THROW a shaggy rug on the floor and soft cushions, play a little Marvin Gaye, light a few candles, and turn down the lights. Here are some other ways you can create a love abode. The idea is to keep it zesty yet soft, romantic yet not mushy. You don't want the 'bai' to arrive the next morning and think this is Lily Wong's passion pad.

Warm Up The Bedroom

Let's start at the heart and make our way from there. The bedroom is where you can go all out. Soft Egyptian cotton sheets are far sexier than silk... specially in India where most of the year it's 36 degrees with 120 per cent humidity. Sweaty steamy sex is fine, but we definitely don't want so much friction!

Colour Of My Love

Choose sheets, blankets and duvet covers in colours that bring out the best in you. Looking for an all-out room makeover? Take a weekend to paint the walls in warm tones and textures that accentuate the richness of natural and artificial light. Want a quick fix? Set up new curtains and toss a pretty throw across the bed.

Scent-Sational Ideas

Set the mood with some romantic aromatherapy. Essential oil diffusers that rest on your lamp bulb send gentle drifts of calming or sensual scents throughout the room. Prefer floral aromas? Keep scented sachets of lavender and rosemary in the wardrobe and linen closet. For a comforting envelope of fresh scent in bed, try washing your sheets in a homemade lavender infusion. Here's how: Fill a small muslin sachet with lavender flowers. Bring three cups of water to boil in a saucepan. Add the sachet to the boiling water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the resulting infusion to the final rinse cycle of the wash.

Mood Lighting

Avoid stark, super-bright overhead lights in the bedroom. Light bulbs with lower wattage or pale pink-toned lights (not too much pink, or Barbie will feel threatened!) in bedside lamps offer more complimentary lighting. And, for special evenings, nothing surpasses the warm glow of candles. (Never leave lit candles unattended, though.)

Sound Advice

One of the easiest ways to elevate your mood is to keep a small sound system with your favourite CDs at your fingertips. If it's noisy outside your bedroom, hang thick curtains over the windows to act as a beautiful sound-muffler. Richly coloured and textured curtains will also add to the ambience of the room. A peaceful bedroom retreat is the place to focus on each other, so keep distractions like the TV in another room.

It's The Little Things That Count

Personalise your room with sweet mood lifters and cosy comforts: A vase of fresh, fragrant flowers on the bedside table; favourite prints and photos in unique frames; plush robes hanging from the back of the door. Use these ideas and add some that bring out the romantic in you.

The Bottom Bedside Drawer

This is your secret space. Get two keys made to the bottom drawer to your bedside table, you keep one and give the other to your man. Take turns every weekend to keep something exciting there. It could be anything -- a book on positions, a pair of handcuffs, a lace negligee, a CD... anything that brings you two together.

The Great Escape

Remember, all great escapes rely on teamwork - make this project a way to discover what your partner finds romantic, so that you both can't wait to get into the bedroom each night.

Don't Stop At The Bedroom

You don't have to limit your passion decor to just the bedroom. But do keep it subtle in the rest of the house. Take a theme like colour, texture or design and carry it through the rest of the house. For example, if you've painted your bedroom walls in warm tones, paint the rest of the house in the same colour family. Or if you have floral prints in the bedroom, have them in a more subtle or muted way in the rest of the house too, eg just floral edges, or lace curtains. Keep pot pourrie and other such scented stuff in corners of the room.

Leave a lacy bra or panty in the drawer you keep telephone directories and take-away menus (That, only if it's just the two of you at home). Or, leave a redeemable love coupon in his stationery drawer. Get creative and your love nest will get cosier.