Music plays an important part in our daily lives. Walk into any place of business and you’re bound to hear gentle sounds piped in through distant speakers. Hop onto public transportation, and listen to the symphony of sounds seeping out of the head-phoned masses around you. Music is ever present around us. It can be a great sleep aid as well. The right song can help you make the delicate traverse into the realm of slumber with style and grace. This list of sleepy songs about sleep will have you snoring in no time:

The Beatles – “I’m Only Sleeping”

There’s a faint hint of sadness in John Lennon’s tale of a man’s perpetual slumber, but any trace of it is promptly washed away in a sea of gorgeous harmonies during the chorus.

Various Artists – “Dream a Little Dream of Me”

This lovely little ditty has been kicking around since the early 1930s. It’s been covered by the likes of Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, and many, many more.

The Postal Service – “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”

Singer Ben Gibbard’s tale of alienation in a new city is worlds apart from from the tender vocals and barely there, hushed electronics that anchor the music here.

Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams”

OK, this one’s cheating. Barring the title, this song isn’t really about sleep at all, but the band’s laid back groove and singer Stevie Nicks’ deep, sultry vocals are the very picture of serenity.

The Beatles – “Golden Slumbers”

This was Paul McCartney’s stab at a sleep song. Even though it only lasts the better part of a minute, “Golden Slumbers” skates by on McCartney’s exquisite melodies and breathtaking string arrangement.

Tags: beds, Lifestyle, music

Reading a story or two to your kids before bedtime is the perfect end to a day. It is a special treat for them and maybe even more for you. It’s a great way to spend time together, and it’s a surefire trick to get the kiddies to drift off into peaceful slumber without too much effort. And let’s not forget that our older kid’s love to read too. We found ourselves a children’s librarian to help sort the good from the bad, the sad from the happy, and the scary from the funny.

Little Pea Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Who doesn’t love eating a plate full of candy? Little Pea, the hero of this cute and funny book, HATES to! That’s the gist of this tale of a little pea who lives a pleasant little pea life with his pea parents. He is generally happy, EXCEPT…his parents make him eat all his candy before he can have his dessert (spinach). Kids get a kick out of the role reversal here, a kid who can’t wait for his spinach. Her second book, Little Hoot, follows the same theme, about an owl who doesn’t want to stay up late. But the originality of the first book can’t be beat. I read this book to a group of kids just the other day and they couldn’t stop laughing as he tried to choke down his multi-colored candies. A definite must-read. Ages 4-6.

Pumpkin Heads by Wendell Minor.

Okay, so I know Halloween is still five weeks out, but at my home we have been gearing up since August while we can still find all the best ghost and pumpkin books on the library shelves. Which is where I found this little gem, a lovely homage to Jack o’lanterns. Wendell Minor is an award-winning illustrator who has outdone himself in this book. Each page has a little text imposed upon vast, dramatic images of illuminated pumpkins in bat-filled, creepy-house-looming backdrops. There are lots of little details kids will love to pick out as they pore over the richly illustrated pages. We read it every night and I can’t get enough of it. If you like Halloween, go get this book. Ages 2-10.

Tags: beds, bedtime stories, book reviews, Books, Children, family

Are you coming to see our special one-day event in our Manhattan Showroom? Check us out in TimeOut NY Kids to get the details but here is a quick read below.

This Sunday, September 26th we are teaming up with Writopia Lab to host “Ready. Set. Write.”, a one day creative writing seminar for young writers that will actually take place in Charles P. Rogers’ Manhattan showroom. Writopia Lab is a not for profit organization whose task is cultivating writing talent in kids from age eight to eighteen. “Ready. Set. Write.” will select 42 students from schools all over Manhattan’s Flatiron District for a three-hour workshop dedicated to drafting short stories that will be submitted to the prestigious Scholastic Writing Awards, an annual event honoring young adults’ outstanding achievements in the arts. The students will be split up into smaller groups which will be guided by published writers working as Writopia team leaders. We’re looking forward to this one, and we’re definitely hoping “Ready. Set. Write.” will be the first of many collaborations between us and our friends at Writopia.

Tags: bedtime stories, Children, TimeOut New York, Writopia Lab

Shelter Interiors magazine described our Wing bed as the “fashionable focal point of any boudoir” in a past issue. Thanks, guys! We totally agree!

Tags: beds, home, Interior Design, leather beds, press

There’s a million different varieties of pillows. Comfort is king, and you want to get the most out of your nightly rest. You spend a third of your life on a pillow, so getting the right one is pretty crucial, right? It’s a veritable science, pillowhunting. We’ll be doing a series on the “science of pillows” in order to help you find what works best for you. Today we’ll cover some of the fillings that are inside the pillow:

Down: These are named after what they’re stuffed with. “Down” is the dense, fluffy protective layer of feathers beneath a bird’s more colorful and vibrant outer feathers. Down is extremely soft, but it settles easily and ought to be fluffed regularly for maximum comfort. Unfortunately some people are allergic to the feathers.

Synthetic fill: Synthetic fills are comprised of any number of manmade materials. They are generally wider and offer more support than down pillows do and never need to be shaken out to restore shape. But the synthetic fill is nowhere near as soft as down.

Foam: Foam pillows, especially memory foam pillows, are all the rage these days. They gently mold to match the impression of your body. Memory foam pillows are soft and comfortable, but they don’t last as long as synthetic and down pillows. In addition, some people are allergic to the chemicals used to make them.

Those are the three most commonly used fillings, but you can also find pillows filled with wool, cotton, husks, and seeds. It’s all a matter of comfort versus support versus allergies.

Tags: beds, home, pillows, sleep