I find it gets too stuffy if the door is closed, so unless we have company, the door is always open.

Well, we don't have a door on our bedroom so I guess that means it's open...I often thought it was funny when I heard about a couple living in a house alone and closing the door.....

Closed.I started a few years ago when I had my parents living with us and continued because I have had kids and grand kids living with me.The main reason now is because I like sleeping in a cool room and keep the heating vent closed.

Hubs & I have our own bedrooms. I used to have mine closed at night, because he gets up often at night and he isn't the quietest person. Now that we have our kitty, mine is ajar, because if Buster wants in, he gets quite vocal about it and wakes me up. No, Buster isn't the Hubs. LOL Dottie

Don't see any reason to close it when it's not occupied. Except to cause trouble for someone wanting to use it! Stand and wait.... knock.... wait... LOL

My door is closed to make sure the dogs don't get up and start wandering in the middle of the night. If they want to go outside I want to know about it.
Dee in Michigan

My sister & I were talking about this the other night. I sleep with the door closed because I like privacy. I don't sleep for long stretches at a time. When I wake up I like to read or play on the pc for awhile. When my boys lived at home, there were always kids aroundÂ..didnÂt want to scare them with my bed head. Now itÂs just a habit. My sister sleeps with her door open because she wants to know if anyone is sneaking in the house at night. She has a huge American Bulldog to alert her & living in a very safe county area, so IÂm not sure what she is thinking.

Open unless we have company. Same for the bathroom door!

We don't have a door on our bedroom, either, so I guess it's always open ;o)

Open - it's just us and we have two cats who wander in and out all night! LOL

Most of the time mine is closed. Husband's is always closed and so hot in his room! I don't heat my room. His is closed when he isn't in there, mine is usually open.

Sue

Open except when company comes which isn't often. The dogs are in crates at night so I know I won't have surprises in the morning.

Usually it's open except in cold weather. We sleep with the window open whenever possible, even if only a tiny crack in winter.

My is left cracked, because that's the way the Jasper & Abby like it!! lol

I keep mine closed to keep the cats off me while I sleep..Sandy

I know you're supposed to keep the bedroom door closed when you're sleeping, because a closed door gives you an extra 30 minutes of breathing air, in case of an overnight fire.

But we usually sleep with ours open. For one thing, we have cats who sleep with us, but need to be able to come and go. For another--we're in our late 50's--you know what that means (the frequent flushing all night is bad enough--lol--add the opening and closing of the bedroom door...). We're the only ones in the house at this point, but even when DD was little, we left the door open so we could hear her and rush to her if needed.

Once in a blue moon, I'll shut the door at the country house, if I'm there alone (no cats), and I've got the heat turned way, way down. Then I use a little space heater to warm the bedroom before I go to bed. I shut the door, and turn off the heater before getting into bed--that way the room stays pretty warm all night.

Mine's always open, except when company comes and our furbabies need to be alone.

Open in the summer time...so it will be cooler.
Closed in the winter time...to keep the heat in.

I would prefer to have it open all the time, but since MIL is about the nosiest person on the face of the earth. She thinks that if she is awake, everyone needs to know. If I can use the restroom in the middle of the night, I obviously know what I am doing. She, on the other hand has to turn every light on in the path she is taking...along with slamming the doors along the way too.

And animals? They aren't allowed to sleep with us. I love my dog...but she doesn't sleep with us.

open, if we didn't, our animals would be hurling themselves at the door all night!

Closed because it's the only room in the house I smoke in and the window is open 3 or 4 inches 24/7.

Ours is always open, even when we have guest, the other bedrooms are on another level of the house.

Ours is open. We have too many cats to try and close it. Either someone gets closed in or someone gets closed out. Either way I have to get up in the middle of the night to let in or let out! We do have a baby gate up to keep Molly from wandering and eating the cat food. The other 4 dogs sleep with the boys and their doors are closed. The cats won't sleep in the same room with a dog. Besides, I have the bigger bed!

Trish

Open -- until DH gets up in the morning (he's an earlier riser than me), then he closes it so he doesn't wake me.

The cats sleep in the laundry room, door closed -- until I get up in the morning and open it :-)

Closed, and we don't have kids or pets.

Closed for privacy. Always kept it closed when we had our cat. I WON'T sleep with animals.

Open, the beasties need to be able to come and go. They get quite offended if they are locked out, or in. DH got up much earlier than me yesterday and shut the door as he left. My boy cat let me know what he thought of that when I got up later (he was locked out).

Closed, the dog sleeps in our room on the floor, the cat stays downstairs by herself. We like it, it's peaceful.

No door on my bedroom. If I did have one (and in the past when I've had one), it'd be open. I can't imagine my cats being on one side or the other; regardless of where they were they'd want to be on the other side of the door. And I love to have my cats sleeping with me; they're warm and I love the purring.

