frame and mattress. If your bed and frame are aging, a new bed can make a huge comfort difference.

Interior Safety

Update your home security. It too can be automated. Install wireless security with sensors and controllers. You can do it with only one tool, a screwdriver. You will use the screwdriver to set the switches on both the transceiver and the device module. Most of these systems include window and exterior door sensors, motion detectors and front and rear entrance video surveillance.

Exterior Improvements

Windows

If you live in an older house, check the windows. Old, single pane windows are a primary source for weather leaks and noise. They had little insulation value, did not cancel sound, and they did not age very well.

If your house is newer, windows may still need inspecting. Some of the first double pane windows had quality and durability issues. Check the seals on your windows. Replace them if they have separated from the frame.

Older wood windows used caulk as the primary sealer. Over time caulk weathers, weakens and falls out. Re-caulking is a relatively easy repair and eliminates leaks.

If your windows are in bad shape, shop for new ones. Be sure they are at least double-pane for additional insulation.

Also order the screens with the windows. They may not reduce noise, but black screens can block light and reduce the amount of heat absorbed through the windows.

Install Functional Exterior Shutters

One exterior addition is making a comeback. The old, fixed, exterior shutter was fairly common in years gone by. They are gaining in popularity in certain areas.

They are called fixed because they are anchored or attached in place to the exterior of the home. These shutters come with mounting hardware, and they can be installed with simple tools.

They are available in many different colors which can match existing exterior color schemes. Fixed shutters also come in louvered and flat panel styles.You can open and close them manually as needed, or you can also purchase the kind that open and close remotely.

These shutters also give added protection from carelessly driven lawn mowers which sling rocks and other yard debris toward the house and the occasional poorly thrown baseball or football.