My partner and I use our own blankets. When our friends find out, they usually give us strange looks but it is the perfect soultion for my dude 'n me.

Oh, dear. I usually really dislike when people snootily write about how this story has already been covered, but I remember seeing a similar story talking about "Swedish beds" very very recently.

But please keep up the excellent work. I love checking this site daily!

Hmmm -
Perhaps if I had made my bed like this (and had earplugs for myself) I might have gotten some sleep during my last marriage...

Two comforters! You don't need to fold them funny, just peel them apart at bedtime.

I might try this..
Better than seperate beds right ?

I love the theory - except that my hubby can hardly make the bed as it is pulling the covered up. if he had to fold up two duvets.... I am actually cringing!!!!

We have an electric mattress pad though - totally the way to go for us!

Being Finnish this isn't exactly news to me, just a very practical thing. Have to admit that just about the only relationship advice my (late) mother gave me was to use separate duvets...

My partner is a blanket hog & bed hog.

Currently we have separate blankets. Helpful.

Also helpful, for the bed hog part, is having two single mattresses joined.

I don't have that now, but did when we lived in the Netherlands (another not uncommon practice). Though I initially balked at the idea, & worried the mattresses would open up & I'd slide down, into a big black hole in the middle of the night, it was fine. And it created a psychological barrier that kept my partner over on his side. I can't sleep if I feel I don't have room/freedom to turn & stretch.

Ah, more blankets for me to steal!!

My husband and I are living in Denmark and this setup seems to be the only option available here and in many European countries. I'm still not used to the lumpy look of two fluffy overlapping duvets. Flip through Scandinavian design magazines--the beds never look neat.

It's terrible for cuddling, especially on cold, dark Danish nights. Try curling up to your mate with a cold blanket gap between you. The only solution I've found? To try to smoosh under his duvet with him.

I'm an American living in Germany and have COMPLETELY adapted the "two people sleep under two duvets" system (just don't like at hotels when there are also two mattresses pushed next to each other with a gap in the middle). And I don't fold them up - just treat each like it's on it's own bed and lay it out with a little bit of overlap. Makes for a nice puffy bed. And also much easier to clean (ie. take off and put back on) two smaller duvets vs. one big one. Plus no other bed clothes to deal with. Just a bottom sheet and two duvets 4 seasons a year! I'm a convert!

my mom told me how my nana, her then new danish mother-in- law, gifted her with two separate down blankets for a wedding gift. she thought it bizarre and antiquated at the time, but she's told me many times that it's pretty much saved her sanity.

This is what my husband and I do as I am apparently a very viscous sleeper.

I'm used to this -- this is what I grew up with, what my parents had, what is common here in Europe.

Me, I like cuddling under the covers. With separate duvets, which we have tried over the years, one of the duvets inevitably slides off when you try to get that close.

My husband and I must do this and have been doing it since nearly day one of sleeping together. I'm blanket hog and he sleeps cold and needs a much heavier blanket than I do. I don't think we could share a bed without separate blankets. In fact I hate sleeping at hotels or friend's with just one blanket for the two of us; I never get any sleep. It also solves my lifelong problem of the slipping top sheet. I could never keep my top sheet where it belongs to keep the comforter clean. Now my duvet cover is my sheet and gets washed with our bottom sheet.

I am so doing this. Between him and the dog I'm only left with a measly corner.

My sweetheart (from Germany) is a nuclear power plant - he gives off more heat than the sun when he sleeps. When we first got together I thought he was coldhearted because he preferred the two-duvet system. Now I understand it's cultural, not personal - he sleeps under a tiny thin duvet and I sleep under three heavy duvets... just wish I could harness some of that super-powered warmth during the colder months.

My boyfriend and I already have separate bedrooms and beds, but on the nights when we share a bed, it's separate blankets all the way. I'm a light sleeper, and feeling someone moving and tugging on my blanket would keep me up.

We have a different solution: a king size comforter (and duvet cover) on a queen-sized bed. Works like a charm.

I spent several years growing up in Norway, and we switched from sheets & blankets to the dyne (duvet). I've been using my twin dyne for nearly 20 years now, and couldn't imagine not having my own dyne. I got married a few months ago, and wasn't sure exactly how I would manage the shift -- thankfully, my wife agreed to try two twin dyner rather than one large duvet, and now she is a believer. Hurray for sleep :)

The twin is such a good size, because you can easily wrap yourself in it, move it around, etc.

At first I thought this was a great idea, because my husband steals covers. But we tried it and I realized that he is also a great cuddler, and keeps me way warmer than just a blanket! So now we cuddle, and I resign myself to wrestling the covers back to my side of the bed in the middle of the night!

If you are having Bed Hog problems in your life, you should try our Bed Hog sheets. They are His & Hers sheets with a line down the middle, to keep people on their own side so you can have a good night's sleep. We were just featured in Star Magazine this week as the "pick of the week." Check us out at www.bedhog.com.

