I bought 5 things to upgrade my bedroom this year. Only one of them actually changed my evenings.
I am a person who, for most of my adult life, treated my bedroom as an afterthought. The living room got the nice sofa, the kitchen got the matching plates, and my bedroom got whatever bedding was on offer at Dunelm and a lamp I'd had since uni. This year I decided that was a bit sad and that I should actually like the room I spend a third of my life in.
So between January and March I bought five things, all in the name of "upgrading the bedroom." Some I went deep on. Some I caved on after seeing them on Instagram. Some I now use every single night. One I haven't touched since the second week.
Here's the honest ranking, with how much each one actually changed my evenings, in order from most to least.
A backrest pillow with actual arms
I want to put on the record that I made fun of this exact product six months before I bought it. A friend of mine bought one in November, showed me a photo, and I sent her a single laughing-crying emoji and the message "you cannot be serious." She said "you'll see." I said "I will not see, because I am not buying a pillow with arms."
Reader. I bought the pillow with arms.
It's the Fresh Frenzy Luxury Backrest Pillow with Arms and Adjustable Headrest — a chair-shaped pillow that sits against your headboard with two cushioned arms either side of you, like the arms of an armchair, plus a small headrest at the top that tilts forward and back. Memory foam inside. Velvety velour cover that comes off and goes in the washing machine.
I bought the dark grey, standard size. It arrived in a box that genuinely surprised me with how heavy it was. I unpacked it, put it on the bed against the headboard, and within two minutes I was sat against it doing exactly what I had laughed at my friend for doing six months earlier.
I read for two hours straight, looked up, and went "oh — my neck doesn't hurt either."
The arms are the bit that actually does the work. I didn't fully understand the point of them until I had them. The reason that "stack four pillows behind your back and read in bed" thing always feels slightly tiring isn't your back — it's that your arms are unsupported the whole time. They're just dangling, holding up a book or a phone. With the arms on this pillow, your elbows have somewhere to go. Your forearms are held up. You stop unconsciously holding tension in your shoulders. I read for two hours straight on the first night I got it, looked up, and went "oh — my neck doesn't hurt either."
The little adjustable headrest at the top sounded gimmicky to me before I had it and is now the bit I fiddle with constantly. I tilt it forward when I'm reading so the headrest is supporting the back of my neck at the right angle. I push it back when I'm watching something and want to lean. There's also a small fabric pocket on the side I assumed was useless and now contains, at any given time: my AirPods, the TV remote, a tube of lip balm, and a Murray Mint.
Free USA delivery · 100-day trial · 20,000+ five-star reviews
I have used it every single night for two months. I have moved it from the bed to the sofa twice when I wanted to watch a film properly. I bought a second one for the spare room because my mum stayed for a week and asked, on day three, if she could "take it home." (She did not. I held the line. She has since ordered her own.)
It's not a small purchase. But of the five things on this list, this is the one I've genuinely used every single evening since I bought it, and the only one I actively recommend when people ask me what to put on their bedroom shopping list. My friend was right. I will not be telling her that.
Curtains that are actually blackout
I have, in my life, bought three different sets of "blackout" curtains and woken up at 5:43am every single time because the sun was somehow in my eyes anyway. The word "blackout" on a curtain label is essentially aspirational. It means "darker than not having curtains." That is the bar.
This year I caved and bought the proper ones — the heavy lined kind, the ones that cost $80–$120 a panel rather than $25 — and the difference is so dramatic that I now think the cheap ones should be illegal to label as blackout. The room is genuinely dark. I sleep through morning sunrise. My partner has stopped wearing an eye mask. Worth it. Should have done it five years ago.
If you live somewhere with bright street lights or you've got a partner who wakes up at 5am for the gym and you don't, this is the upgrade.
A heavier duvet (the right tog, not just any tog)
I had been sleeping under a 10.5 tog duvet for years, mostly because that's what I bought when I moved into the flat and I never thought about it again. It turns out 10.5 is a sort of vague "all-seasons" middle ground that is actively rubbish in winter and slightly too warm in July. I swapped to a 13.5 tog feather-and-down for autumn-winter and a 4.5 tog for summer and the difference was genuinely embarrassing — I had been mildly cold every winter for the previous decade and just accepted it.
If you sleep with a partner who runs hotter or colder than you, get a dual-tog duvet (different tog on each side) and end the thermostat war forever.
A warm dimmable bedside lamp
I had been using a lamp from my university bedroom (cool-white, harsh, single brightness setting) and didn't realise quite how much it was wrecking my evenings until I replaced it. The new one is on a dimmer with a 2700K warm bulb and the room genuinely feels different at 10pm. It looks like the lighting in a hotel room rather than the lighting in a dentist's waiting area.
This is the cheapest entry on the list (mine was $45) and the one with the highest "I cannot believe I waited this long" ratio. If you've still got a cool-white overhead light as your bedtime light, swap it. You'll feel sleepier within a week. I promise this is real.
Linen sheets (worth it, but with a caveat)
I have been a linen-sheet sceptic for years because everyone who recommends them sounds slightly insufferable. I gave in this year because they were on sale and I'd run out of excuses. The honest verdict: they're great in summer, fine in winter, and you have to live with the fact that they look slightly rumpled forever. The ironing-and-tucking-in routine is over. You make the bed by sort of tossing the duvet on and walking away.
Caveat: the first month, they feel weirdly stiff. You have to wash them three or four times before they soften into the thing everyone raves about. If you give up at week one (which I almost did) you'll never know. Push through.
Out of the five things on this list, this is the only one that lives in the "nice but not life-changing" category for me. If you're choosing between this and the pillow, buy the pillow.
If you only buy one thing this year
Buy the backrest pillow. I say this as someone who, six months ago, sent a laughing-crying emoji to a friend who told me to buy it. It is the only one of these five purchases I use every single evening, and the only one I now recommend without caveats.
Cosy duvet. Proper blackout curtains. Warm dimmer lamp. Linen sheets. All worth it. But the pillow is the one that genuinely changes the half-hour before you fall asleep, which is the half-hour I think most about now.
This article is a sponsored advertorial from Fresh Frenzy.
This page is created and published by Fresh Frenzy, the brand behind the Luxury Backrest Pillow With Arms & Adjustable Headrest. All product links in this article go to Fresh Frenzy's own product pages.
The first-person experiences described above are illustrative of how the product is used and individual experiences will vary. The other items mentioned in this article (curtains, duvet, lamp, linen sheets) are not sold by Fresh Frenzy and are included for editorial context only.
For questions, customer support, or to view our return and delivery policies, visit freshfrenzy.co.
© 2026 Fresh Frenzy. All rights reserved.