Always open

I can't sleep with it closed either. I would feel
trapped.

Closed and locked! Just the two of us, but we are in a secluded area. If someone breaks in, the extra seconds and noise to break down the door are all DH needs to take aim.

Open, unless we have people overnight.
(The peke sleeps with us)

Closed. My brother lives with us.Before that it was Father and brother. He gets up several times at night. He eats every few hours. So, it stays closed.

Open except when we have company.
We have cats and sometimes one sleeps with us
while while the other one sleeps under our bed.
Our dog sleeps in the kitchen with a gate up and
on her blankets.
Deb

Closed. We cut a "mouse hole" in the door to allow the cats to come in, otherwise they would howl until we got up to let them in.

When one has half a dozen shirts hung on each handle, how does one close the door?

Being of a democratic nature, I've been inclined to share the decision making ... but the cats aren't allowed in the house and though I put up notices, haven't heard from the mice. Maybe the word has gotten round that, when the PB on the traps was cleaned off and the mice went their way, when I wrapped the trigger in thread, that reduced the number of departing mice to zero, so any others in the vicinity may be disinclined to make their presence known.

On occasional visits for dogsitting, my friend's well-behaved dog, who is used to sharing a bed, shares mine. Though the door is open, she scarcely ever leaves the bed during the night.

Hi azzalea,

A closed door gives you 30 minutes extra clean air time should a fire erupt?? Have you checked that info out with the fire dept? I find it somewhat improbable.

If you don't have smoke alarms, with the door closed, isn't the possibility of learning of the fire somewhat delayed?

And if you do have them and they alert you, do you have the means of notifying the fire department inside that closed bedroom door (and I assume that if you don't want to have it standing open, you won't want to open it to run out to a phone if you learn of a fire going on elsewhere in the house).

Do you have a window or other means of exit to safety from your bedroom ... and if there's a window, is it close enough to ground or means of escape that you can use it for exit? If not, do you need a rope ladder under it, tethered, that you can dump out of the window to get to an escape route?

Good wishes for arranging your home to suit your preferences.

ole joyful

Joyful, that info CAME from the fire dept, when I used to teach, and they'd come to school and do presentations during fire prevention week. I have no first hand knowledge if it's true or not--just that it's commonly included in those lessons on how to survive a house fire.

Maybe I'm naive--but don't most people have a phone in the bedroom? In the 'old' house, I of course, had one installed there when we moved in (37 years ago), in the new one, I always have my cell phone on the nightstand when I go to sleep. In both houses, there's a smoke detector just a few steps from the door, in the hall, so even if I were to sleep with the door closed, it's not likely I'd miss hearing it.

Obviously, this is all theoretical--Access to outside? Old house, bedroom is on the second floor, so yes, there is the 'escape' issue, but we're only 4 blocks from the fire dept. (yes, they have a hook and ladder) and within a mile of at least 3 other fire depts--so honestly, I think 30 minutes COULD make a life-or-death difference in a case like that. New house? No problem. It's a rancher, bedroom has 3 windows that would provide easy egress, if ever needed.

Open in the winter to let warm air in and closed in the summer to keep the AC air in!

Wanda, we are exactly the same!
We were victims of a home invasion in CA, we will never put ourself in that position EVER again. we have a big dog, lock all the doors and lock the bedroom.

closed but cracked...The doggies sleep on the floor by our bed and they wanna be able to get out and go outside if they have too...

Always open unless we have overnight guests. Then I feel I need it closed. Don't want anyone passing by and seeing me after I've thrown the covers off! Jaggs needs to get to his water dish in the bathroom.

closed...

We have 3 cats....

Closed Door = cat on one side wanting to be on the other side X 3! LOL

I've always lived alone, and I leave my door open. I like to hear what's going on in the rest of the house. I can be sound asleep but if the dogs or the cat make the slightest noise or there's a sound in the other parts of the house I wake up.

Mine is usually open. One cat is usually hiding in my closet, which is off my bathroom. I keep the closet door open and the bathroom door closed. Bathroom is off my bedroom, and I leave the bedroom door open. So she has lots of room, and access to water if her bowl gets empty. Buddy, my new 'shadow', is always behind me, or almost glued to my let. He would sleep on my head if I'd let him. But, I usually can push/move him over enough so I can turn over.
Leslie

Our BR is a loft, so it's always open. Even if it had a door, I'd keep it open. It's just the two of us here, and the cats come and go during the night.

If someone else is in the house its CLOSED, otherwise its open.

I can sleep with both, I sleep with it partially open, have a sliding door.

When I was a kid, slept with it closed due to hall light that would be turned on by parents and it would come right into my bedroom. Or I would close it almost all the way, just a crack.

Open for the dogs.

Open except when my dd or ds are visiing, then I keep it cracked open just a bit.