We decided to bring a new guest into the bedroom: a TV.
We used to be firmly against having a television in the bedroom—it’s not for everyone and some people consider it taboo. But we have only one main television in the living room, and a smaller set had been sitting unused in the playroom ever since we upgraded to a bigger living-room screen. Lately we’ve been thinking a lot about work/life balance and how hard it is for us to switch off. We often end up working on the couch with laptops and the TV on in the background, so carving out a strictly no-work, no-multitasking zone in the bedroom seemed like a good idea.
The plan is simple: the bedroom is for relaxation and watching our favorite shows—pure downtime. We’re not expecting miracles, and yes, there’s the old joke that a TV in the bedroom can change other activities, but with everything else on our plates—parenting a toddler, renovating, writing, blogging—we figured a television won’t be the thing to upset the balance.
Waking up on a lazy Sunday and watching a movie in bed instead of immediately slipping into “we should be working” mode sounds delightful. More than that, replacing a cluttered wall with a centered dresser and a TV feels almost spa-like compared to how the room looked before.
I came back from tour flights determined to fix the wall we look at every night. The first step was simple: put items back where they belong—books returned to the dining room built-ins, empty boxes broken down and recycled, and the lamp returned to its proper spot.
Next I moved our mid-century side tables into the guest room (we phased them out before). With the old dresser there sold at a yard sale, that wall in the guest room is now bare, and the two side tables together read like a console for the moment. We might eventually use them in our daughter’s room, so for now they’re filling a temporary role.
With those pieces moved, we could properly center our favorite dresser—one of the few secret projects we kept because we love it so much. It sits directly across from our bed for optimal viewing, and we put the smaller living-room TV on top for now.
So far, the setup feels right. It’s not actually hooked up to cable yet—too many things going on with travel and the holidays to spend long on hold—so we’re waiting to get it fully functional. Once it’s connected, we’ll see how the no-work rule holds up and whether the TV truly helps us relax more in the bedroom.
Some people warn that it’s bad feng shui to sleep facing a TV or a mirror, but we used to face a full-length mirror in our first home and never had trouble sleeping. Maybe we’re lucky that way.
One of my favorite results of centering the dresser and clearing the top is being able to style it. I love having small jewelry dishes that coordinate with the rug color, and those little finishing touches make the space feel calm and curated.
On the dresser I also keep simple, personal pieces like wooden blocks with our initials and a favorite number. Small, meaningful items like these add personality without creating clutter.
We’re slowly transforming the bedroom from a patchwork of blank walls and clutter into a cohesive, restful space. Once the TV is fully set up we’ll share an update on whether we use it and how it affects our routines—whether it becomes a nightly habit, a rarely used convenience, or something we eventually remove.
Do you have a TV in your bedroom? I’m curious how common it is—half the homes, most homes, or pretty rare? We tried running a poll before but it caused issues on the site, so we gathered feedback elsewhere and would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
P.S. Have you seen baby Weston yet? It was so exciting to get the update that he and his mom were both doing well. Clara already loves him and, after seeing a photo, sweetly said, “I want to bother him.” Cute, right?