Domestic Dispatches: 7 Secrets to Make a Perfect Bed - Gardenista
If you count all the hours we allot to plumping pillows, smoothing sheets... ...straightening shams, and fussing over how the whole thing looks, we spend as much time on our beds as in them. Yet the results never look as good as pictures in magazines. For tips on bed-making (and a philosophical discussion about what the state of your bed says about you), I turned to Tricia Rose, a bedding expert who owns Rough Linen and has given a lot of thought to the topic. Photograph of Justine Hand’s Cape Cod house by Matthew Williams from Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home. Your bedroom is the most private room in the house, and it should be the most personal. Goose down pillows will look plump and make your bed look welcoming no matter whether you lay them flat or prop them against the headboard. A set of standard size Garment-Dyed Linen Pillowcases is $65 and a Garment-Dyed Linen Flat Sheet is available in 18 colors; from $55 to $109 depending on size at Restoration Hardware. You don’t have to move it to make the bed in the morning. Bed linens made of linen; a Pure Belgian Linen Sheet ($154 for queen size) and a lightweight Summer Cover ($220 for a queen size) are available from Rough Linen. “What I love about linen is you can stand at the end of the bed and with both hands go ‘flick,” and it looks beautiful, wrinkles and all,” Tricia said. My mother ironed bed sheets and taught me to make hospital corners before she taught me to read. Photograph of Stefanie Brechbuehler and Robert Highsmith’s house in Gallatin, New York by Matthew Williams from Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home. A generously sized Flat Sheet big enough to be tucked in all around the mattress is available in five sizes at prices ranging from $140 to $220 from Rough Linen. Instead, stuff a comforter inside a duvet cover (preferably a linen one) and let the cover do the job of a sheet. Bonus: by eliminating a top sheet, you will be able to make the bed faster and more easily in the morning. A White Goose Down Comforter is from $338 to $568 depending on size and a Down-Alternative Comforter is from $118 to $148 depending on size from Garnet Hill. “The silly thing is there isn’t a standard for the sizes of duvet infills, so you can’t just buy ‘queen’ or ‘king’ and be done with it; you have to measure your duvet cover,” said Tricia. 7: Buy non-slip casters and place them under the feet of your bed to keep it from moving.