You've Been Making Your Bed Wrong: Here's How To Keep It Chic

Is there really a wrong way to make your bed? One Instagrammer thinks so. Loui Burke covers mistakes everyone makes when making their bed in a recent video focused on the headboard area and pillow placement. He doesn't want to see pillows sitting on top of your duvet or quilt. Instead, the top coverings should be folded back and the pillows placed on the mattress and against the headboard, with decorative pillows placed in front. Bed pillows should be arranged by size, with the largest pillows in the back.  

His final pet peeve focuses on common practices of manipulating the appearance of decorative pillows, such as by giving them a classic "karate chop" and turning square pillows at a 45-degree angle so they appear diamond-shaped. He displays pillows in their "natural" form, which means unchopped and with square pillows that look like squares.

Obviously, bed-making is a rather personal task, and everyone should adapt the ideas of designers to their own style and needs. Not all designers emphasize the idea of folding back top coverings, but this style is certainly standard in hotels, so try this fold-back technique to make your bed at home feel like a five-star hotel. It's a bit easier to get into bed this way since the covers are already folded back, and you don't have to move pillows just to get into bed.

Pillow selection and placement are arguably even more of a personal choice than other aspects of bed-making. Pillow chopping was a fun cleaning trend in the '80s but is often considered outdated today. Still, the debate rages on between choppers and non-choppers. The no-chop style does result in a cleaner look, but it's your decision whether to chop or not. However, "fluffing" pillows is a must for maintaining proper pillow shape. The Sleep Foundation recommends fluffing by striking pillows across a flat surface.

The size of the bed influences the number of pillows and their placement. King beds usually display more pillows than queen or full beds, and twins have the fewest pillows. The height of the headboard also plays a role; headboards 2 feet or taller lend themselves to a plethora of pillows, while beds with minimal or no headboard are suited to fewer pillows. In addition to sleeping and decorative pillows, beds sometimes display lumbar or bolster pillows; large, square Euro pillows; neckroll pillows; as well as pillows that run the width of the bed, known as "couch," "body," or "wedge" pillows. If you're currently making your bed the "wrong" way, the beauty is that few people will know.