Room Setup Summer of 2022

My last and classiest bachelor pad?

Idea Behind the Room

This is far from my first independent room. But the rooms that I had in my parent's house were hardly designed by me. In fact that thought to shape my own space hardly even occurred to me at that stage. This is the 4th room that I have put some amount of effort into shaping. The first 3 included a couple of college hostel rooms, and my very first room in a bachelor pad in Gurgaon. So, I came into this with a tad bit of experience of what I like, and a couple of ideas. That being said, I am far from a design expert, and really have almost no aesthetic sense.

What I was thinking when I designed this room is that I’m likely to spend the rest of my bachelor years (maybe 3?) in this apartment and room. So, I was ready to spend a decent amount on setting this room up, such that it proves to be a comfortable adulting experience.

I was also reasonably confident that I didn’t want too much to be going on in the room. But, there are 3 major features that I was confident would make a big difference to the quality of my life:

1. Sleep setup
2. Work setup
3. Entertainment setup

Additionally, my bathroom has got to be fairly comfortable and clean, because that could just ruin the whole thing otherwise.

My Bed is my (0,0,0,0)

My bed is by far the most important furniture in my life. I have made a habit of not just sleeping in it (for a good number of my hours), but also eating in bed, working in bed, and of course other such activities.

To this end, I have put a good amount of thought into putting in place a very comfortable sleep setup.

I started off with a nice queen size bed. I was strongly contemplating getting a low height, Japanese platform kind of bed. However, I went for a more classical bed, because I would want to sit at a slightly higher level while watching TV. I also particularly liked this Wakefit bed’s design, because it gives me conveniently placed storage for my mobile phone, charger, kindle and even the TV’s satellite speakers.

Amazon link for bed

Of course, the experience of the bed is largely driven by the mattress. I’m a sucker for a super soft mattress. At the same time, hotel-level-soft mattresses probably aren’t great for my back on a daily basis. So, I’ve tried to look for some sort of middle ground. In my search, I found that latex foam seems to be all the rage these days. Despite the nomenclature, it doesn’t feel anything like plain latex, and is quite soft, and yet reasonably firm. This 10 inch (yes, that’s quite a lot) wakefit mattress is possibly one of my favourite features in my room.

Amazon link for mattress

And because I basically live on my bed, there's always a decent chance of spillage of food or drinks. So, I've covered the mattress with a mattress protector, which does a pretty solid job of minimising any damage.

Amazon link for mattress protector

To make sure that the bed also has a nice, soft texture and looks nice and classy I picked out bamboo silk bedsheets and pillow covers. They are quite nice and soft, and make the bed look a little grander and more inviting.

Amazon link for bedsheets 1 Amazon link for bedsheets 2 Amazon link for pillow covers 1 Amazon link for pillow covers 2

You might have guessed that my theme for my bed is softness. So, I've also thrown in more than enough pillows. I got 4 latex foam pillows, of 2 different types. I like having a marginally thinner one under my head, but a nice fat pillow to hug while I sleep. One thing that I would change up next time around is that I might opt for memory foam pillows, over latex foam.

Amazon link for pillows 1 Amazon link for pillows 2

Finally, to complete my bed, I've got a couple of nice, weighed blankets. When I had googled how to get a great night's sleep, weighted blankets kept showing up on blog posts. The expert sleepers of the internet seem to be right. Weighted blankets can take a little getting used to. But after a week's sleep with them, I might struggle to go back. I picked out 5kg weighted blankets, and they give me this amazing sinking into the bed kind of feeling, and stop me from tossing and turning too much. Some combination of the brilliant bangalore weather, these weighted blankets and the softness of the bed make it harder than usual to get out of bed in the morning.

Amazon link for weighted blanket

The other thing that the sleeping experts recommended was blackout curtains. I was very satisfied with the amount of light that they keep out (actually 100%!). My window faces East, so this could have really ruined my sleep each morning, but the blackout curtains have been a real sleep saver.

Amazon link for blacout curtains

OTT is Life

Much like a large chunk of my generation, I spend hours every week on Netflix, Primevideo and Hotstar. I have at least one show going on at any point of time. From the time that I have been a college kid on a tight budget, I have been trying to improve my entertainment setup. Till date that has included modest improvements in screen size and marginally better speakers. But this time around, I was able to finally put in place something really satisfying.

