This Valentine’s Day is all about the nookie, and now is the perfect time for you and your spouse to try something new this year by turning your bedroom into a love nest. Don’t worry, even though Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, it’s not too late to reap the benefits of heightened intimacy with a version of your own special playground.

Let’s get down to the basics. The main thing about a love nest makeover is to create a space that’s fun and a little sacred and protected from all of those "outside the bedroom" pressures.

Leave the bills and laptops and other digital distractions in the living room. Don’t worry, they’ll still be there in the morning. You might want to even go so far as to remove the photos of the kids or other family members from your bedroom and replace them with photos of you and your sweetie. Things like a wedding photo, or a sexy honeymoon photo, or one from when you were first dating and reminds you of all the love that got you where you are today?

With that said, here are five tips for turning your bedroom into a love nest in anticipation of Valentine’s night.

1. Remove all of the clutter from your bedroom. Keeping it there will only cause you stress and distract you from more important things, like how good it feels when flesh meets flesh.

2. Buy new sheets or breakout the best sheets you have and turn your bed into a soft, clean snuggle station. How about some with a higher thread count? What about the colors in the room? Pale blues and greens are ideal for relaxing, but you should also add pops of red and pink in order to turn up the heat on your love life and celebrate this special day.

3. Accessorize. Fresh flowers or scented candles that have a hint of cinnamon and vanilla, which have been shown to increase arousal and attraction will set the mood and make the room your own personal paradise worthy of a perfect night.

4. Appeal to all of your (and your spouse's) senses. Break out the iPod and create a fabulous sexy playlist for your ears and have some adult-only toys for your sense of touch, a nice bottle of sweet port and two small glasses for your sense of taste, and even a blindfold to restrict you or your partner’s sense of sight to enhance the other ones.

5. Be playful. Consider trying something new with your spouse. You’d be surprised that on special days like Valentine’s Day, how willing your partner may be to break out of their comfort zone sexually. But remember that anything that’s adults-only should go in a box, preferably one with a lock if the kids are around. If there are kids around and you haven’t put a simple lock on your bedroom, do it now and give yourself a little peace of mind.

Dr. Ian Kerner is the Founder of Good In Bed, an online destination for expert advice, information and the latest research about sex. Dr. Kerner is also a New York Times best-selling author of numerous books including: "She Comes First", "Passionista" and "The Big Fun Sexy Sex Book" amongst others. Dr. Kerner appears frequently on the TODAY Show and also writes a weekly sex column for CNN. He is certified as a sexuality counselor by AASECT (the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors) and frequently addresses issues that are common to the "American bedroom." He lives with his wife and two sons (and a pit-bull named Jitterbug) in New York City.