How To Style Your Bed Like A Designer
There's something about a well-made bed that's so appealing. A made bed can make a room feel organized, clean, and clutter-free. Making your bed each morning can also create a sense of accomplishment. According to research, making your bed can also help you sleep better at night as it impacts your sleep environment (via Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services) and sleep hygiene (via PLoS One). A made bed in the morning can signal your body that it's time to start the day, and, at night, a made bed can be more comfortable to fall asleep in.
Besides the potential health benefits, many people prefer a made bed for aesthetic reasons. For those who spent time curating their interiors, the bed can be the center of the bedroom design. Bedding provides a fun opportunity to play with colors, textures, and layering. When you know the right steps, styling your bed like a designer can be a pretty easy task. With these tips, your bed is sure to look like it came off the glossy pages of a design magazine.
1. Choose a bedding style
Before purchasing any new bedding or pillows, it's a good idea to determine what style you want to go for. That's what the designers do. The style will also help determine which items will be best for your bedding design. Cherished Bliss points out three basic bedding looks: the streamlined look, the messy look, and the layered look.
The streamlined look is the cleanest, with an unfussy design and minimal accessories. The messy look provides that lived-in design. It still looks well-designed, but in a much more casual way, often without straightening the comforter completely. The layered look is the coziest, using pieces of different textures to create a visually interesting design.
These bedding styles inform the kinds of products you'll use and how to place them, rather than a style in themselves. That means you can incorporate these bedding layouts no matter what your personal style is. And since they'll use the same items, you can refresh your bedding look by trying new or combining styles.
2. Create a base with sheets and sleeping pillows
Getting the base right is key when it comes to any design. The bed is no different, so be sure to spend some time picking out the right sheets and pillows to serve as the bedding base. First, you should consider the material. Cotton and linen are two breathable fabrics that can keep you cool if the nights get hot. Bamboo is a soft material that offers similar breathability as cotton. Silk adds a touch of luxury, but often at a higher price point.
Now is also the time you want to consider color. White sheets are popular for providing a clean, crisp look. But they do require more upkeep and may even need to be replaced more often to maintain the bright white look. Choosing colored sheets can give your room a subtle pop of color. You can also mix and match the colors of your sheets and pillows to provide depth to the bed color scheme.
But you shouldn't buy the first set of sheets that fit your aesthetic needs. The designers at Melissa Roberts Interiors suggest measuring the depth of the mattress before purchasing new sheets. Modern mattresses often have a pillow-top that will require sheets that are cut deep or extra deep to fit. Getting the sheet depth right makes it less likely that the corners will come off while you're trying to sleep.
3. Decorate with throw pillows
With the standard sleeping pillows as the base, you can now decorate your bed with decorative throw pillows. Like designers, you can create a visually interesting design by choosing pillows of various sizes, colors, and textures.
A Blissful Nest suggests using Euro shams in the very back of the pillow stack. Euro shams are large square pillows that are used decoratively on the bed. These pillows can match the duvet or comforter to create continuity within the design. Euro pillows don't have to match and, instead, can provide another pop of color or pattern in the bedding design.
You may also want to use lumbar pillows or other long, rectangular pillows to finish off the stack. Small square pillows will add further accent. And don't be afraid to use unique shapes like circles, flowers, crescents, or even novelty shapes to add some personality to your bedding.
4. Try different pillow combinations
Knowing what pillows you're going to use, you can now play around with pillow combinations. How many pillows you can use and how many rows typically depend on how large your bed is. More bed space, more room for pillows. Most bedding designs will feature either two or three rows of pillows, but you can use more if you like a more layered look.
A large Euro pillow typically sits in the back, followed by standard pillows and a small rectangular pillow in front. But just like designers, you can get creative with the combinations, such as using three Euro shams and a long rectangular pillow as illustrated by A Glass of Bovino. Not all of the pillows have to stand upright. You can lay your standard pillows flat and stack the decorative pillows in front for a more unique look.
When trying new pillow combinations, be sure to keep color and pattern in mind. It's a good idea to have both solid and patterned pillows in your bedding design. Try separating two patterns from each other with a solid or vice versa.
5. Add cozy layers
The last step of the designer-inspired bedding design plan is to add cozy layers to your bed. This typically includes throw blankets or even a second duvet, as UK bedding retailer DUSK explains. You can place these as accents at the bottom of the bed to add a bit more color, pattern, or texture to your bedding design. They're also great to keep at the bottom of the bed, so they're within reach if you need more layers if you get chilly in the middle of the night.
Think back to the bedding style you choose to help determine how to display these finishing layers. If you like a more streamlined, clean look, simply folding and placing the blankets on the bottom of the bed will work well. But for the messy, lived-in look, draping the blankets will provide a relaxed style. And if you prefer the layered bedding, add two or three blankets of different textures or patterns.