Despite the fact that many of us struggle to get a good night’s sleep, levels of comfort in British bedrooms have never been higher. Not only are these rooms now warm but also relatively quiet and uncluttered thanks to advances in technology.
Gone are the days when multiple family members shared one bed, mattresses were stuffed with horsehair and fleas and bedbugs were rife.
A major turning point in the comfort of beds can be credited to Terence Conran, founder of Habitat. He introduced duvets from Scandinavia in the 1960s. Not only were duvets warm, but they did away with the daily labour of making a bed covered in sheets, blankets and eiderdowns.
As for mattresses, horsehair has been replaced by springs, and more recently with memory foam, a product originally developed by Nasa to increase the safety of aircraft seating cushions.
With the arrival of television, small black-and-white sets made their way into bedrooms, and even these have been replaced by ever flatter and wider versions in more recent years.
Other electronic gadgets that set up home in the bedroom have also undergone constant evolution and change due to technology. Automatic tea-makers, known as Teasmades, and the electric blanket came and went, and even bedside radios, landline phones and alarm clocks have been subsumed into mobile devices. As a consequence, beds no longer have to be positioned near all the plug points.
Flat-pack furniture was invented in the late 1940s and it became increasingly popular in the decades that followed. By the 1980s, IKEA had become one of the largest businesses in the world based on advances in material and mass production technology. It became easier than ever to transform the look of a bedroom as new styles were brought to market and bulky wardrobes could be assembled in situ in relative ease. Gone were the days of newlyweds choosing a bedroom suite for decades to come.
The arrival of central heating had a big part in bedroom design, too. “Central heating meant children could spend more time in their bedroom,” says Zoe Hendon, head of collections at Middlesex University’s Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture. This in turn encouraged people from an early age to create private, distinct living places where they wanted to spend time to relax and not just to sleep.
With advances in central heating controls, homeowners now have greater control than ever over the temperature of the home. Apps like Hive, which let you control your thermostat from your phone, mean the temperature can be turned up or down all from the comfort of your bed. So if you wake up feeling cold you no longer need to dash to the thermostat to click the heating on – a simple tap of the app is all that’s needed. You don’t even need to emerge from under the warm duvet.
But new thermostat technology doesn’t just ensure homeowners are comfortable, it can also protect your home. In-built thermostat technology like the Hive Frost Protection feature means your heating will kick in if the temperature in your home dips below 7C, so you can prevent a frozen pipe.
Thanks to advances in technology, homes aren’t just becoming increasingly comfortable, they are also becoming connected and smart enough to respond to changes in the environment.
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