How to Make a Beautiful Bed

One of the most frequent requests I get from clients is to re-design their bedroom.  Everyone wants their bedrooms to feel warm, inviting and beautiful!  One quick look through a Pottery Barn or Frontgate magazine may make you feel like “why doesn’t my bed look like that?”.  There are some tricks to the trade to help give a designer look to your bed.

Layers

I love to layer a matelassé or quilt over the mattress and then fold a fluffy duvet at the end of the bed.  I specialize in the trifold (just folding the duvet in a z-shape) so that when you get in bed and reach down, that duvet just pulls right up over you.  A solid white matelassé is the perfect crisp look paired with a statement duvet cover and matching shams.  Instant designer look!  I often fold back the sheets and matelassé about 1/3 of the way back from the headboard to expose the pretty edging… look close in magazines – they do it too!

A bed skirt or a box spring cover

Every bed needs either a box spring cover or a bed skirt to cover the box springs.  A bed skirt will typically give a more formal vibe (try to have it skim the floor) and a box spring cover takes on a more modern, tailored look.

Pillows

I’ve heard it said that pillows are grown-up’s stuffed animals and I totally agree.  I get push back on the number of pillows sometimes, but they really are a key to a beautiful bed.  Here’s a good recipe for pillow placement.

  • Lay your sleeping pillow flat.
  • Stack Euros across the bed on top of those sleeping pillows.  You can also use standard (or king) shams here, but Euros will give even more height.
  • Place standard (or king) in front of the stacked pillows above.  We’ve just created a great layer.
  • Finish with decorative pillows.  I love two accent pillows with a little lumbar in front or to cut down on the number of pillows (just by a little… sorry) lay a long bolster to do the job of three accent pillows.

And I’m letting you all in on a great resource for bedding…. Tuesday Morning!  They have glorious designer bedding fundamentals:  sheets, matelasses, sham fillers and duvet inserts!  They are on my shop list every time I design a bedroom!

Here’s some bedding inspiration for you!