I went and got a nice large screen OnePlus smart TV. The screen size might not be huge by today’s standards. But for my room, it’ll do just fine. I also got a flexible wall mount put in. The big benefit of the wall mount for me is that, I can pull the TV closer to my bed. Effectively, it feels like a bigger screen, with a sort of 3D effect. Or maybe it’s just in my head. But it definitely has the added benefit of me being able to tilt the TV towards my chair when I’m sitting there.

Amazon link for Smart TV

I feel like I have spent years trying to get a good sound setup. But I have always spent 2-5 thousand on something subpar. In fairness, I have never gone for a big brand product. This time around, I spent much more, but once again, I didn’t go for a big brand like a Bose. The Zebronics Juke Bar was pretty well rated on Amazon, and it has not disappointed at all. The overall sound quality has been immensely better than what I’m used to. The bass really provided the full theatre experience. I’m still on the fence about the surround sound effect. For some shows the satellite speakers are really well utilised. At other times, I feel like the audio is coming only from the front. But I think that’s more about the audio mixing in the content I’m watching.

Amazon link for Speakers

It already helps that I have blackout curtains, because that gives the full dark theatre kind of feeling to the room. To enhance that ambience further, I decided to get an alexa device and a few smart lights (tube light and light bulb). Over the last few rooms that I have had, I have learnt to make the most of these voice controlled lights. I am particularly sold on the ease of adjusting brightness and colour with just my voice.

Amazon link for Echo Dot Amazon link for Smart Lights 1 Amazon link for Smart Lights 2

Sometimes Work Happens

Because work from home has become a pretty normal situation, I figured that I would have to be equipped to work a little at home. I would have otherwise been quite happy to cut the workspace out altogether and have a little extra space in my room.

In line with this idea of minimising the space occupied by my work setup, I got this adorable “tokyo” wall mounted study table. I love how I can fold it up, when I’m not using it (most of the time). It neither takes up space, nor does it look too jarring. It also has a built in plug point, tube light and some storage space.

Pepperfry link for Foldable Table

Any and all chairs get a little uncomfortable when you’re sitting on them for too long. So, I decided to go in for the comfiest work chair that i could find. I was excited about getting a gaming chair. I do not game at all, but it seems to have pretty amazing lower back support, and I love the shape of the chair. I wasn’t able to find other swivel chairs which scored quite as high on these important dimensions for me.

Amazon link for Gaming Chair

As a remnant of my computer science roots, I love having a side monitor to extend my screen. I’m not sure how much I’ll be using one, but it’s good to have the option. And it looks kind of cool to me. Aside from the standard HDMI and VGA cables, I’ve also got a google chromecast plugged into it. I like having the chromecast, because it allows me to connect to the screen without any cables, and allows me to also connect my phone to it seamlessly.

Amazon link for Monitor Amazon link for Wall Mount Amazon link for Chromecast

And my favourite part of my workspace is my whiteboard. When I was watching the Big Bang Theory, I was very sold on Sheldon’s whiteboard at home. In Gurgaon, I also bought a whiteboard and started working on the Collatz conjecture (not that I’m going to solve it). Since then, I love the idea of having my own whiteboard for rough working, despite doing almost all of my work digitally. The whiteboard that I got wall mounted is magnetic, and so are the markers, dusters, and other pinup tools that I use.

Amazon link for Whiteboard

My Bathroom, a Hygiene Factor

There isn’t too much that I had to do for my bathroom. It’s something which is either alright, or not by design, for the most part. But there are a handful of things that I could do to make my bathroom feel a tad bit more comfortable, and easy to maintain.

I decided to get some cute looking baskets to hold toiletries, instead of the usual mugs. They seemed a little easier to put things in and access, and also just looked a little homely. In order to prevent things from getting too wet and messy, I put in place some shower curtains, a water barrier and a nice, absorbent mat. And finally, because my shower didn’t come with storage shelves, I put some adhesive bathroom shelves in place too.

Amazon link for Bathroom Baskets Amazon link for Shower Curtain Amazon link for Water Barrier Amazon link for Bathroom Mat Amazon link for Shower Shelves

And that's how I pieced my room together. It was a slightly expensive affair. But after having stayed there for a couple of months now, I can safely say that I love all of the little and big decisions that I have made. I have also pieced together a google sheet of the various elements involved and their costs, in case anyone else is interested in doing their room up in a similar fashion.

Google Sheet with my Room Plan

Here's hoping that you also have a ton of fun while setting up your room.