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If you look up information about sleeping, you will often come across the startling fact that we spend one-third of our lives sleeping. In a 75-year lifetime, that's 25 hours snoozing. But that's only if you are getting 8 hours of sleep every night. The reality is that most Americans don't get enough sleep. As a nation, we average about 6.8 hours a night. So if you find yourself lying in bed staring at the ceiling, it might help to have something relaxing to help you nod off. Octo Lights can help, because decorative light covers make amazing bedroom ceiling decor. Our relaxing images can help you unwind at the end of the day and finally get those much-needed Z's.

Decorating Your Bedroom Ceiling

Most people are very conservative with their ceiling decor, particularly in their bedrooms.  They tend to go for white or pastel shades, with conventional lighting units.

Usually, bedroom lights are controlled by wall switches close to the door. To avoid having to get up to put the lights out, some people use a second set of lights closer to the bed. These include lamps on a nightstand or above a headboard. But there is another option that might just change the way you go to sleep.

A Small Renovation

If you are having a home built for you, or if you're renovating your bedroom, why not create a spectacular bedroom ceiling for yourself? In fact, renovating your bedroom alone may be a relatively low-cost project with an outsized impact.

The most involved part of the renovation is dropping the ceiling slightly to accommodate an overall fluorescent lighting system. This is similar to the drop-ceiling fluorescent lighting found in many offices and retail locations. Initially, the lighting is uniform but be harsh. But don't worry about that. Because the real magic happens when you install the decorative light covers.

Decorative Light Covers in the Bedroom

Decorative light covers such as sky and cloud panels come in standard sizes to fit over your fluorescent diffuser panels. They are decorated with prints of genuine photographs. Octo Lights sells covers with lots of beautiful nature photos. But because we also offer custom image printing at no extra cost, the design options really are limitless. If you prefer to use our photos, you still have lots of variety. No two photographs of nature are ever identical, and we offer plenty of variations. Our most popular image is a blue sky with fluffy white clouds, and we offer plenty of different photos to mix and match.

Once you've dropped your bedroom ceiling to make room for some fluorescent lights, you're ready to turn on the magic. Here is how you can create spectacular bedroom ceiling decor that you can change to suit your mood.

1. Choosing Your Decorative Panels

For your bedroom, we recommend decorative ceiling light covers from our sky and cloud collections. They display various scenes of the sky on a beautiful day printed onto transparent film. The film covers are easily attached to the fluorescent light panels. There are three general panel options:

First is the daytime sky. These are images of a lovely blue summer sky with fluffy cumulus clouds. If you feel like waking up to a beautiful summer morning, then this is what you should choose. Many people read in bed at night, so you might also want to read using this form of lighting.

Your second option is a nighttime sky. These are gorgeous views of a night sky lit only by beautiful twinkling stars. We also have images of ghostly nebulae and spiraling galaxies that are both restful and inspiring.

The third option is an image of a sunrise or sunset. (When you take a picture, sunrise and sunset look pretty much the same.) You can enjoy a fantastic reddish-orange glow lighting up the sky. These are photographs of actual sunsets, not digitally enhanced or illustrated images. The decorative light covers we have available as amazing bedroom ceiling decor look just like the real thing. When the image is backlit through printed transparent decorative ceiling light covers, you’ll feel like you’re looking out through a clear skylight.

2. Combining Panel Effects

You can choose one, two, or even all three types of panels. Whichever you select, you should make your decision during the installation phase of the fluorescent lighting system. That's because you will need a separate circuit for each set of images. Each circuit should be controlled by one switch at the bedroom door and another by your headboard. Then, install one type of panel for each circuit. Now you can enjoy a different sky just by flicking the lights on and off.

3. Using Your Amazing Bedroom Ceiling Decor

You can illuminate one set of panels at a time for a unified view of the sky. Daylight sky and cloud panels would work well over your bed, giving you light to read by. We recommend installing them over the first third to half of the bedroom ceiling as measure from your bed.

A night sky would look amazing once it's time to sleep and the day scene is switched off. Install the night sky further back from the bed, so the light isn't overpowering. You could also have a set of sunset or sunrise panels by your window so you can wake up to a beautiful sunrise.

Timing Decorative Light Covers

For a really wonderful effect, consider switching off the different panel styles using timers. With built-in timers, you can enjoy a shifting sky that matches the natural progression of the day and night. Just set your sunrise panels to come on a few minutes before your alarm, and you can wake up to a gorgeous sunrise every morning.

Of course, all of these suggestions are just a starting place. Decorative light covers can be used to create fabulous lighting effects in any room in your home. All it takes is some imagination and the will to do it. The actual installation is relatively simple. If you already have fluorescent lights, installation takes no more than a few minutes and a screwdriver.

Octo Lights has the ideal sky and cloud panels for you. You can choose from our wide range of options or have panels custom made for your home. Check out our full collection of decorative light covers here.