For almost eight years, my answer to the above question has been “yes.” My black DKNY duvet cover with hand-appliqued flowers was one of my very first grown-up home purchases and ever since it entered the bedroom, every sheet, blanket, curtain and piece of furniture that followed has been selected with coordination in mind. And I've always loved it … until one day I just didn't.
The duvet itself is still beautiful, but after moving to bedrooms in 5 different apartments the room has just never come together in our new house. I finally realized that the problem is Me — my taste has changed, I've gotten older, and while at one time the bedroom was the most pulled together room in my house it's now the one that least reflects who I've become.
But since chucking the room's design means I'll pretty much have to start from scratch, I'm wishing I hadn't let the duvet guide all my furnishing decisions for the space. Although I'm comforted that both then and now, I've always adhered to the philosophy of the legendary Dorothy Draper who said, “I think that bedrooms should also be very intimate rooms — they should express your personal preferences in every way...Of all the rooms in the house your bedroom is yours.”
Do you let your bedroom décor take its cue for the duvet or vice versa?
Image: Sarah Rainwater
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Well, at least you were happy for a very long time.
I've been lucky in that I prefer neutral things, and it's very easy to change those with a bit of punch and color.
My aunts had beautiful homes, as did most of my parents' friends, so growing up, I saw a great many nice things. It always struck me that people who bought good things for the long haul had the most beautiful places.
I like to build a solid frame work of design using paint, rugs, window treatments and lamps...things I love and invest in. I then use my bedding to punch it up, add variety and more interest...so I guess I buy my bedding to go with my bedrooms. This is probably evidenced by looking in my linen closet and seeing the multiple duvets, shams and decorative pillows that get cycled through all the time.
They are quick, inexpensive ways to change the look of a room.
I'm more in the "vice versa" group. I knew I wanted the master bedroom in our house to be green, and then everything sort of fell into place from there.
Yes and no. I painted my BR and then found a duvet...but in most cases I think it's easier to paint or accessorize around existing fabric than it is to do the reverse. So, I tell people to buy the rug or the curtains or the duvet, and go from there. The rug, duvet and curtains are just so much harder to find, you can't find one you love and then, say, order it a "tad less peach" because it conflicts with your walls. But, You can do that with paint!
This is why simple white hotel-style bedding is always in demand, and always the right choice: It goes with everything.
I have yes. I got a duvet from my husband as a wedding gift that I (we) love and coordinate other things based on that!
My bedding is all white. That way with moving as often as I do (I'm in my early 20s), wherever I go, I can decorate around it and give my room a new look if I feel like it.
I love this post! I'm a huge fan of duvet covers and what I've done for the past 5+ years is decorate the bedroom in very neutral tones - I have dark chocolate furniture, plain brown drapes and don't paint the walls. This has allowed me to change the mood of the room by a duvet color - I have all sorts of colors and designs from green flowers to pure white with only a purple accent pillow.
While this is a bit more expensive it certainly makes me smile when every two weeks I have a "new" bedroom.
I love my duvet cover, and I haven't found anything in my price range that I like as much as I like my current duvet. So I'm trying to break up the color scheme by finding a throw to lay on top.
Sometimes the best option is to do nothing at all, or do small things.
If the decor is planned around just one duvet cover, the wear and tear on that cover is immense. Speaking from experience, my favourite did last some years, but now it's so worn and thin you can see through it.
I realize now that I shortened the life of this particular set of bed linens by not rotating often enough.
I like a change of look and mood that my now larger collection of bedding allows me and the decor of the bedroom is fairly neutral and peaceful.
How do you guys decide whether something will match? Not the colors, per se, but the pattern. I think one of the problems I have is that I want big and bold bedding but I'm worried it'll clash with the big and bold paintings in the room. I've had my eye on this really nice orange, blue, and yellow paisley duvet and I have one giant orange and gold panting and one big blue and gold painting. I'm worried it'll all look too jarring.
I designed my last bedroom around a palette that I had working through the whole house. It took me about 18 months to find the bedding in the color and pattern that I had in mind, and then the room came together with area rugs and drapes. I still love the bedding, but it's not working as well in my new home because of the rug color. So I'm going to switch out the duvet and spread, but keep the same drapes and accents. Once I have the opportunity to update the carpeting, I'll have two bed sets that work together. I guess you could say I'm working bedding around the drapes and carpet and headboard -- all neutrals -- which gives me the flexiibilty to change out the bedding.
Wow, Sarah, those a gorgeous headboard panels!
i'm with bepsf. hotel style.
I have many different simple basic sets of sheets and various blankets to layer up . I don't like the bedding to be fussy or too patterned. It should be utilitarian. The items in the room that dictate the style should be furniture, lamps, artwork, drapes, etc. And please ~ only pillows that can be used to lay your head upon.
I go with a "theme", picking colors and a vibe and then decorating around that. But in the future I may buy the duvet first. I've had a few false starts before finding one that really, truly "worked" for me, and by that time the whole color combo had shifted slightly anyway.
I kind of do, or I'd at least like to. I have a lovely duvet, and I'd like to paint to coordinate with it, but have colors that can work on their own, too.
This doesn't answer your question, but hot damn, those pillow cases/shams are fabulous. Where can I get me a pair???
I agree about "hotel style." I tend to use plain bedding. But I generally like my bedroom to be very quiet and calm looking--so lots of solids and not a lot of pattern works best for me.
I grew up in a house with matching duvet, sheets, bed skirt, curtains, shower curtain, towels, everything. All the furniture was a part of a matching set, too. I can't handle it anymore. I wait to buy things until I find what I absolutely love. Everything "goes" but there's not to much matching.
Nope. Bedding can be stained, ripped, become boring, all too easily. I choose bedding that I like at the time and that works with my overall vision for the room -- and then I can change it if I find something new and more appealing without problems. (I do tend to stick to one colorway once the walls are painted, but if I REALLY loved something new that didn't feel right in my pale aqua room, that color could be changed, too.)
@hadas
Here is the tutorial for making silhouette shams:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/diy-silhouette-shams-090960
Hotel style is great, but doesn't work well with pets if they are allowed on the bed. White bedding turns gray and gritty pretty fast.
I went John Robshaw.