I have some dear friends who live in Vancouver. Not the outskirts. Not the suburbs. No, they are smack-dab in the heart of Vancouver. If you are not familiar with the city, it is very expensive to live there. You can easily pay $500,000 for less than 1,000 square feet of space…and that is for a moderately priced place.

Since my friends getting their own business up and running, they live in tight quarters. I remember visiting them when I was pregnant and we all crammed into about 500 square feet. At that stage of pregnancy, I took up most of the space! But the thing I have found about this couple is that, no matter how tiny their places have been, they always have a feeling of space to them. When I walk in the door, I feel peaceful. I relax. I unwind.

How is this so? It is because the Hieberts are fanatical about keeping their home organized, tidy and clean. They have chosen their furniture with care. They have made sure there is no clutter. All their junk (if it exists at all) is tucked away in trendy little Ikea boxes. They have put in lovely finishing touches through their artwork and décor items. In short, they have created a space that I want to go to as often as I can.

As Spring cleaning season is upon us, I cannot help but think of creating those inviting places around my home. And of course, as a Passion Coach, I believe that the room which should receive top priority is the master bedroom. Your bedroom should be one room in your life that invites you in. You should be excited to go there at the end of the day – not just because you want to collapse on the bed in exhaustion – but because it is peaceful. It should encourage you to rest and relax. When your room is this place of retreat, the chances of it becoming a place of passion increase exponentially.

Here are a few pointers for a bedroom makeover – turning your bedroom into a boudoir:

Step One: Clean, organize and de-clutter. Take a trash bag into your room and be ruthless. You want to create a sense of space, so clean out all that junk which has been stashed in the corners of your room because you don’t know where else to put it. If you have to have things tucked away, take a lesson from the Hieberts and stow them away in labeled boxes.

Step Two: Remove FORBIDDEN ITEMS. There is nothing romantic about getting to second base only to roll over on a baby toy! Work and baby things have no place in your bedroom. If your infant is just a few months old and you are barely surviving, I will give you a pass. Other than that, get that stuff out. And yes, by “work” items, I mean your laptop as well.

Step Three: Tend to the bedding. Ladies, I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT make your guys sleep in a flower garden! Minimize the flowers and lace and other girly things. Make your bed a place wherein the feminine and masculine can coexist. Furthermore, even if nothing else gets done in your room each day, make your bed. You will be shocked at how successful you will feel for the rest of the day.

Step Four: Pick your décor with care. Accent with items that inspire you. Add some plants for to brighten up the room, put out some candles for mood lighting, or add a dimmer switch. Put the TV in an armoire so that it is not always staring at you. Hang pictures that move you and make you feel sensuous. If you are a vision board sort of person, put up items that symbolize the type of relationship you want to have. Make the space a reflection of you and your lover.

Step Five: Maintain the room. It is so very easy to do a make-over and then allow the room to fall into disarray within a couple weeks. Simply spending 10 minutes each day tidying and cleaning will keep this from happening. Once a month, get ruthless again with the trash bag. This will ensure that your space remains your space.

Both of you will love the changes. My husband is from Texas and so he was too busy learning how to hunt to develop an appreciation for interior decorating when he was a kid – believe me, he still thinks a dear head hanging on the wall is equivalent to a framed piece of art.  That being said, I can’t count the number of times he walks into our bedroom and tells me how much he loves it. No matter what chaos he has had to deal with during the day, our bedroom is his sanctuary at night.  And that makes it all worthwhile.  For some of you this means a few simple adjustments…for some it will be extreme makeover bedroom edition.  Don’t get overwhelmed.  Just take it step by step and you will see a huge difference – and you will reap the rewards of having your own Place of Passion!