how to create a luxe hotel experience at home

by Rebecca Hadfield

What’s your favourite thing about a luxury vacation? For us, there’s no question—it’s the accommodations. From the beautiful room, to the amenities and the attention to detail, it all adds up to one incredible, unforgettable experience.

This year, with travel restrictions grounding us all, we’re sharing tips for creating the five-star hotel experience at home. With a little redecorating and a few thoughtful touches, you can create an indulgent retreat in your own bedroom and the best part is, you never have to pack up and check out!

Palermo 7 Piece Queen Bedroom in gloss white lacquer.

Sleep Inn
The exclusive Palermo bedroom collection proves that you don’t have to fly across ocean to wake up in Italian luxury. Bringing modern Italian design to this side of the Atlantic, the Palermo is the perfect way to add some sparkle to your bedroom and get the coordinated look you love. This all-white bedroom set is designed and manufactured in Italy from quality materials and components and is finished in scratch and stain resistant glass-like acrylic lacquer to stand up to years of everyday use. Choose from a queen or king wing bed, or queen with attached nightstands.

And, of course, we can't talk bedroom furniture without bringing up the all-important mattress. If you’re looking for that delicious “hotel sleep,” you need a mattress that delivers the same opulent comfort of the best boutique hotel beds, while at the same time giving you the right level of support for your sleep style. For this reason, we highly recommend talking to a Dufresne Sleep Expert who will be able to assess your needs and match you with your perfect mattress. See below for three of our favourites.

Here are just three of our favourites:

  • With a precision innerspring system, layers of pressure-relieving memory foam, and a luxurious comfort top, the Beautyrest Harmony Lux Recover Comfort Top mattress, available alone or as a set, is the perfect combination of body-contouring comfort and targeted support.
  • Serta’s Reflection IV Super Pillow Top Plush Hybrid mattress features five advanced cooling technologies and an extra-thick layer of soft, yet supportive Serta® PillowSoft® foam close to the sleep surface for the ultimate in cloud-like softness and pressure-relieving comfort.
  • The sleep-inducing Estate Hybrid Darling mattress, handcrafted in Canada by Stearns & Foster, features an sophisticated Intellicoil support system along with layers of indulgent, premium memory foam. Its luxurious cover, made with temperature-regulating Tencel adaptive fabric will give you that fancy hotel feeling, while helping to keep you cool and comfortable all night long.

Complete your "hotel-at-home" bed with a temperature-regulating mattress protector, at least 4 high-quality pillows, and some crisp, white, 100% Egyptian cotton sheets and pillow cases for that authentic hotel look and feel.

You’ll also want to layer on a fluffy duvet and coverlet, or a plush comforter, plus a beautiful throw for the end of the bed.

In-Room Entertainment
A TV in the bedroom comes in handy for watching the news before bed, sneaking in an early morning virtual yoga session, or snuggling up for a weekend movie marathon. But, for most of us, when the TV is off it disturbs the restful aesthetic that we’ve worked so hard to create and takes up a lot of visual space—admit it, it’s pretty hard to ignore a big, black rectangle on the wall.

To solve that problem, Samsung created The Frame. Not only is it a smart TV with amazing picture and sound, it sits flush with the wall and masquerades as a piece of framed art when it’s off.

You can customize The Frame with your choice of artworks from the gallery store, dozens of online sources, or even your own camera, and the artwork can be changed out as often as you like. To take the hotel vibe to the next level, display a rotating gallery of paintings from artists local to your dream destinations or choose beautiful photographs from around the world.

Creature Comforts
To continue the transformation from modest master bedroom to presidential suite, create a comfortable nook for reading, watching TV, or catching up on your emails by adding a comfortable armchair (or two, if you have room) and a sleek side table. The Kennewick chair, in fashionable, go-everywhere grey, has a clean, tailored look and plush, velvet upholstery for uber-comfortable relaxing. By its side, the David end table in stainless and glass adds a chic touch of sparkle and a handy spot to place your coffee cup or cocktail glass.

On the subject of beverages, we highly recommend outfitting your room with a small bar fridge, especially if it’s a hike to the kitchen for still or sparkling water. To get the full mini-bar experience (without the mini-bar prices), stock filtered or sparkling water, small bags of nuts and salty snacks, and some fancy chocolate or gourmet gummies. Organize glasses, snacks, and other essentials on a handy bar cart or choose a narrow console table that can easily double as a laptop desk.

To make your room look as beautiful as possible, don’t forget the importance of good lighting. A pair of bedside lamps or low-hanging pendants, plus floor or table lamps throughout the room allows you to fine-tune the level of light, set the mood, and provide task lighting for reading and working. If you have an overhead fixture, consider installing a dimmer switch or just using the overhead light when cleaning or working out.

The Little Touches
As we mentioned earlier, it’s all the little touches that hoteliers use to make their guests feel special and pampered. We encourage you to pay the same attention to yourself by stocking your room with some extra-special amenities like these:

Fresh Flowers: Don’t wait for a special occasion—treat yourself to a small bouquet a few times a month and wake up to fresh flowers every day. To get the feeling that you’re traveling the world, pick blooms that represent iconic travel destinations—colourful tulips (Holland), fragrant lavender (Provence), orchids or chrysanthemums (Japan), etc.—and display them in a beautiful vase, like the gleaming Dinesh pictured above.

Candles: Scent is one of the most powerful memory-triggering senses, so it’s no wonder some boutique hotels have released their own signature scent collections. They want you to be reminded of their beautiful rooms and return often! To avoid being overwhelmed by scent, choose just one indulgently fragrant candle for your nightstand or dresser and another for the master bath. Keep a small box of matches or a sleek electronic lighter close for easy lighting.

Toiletries: There’s something about displaying bath and beauty products on a tray that makes them just that much more indulgent. To get this same feeling in your master bath or vanity table, fill a mirrored tray, like the Derex, with your favourite creams and potions, along with lidded jars of cotton pads and swabs. If you’re feeling extra, decant your mouthwash and bubble bath into beautiful glass bottles with stoppers or swing top lids and refill when needed.

Be sure to always keep your suite stocked with fresh linens and towels, high quality paper products, and extras like satin sleep masks, aromatherapy eye pillows, plush robes, and cozy slippers. And, if you have kids, it’s never too early to start training them on the finer points of room service.  

Until we can all travel again, we hope you have some fun creating a luxe hotel experience at home. For more ideas to staycation like a pro, check out this blog post about staycationing with the family: What a Trip!