Easily the most important piece of furniture in your house, the bed makes it so you can get rest to work, decorate and stay healthy. But this piece of furniture also comes with what seems a zillion choices and the need for a lot of cash. Whether you're in a new, bare apartment, or you need new sheets, browse our tips for helping you make your bed.
• 1 Start with a Bed Frame, or Not
We'll start by assuming you already have a bed frame and maybe a headboard, since these choices are very personal choices. (Just in case, we think these are the basic frame decisions: Metal frame to hide with skirts? Wood frame to last a lifetime? Refinished traditional off of Craigslist? New modern from IKEA or West Elm?)
If you don't have, or want, a bed frame at all, check out our tips for bed-on-the-floor-on-purpose-look.
• 2 Choose a Mattress and Box Spring
Check out Austin contributor Adrienne Breaux's tips for choosing a mattress. If you have a platform bed, you don't have to use or buy a box spring (although using the box spring is necessary for some warranties.
More tips:
Dos and Donts for Taking Care of Your Mattress
How to Dispose of an Old Mattress
• 3 Protect Your Mattress
Choose a mattress cover to protect your mattress from dirt and spills. We got one with a pillow top to give our mattress a little more comfort.
• 4 Learn Thread Counts and Choose Sheets
Julian Tomchin, Macy's former product developer, explains what thread count even means and warns us to be suspicious of thread counts over 400. He prefers cotton sheets, and a thread count in the range of 220 to 350.
As for colors and patterns, that's up to you. We prefer to have one crisp white set, one subtle pattern and one dark-colored set.
More tips:
Extra-Deep Sheets
Best Modern Bedding 2010
Best Traditional Bedding 2010
• 5 Cover Your Box Spring
Platform bed or no, we suggest covering your boxspring with a fitted sheet or cover. Chez Laarson also offers a how to for making a simple bedskirt.
• 6 Choose a Duvet
If you prefer piles of blankets or a comforter to a duvet and cover, skip to 6. For the rest of you, read on. Many people go with one summer-weight down duvet, and one winter-weight. We go for one winter-weight duvet, and then in the summer, use sheets and a quilt. When choosing duvets, pay attention to allergenic options, if you have allergies, and pay attention to the weight on the packaging to make sure you're choosing warmth appropriate to your climate. We go with a medium-weight duvet and then pile on more blankets if we're cold, because then the duvet can be put on earlier in the fall and last later into the spring.
More tips:
How to Put On a Duvet Cover
How to Keep a Duvet in Place
How to Clean a Duvet
Change Bedding for Different Seasons?
• 7 Make your Bed
Choose the way that suits you best. We like crispness to our bed-making, so we try for hospital corners. Some ribbed us for our method, but the orderliness to our sheets has gone up 100 percent. No more accidentally untucking sheets at night. If you want a crisper method, there are lots of how tos for hospital corners on the Web.
More tips:
How to Dress a Platform Bed
How to Make a Bed Like a Swede
8 Tricks to Make Making the Bed a Habit
Making the Bed: Hospital Corners?
Ultimately, the decisions you make must be personal and perfect for your lifestyle, and you'll learn what you like as you go. For example, we learned that our favorite sheets in the summer (which we spent lots of time researching) feel frigid in the winter. We also learned that while we like throw pillows on the bed, four throws plus four sleeping pillow was too many — we're now down to six total, instead of eight.
Want more tips for your bed? Ask us or search our archives. Happy bed making!
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3 additional thoughts:
1. Sheets can feel wonderful in the store because they are coated with softeners and factory chemical -- but once you wash them they feel like burlap. If you're not sure about the quality, buy a pillowcase first and wash it a couple of times before investing in a whole set of sheets.
2. Threadcount should not be used as the final arbiter of quality. Many cheap sheets claim very high threadcount but are very rough once washed and wear out more quickly than real quality sheets. I'm a big fan of sheets from Wamsutta and The Company Store -- they're not cheap but they last forever -- and actually get softer with age.
3. I came across these wonderful bed leg covers to cover up the ugly plastic wheels and metal legs on a client's bedframe. http://www.bedboots.us/newsroom.php -- they really look great when you don't want a bedskirt.
Okay, I have a question. I have 4 sets of sheets and for the most part I am totally happy with all of them (1/2 from The Company Store and others were from the Department Store where we registered and all in excellent condition despite being 7 years old). However, they are all different (yellow stripes, dark green, rust/green paisley, tropical blue). I have a plain off-white duvet cover that I use most of the year and other times I have various blankets that I try to coordinate with the sheets. I find the off-white duvet cover boring; but haven't seen anything that I like AND that will go with my diverse set of sheets. I just use 4 bed pillows and the cases I have coordinate (but do not match) with the sheets. How do I pull everything together without investing in new sheets? Can I do it? Or should I find a duvet cover and use that as the basis of the bedroom and find sheets to go with the new cover. The walls (FYI) are a sea-foam blue with off-white trim. [My mom would say, if I would use a bed spread it wouldn't be an issue because the sheets would be covered up; but that isn't the case with the duvet alone].
Can you please fix the first link?
Any idea where to get oversized duvet covers? We bought an oversized duvet 90 x 98 which a little Googling told me was the standard oversize measurement. But now I can't find any covers that would fit! Do I need to just buy a larger one and get it tailored?
Yes, please fix the first link.
please fix the first link!
re: the broken link....did a search on the site, and came up with this link:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/how-to/how-to-work-the-bed-on-the-floor-look--083166
I find that 100% cotton percale sheets are best, no matter the thread count. They get softer with more washings, and don't pill like sateen sheets. They are more expensive (and getting harder to find) but worth it.
fixed the link. thanks everyone!
any source on the painting/print in the first picture?
writerboz -- we too have a 90x98 and it's been a little tricky. Bed Bath & Beyond sells that size in their Hotel Collection, if you're interested in solid colors. Nicole Miller also does duvets in 90x98.
We also found (through a lot of trial and error) that if you can find a F/Q that is *close* in size it will work. The measurements are approximate for duvets; especially if you have washed it it will measure as smaller. You'll most likely also be able to fit it into anything that's 92x96, or 88x96, which opens up a whole world of options for you. Try to aim for something that's within two inches of your duvet measurement on each side. Hope that helps!
Does anyone know the source for the knitted? blanket in the first picture?