Thanks,
Sue
Bed Hog

My husband and I encountered the dual comforter bed on a trip to Norway. I slept so well that when we came home we each started using our own. I like it so much that the last time we went out of town I stuffed my comforter into a stuff sack and took it with me!

We have a king sized duvet, but it's just not enough with four of us in the bed (two toddlers who inevitably end up with us). So we keep extra comforters in a bedside trunk. They get a lot of use.

My stepmom is Danish and my family has converted to dyner/duvets. My husband of 7 years and I tried a king dyne when we got together but there was too much grousing and we now have 2 twin sizes. He wasn't sure it would work for him because of his height--nearly 6'--but there've been no complaints. When we snuggle/spoon, I make sure to put some of my dyne under me so that shifting weight and whatnot doesn't make mine fall off the bed as it was doing.

I hadn't realized this was a Finnish thing, but my hubbie and I have done this with 2 seperate queen duvets in a queen size bed from day one. I am a cocoon sleeper and he's a heat furnace...not a remote chance we'd ever manage to agree on blanket temperatures! I find it hysterical that it's a common Scandinavian thing as I'm half Finnish, but had no idea other people did this all the time. We usually get weird looks and suspicions that our marriage is doomed. :-)

I'm glad that being a blanket hog is becoming acceptable :) My boyfriends never get it.

I'm with creativeneurosis, although we have a king size duvet on a full mattress.

y'all can CUDDLE under two duvets - just move over!

i feel like if my boyfriend were to kick or fling his off, like he usually does, he would just come for mine next. this would just delay the inevitable.
there has also been many a night where i wake up suddenly beacuse in his sleep he has grabbed my pillow and stuck it between his knees.

This must be a mainland Europe thing as it's not hugely prevelant in the UK. We do often use two duvets when staying with people who have twin beds pushed together though, and I quite like it as I like a much thinner covering than my OH, who also steals all the duvet from me!

I live in germany, so I grew up with two-duvet-beds (and - more often than not - two-matresses-with-gap-beds as well). A couple of years ago we found Queen size duvets at Ikea and love them (although, you can hardly buy duvet covers with the appropriate size anywhere else, so we're bound to Ikea's stuff). It even solved our bed hog problem, as i tended to grab both of the small duvets in my sleep, but seem to be fine with half of the large one.

I just put two duvets on top of each other. We climb under both at the beginning and everything just works itself out during the night.

I had no idea this was a Scandinavian thing! This is what I do at home, but it makes my bed look weird. Oh well.

I don't want that degree of separation from my husband. We just use a heavy king-size comforter on our queen bed.

My husband and I each have our own blanket but sleep under the same big quilt. I always had draped an extra blanket over myself at night since I'm the cold one but it always slipped off. Since I started using it UNDER the big quilt I've been much warmer since I can wrap it up over my shoulders and fill the gap where the big quilt drapes over to my hubby but we can still cuddle.

I've seen this on AT before, and it's always been in the back of my mind. Not because either of us is a blanket hog, but because I don't like those drafts from the place where the blanket drapes between us! I need to be SUPER toasty in the blankets.

The Husband and I just have a queen size comforter and blankets on our full size bed.

I like the way it looks better (more blanket hanging off each side). And, even if it is a little small... I'm the blanket thief and he actually prefers to sleep without blankets. So it's all good.

We started doing this a few years ago. It has saved us from SO MANY fights. Highly recommend!!

we stopped using a top sheet after a trip to europe--my partner is a furnace while i am a heat sink--and not having that topsheet actually allows me to make more efficient use of him! (as well as just to roll up in my side of the duvet.) we also have two additional tropical weight comforters--mine goes under, his goes over so he can sleep with just that if he's too warm. it sounds elaborate but since our bed is practically an island, it's worth it.

I have the Finns to thank for my knowledge of this method. I thought my mother-in-law-to-be was offering a subtle hint the first time we visited. :-D
Now, it is definitely a custom I recommend adopting. Aside from the function I think the symmetry and overall "look" of 2 blankets has style...especially in the US where it's not as common.

FUNNY!! Im danish and I didn´t know there was any other way than this way!!:) well, you lean every day...

I agree with using a larger comforter or blanket instead. A king comforter on a queen size bed is the way to go.

I think it's interesting how robust the response is to this topic.

It may indicate how prevalent sleep issues are when a bed is shared, & that how we do or don't negotiate the sleeping conditions can make an large impact on our lives/moods.

And maybe I'm ignorant, but I think this kind of thing isn't discussed that much -- at least in the U.S.. Seeking solutions like separate blankets/duvets, beds, bedrooms seems like something our society (or many social circles) would have us be embarassed about.

Thanks for the post, A.T. !!

Brilliant! This is the solution to sleeping in the same bed with my radiator of a sleeping partner.

I lived in Germany for several years and always wondered why they did this. I love the idea and I'm thinking of heading over to IKEA to get another Duvet! Apparently I am a bed hog!