Interior designer Melanie Rose knows her clients really well. For the past 11 years, she has specialized in what she calls “sacred rooms”—luxurious bedrooms and secret suites designed to spark intimacy and improve her clients’ sex lives. “My conversations with my clients aren’t the regular conversations that interior designers have,” Rose laughs.

A portrait of Melanie Rose
Photo courtesy of Melanie Rose

In her brazen Netflix series, How to Build a Sex Room—which highlights 12 daring renovation projects in Denver—Rose explores the ways in which interior design can have a positive impact on relationship dynamics. We asked the London-born, Los Angeles–based designer for her top techniques for upgrading the most romantic room in the home: the bedroom.

5280 Home February/March 2023
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1. Find your comfort colors.

Rose used a lot of pastel pinks and rich purples in the Netflix series, but if warm whites or sage greens are more your style, reach for them when kicking off your color scheme. The key is choosing shades that bring you a sense of comfort and ease. “Whatever speaks to you and makes you feel the most relaxed and sexy,” Rose says.

2. Beautify your bed.

“When you walk into your bedroom, you want to gravitate toward the bed,” Rose says. Two surefire ways to add allure: Turn the wall behind the bed into a focal point with an eye-catching paint color or wallpaper and add a “layer of luxury” with throw pillows and blankets in sumptuous fabrics.

3. Engage your senses.

Soft lighting and seductive scents are imperative to creating an inviting atmosphere. Rose suggests hiring an electrician to put your lighting on a dimmer switch so you can control your bedroom’s ambience with ease. Fill your room with your favorite scent using a portable diffuser—we have our eye on the sleek Stone diffuser from Vitruvi—that won’t take up too much precious real estate on your nightstand.

4. Soften things up.

“I’m a very tactile person,” Rose says. When designing a bedroom, she typically reaches for materials that provide a sensory experience—think: buttery soft, leather-upholstered furniture, shaggy faux-fur rugs, and bamboo-silk sheets.

Melanie Rose’s favorite Denver shops for adding oomph to your bedroom:

1. The Brass Bed
2. White Peacock
3. HW Home
4. Awakening Boutique
5. Calico
6. Vanilla Kink