It’s taken me several years to get to the point that I feel like I have a good system for how I put together bedding to give a bed some personality. In the past, I just used a sheet set, a duvet or comforter, a couple of pillow shams and a throw pillow. Then, I met Sarah from The Yellow Cape Cod at Haven Conference.
Sarah taught a class about styling a room, and I immediately fell in love with the way she put together a bed. When I returned home from the conference, I found the blog post she had referenced in her session. It gave the step by step layers for how she put together her perfect bed.
Sarah and I live in very different climates – she’s in Michigan and I’m in Texas. So, I had to figure out how to adapt her bedding recipe so that my family wouldn’t get too warm at night. I also have slightly different thoughts about how many pillows should be on a bed – probably because I’m so lazy about taking them on and off the bed when I make it.
Using Emma’s room as an example, I wanted to show you my bedding formula for a well dressed bed:
1. Start with good quality, 100% cotton sheets. If the sheets are printed, place the flat sheet with the printed side facing down.
The ones I used for Emma’s bed were a splurge from Land of Nod. I generally would never spend that much money on a sheet set – especially for a kids room – but I couldn’t find anything else that I liked at my usual discount bedding stores. I will say that these have washed extremely well and haven’t faded at all.
2. Cover the sleeping pillows with a pillow protector and then good quality, 100% cotton pillowcases. I prop both pillows side by side against the headboard.
Emma has a full bed, so she has a two sleeping pillows. Both pillows are down and have pillow protectors under the pillowcases. I’m a sleeping drooler (things you never wanted to know about me), so I use pillow protectors. Have king sized pillowcases on standard sized pillows? Read how I easily fix that issue.
3. Add a 100% cotton light-weight blanket or coverlet in a contrasting color from your sheets. Fold the flat sheet over the top of the blanket/coverlet so that the sheet color/pattern shows. Tuck the sheets and blanket/coverlet into the bed rail or under the mattress.
On Emma’s bed, I use a 100% white egyptian cotton coverlet that I bought at Tuesday Morning. White? In a child’s room? Yes! Bleach can be your best friend. For most of the year, she sleeps under just a sheet and that coverlet.
4. Place a down or down alternative comforter into a beautiful duvet cover and fold at the foot of the bed.
For the majority of the year, the duvet stays folded on the foot of Emma’s bed. I love that it provides color on top of the white coverlet. I look at it as a statement necklace on a fabulous outfit. On the coldest nights, I can pull it over Emma when she sleeps to keep her warm. But generally, it’s just “for looks” in our warm climate. If the bed isn’t super low to the ground, I use the duvet/comforter one size larger than the bed itself (other than King). But, if your bed is low to the ground, stick with the same size as your bed.
This particular duvet cover was a huge splurge from Anthropologie, but I felt okay about it because I sold some of her old furniture on Craigslist and and bought her new bed for $35. Splurging always means that I’ve had some big savings elsewhere.
5. In front of the sleeping pillows, place a Euro pillow(s) that coordinates with the duvet cover. On a King bed, I use 3; on a Queen/Full, I use 2; and on a Twin bed, I use 1.
Now that I’ve figured out how to make sure a Euro sham fits its pillow form well, I love using them. The only way I’d skip the Euro pillows now is if my headboard was really low profile and they would end up being taller than the headboard.
6. Add standard shams that coordinate with the blanket/coverlet in front of the Euro pillows.
On Emma’s bed, I used 1 standard sham that matches the coverlet. I generally only follow this step if I have a full/queen bed I’m dressing – one with two Euro pillows. If I have 1 or 3 Euros on a bed, I skip this step completely.
7. Add a contrasting throw pillow.
Since Emma’s bed is a full, I added one down-filled throw pillow in front of her standard sham. This awesome orange one is from Suzi at The Pillow Studio on Etsy. On a king sized bed, I add three throw pillows – two where the Euro pillows meet and one smaller pillow in front of those (like my bed in this post). On a twin bed, I add one large throw pillow in front of the one Euro sham.
And that’s it! It’s really not hard to do, but it makes the room look so well put together. And when you mix colors and patterns, you’ll end up with an eclectic look.
How do you put together your bedding? Do you like the look of my formula?
May I ask why you put the fitted sheet on with the pattern facing down? That is the only thing I don’t understand. I think your little girl’s bed is adorable. Nice work.
So when you turn the sheet down the pretty pattern side is showing.
And it’s the flat sheet, not fitted
Yes, Jenny is right! It’s the flat sheet. I do it like that so when I turn it back over the blanket/coverlet, the pattern will show. If the sheet is a solid color, you don’t really have to worry about that, unless there is a definite “right” and “wrong” side.
Thank you for sharing this. I live in Texas too and I struggle with how to make the bed look great without suffocating. I love the bright colors and the mix of patterns.
Thanks, Karen! We’ve had a cold spell so we’ve been using the duvets a lot. But usually, we’d die. LOL!
Lindsay, what can I say? Another great follow-up! MWAH. heather x
Thanks so much, Heather!
Love this formula. I’m going to use it for our beds (two twins and a queen). Thank you!
(I laughed at the drooling comment. I do it too! And I’m comfortable with that.)
Ha! At least we know we get a good night of sleep. 😉
You make it look so simple Lindsay… love it!
If you don’t have a frame and headboard would you suggest anything different?
I’ll be converting my sons crib when hes old enough so this will be great. I however do not have enough room for a frame for my own bed.
Great ideas!
What I did ,because I actually don’t even like headboards, was I bought a piece of 4’×8′ styrofoam insulation board and draped it with a large piece of pretty fabric. I stapled it on the back so it doesn’t move and it looks great, is quiet and comfortable. It also cost less than $10.00 because the fabric was something given to me. This was for my king sized bed. We have gone back to a queen sized and the headboard is still working. You could cut the styro board down to size for a single bed. Cheap, easy, pretty, functional. Everything I love.
This looks so great! I wish I could just transform it into my daughter’s room! I also recently did the transition to a big girl room and it was hard for me. Mainly because I had painted her walls an intense pink ombre/sunset effect. And surprise, surprise…after all that effort my husband was NOT about to let me paint over it. So I had to work everything around her statement of a wall. I still don’t *LOVE* it, but its getting there. And what really matters is that SHE loves it.
Love your recipe for dressing a bed, I think that will be helpful in the future =)
Mimi
http://thisdomesticateddiva.com
I am definitely going to use this bedding formula when my husband and I purchase our first home! The colors you used for Emma’s bed work together wonderfully! xoAndra
http://knickknacker.com/
Thanks so much, Andra!
Thank you so much for this! So well written and the bed looks fantastic! Just found this blog through a google search on how to put together a bedding set because I’m a former Yankee living in TX and still trying to figure this stuff out. Again, thank you! (favorite-ing this page)
An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a colleague who was doing a little homework on this.
And he actually ordered me lunch simply because I discovered it for him…
lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah,
thanx for spending time to talk about this subject here
on your website.
Bed sheets really make sense especially when they are well coordinated with the other colors inside your room. It gives a relaxing feeling, making you more comfortable and having a good night sleep. Doing your bedding formula helps me a lot. Thanks for the post.
Hello, I recently remodeled our bedroom with a quilt &-matching valences very pretty, and my standard pillows (queen bed) do not fill the shams? I’m thinking there must be pillows to fill these up 26×20″ is the sham and my pillows were 2″ to small in width. Also, what is your routine to remove the comforters, duvet, quilts at night because I don’t want to use it? I know it’s a drudge to remove it every evening my husband will not be tolerant of that process for long. I’ve thought about just folding it to the end of the bed and use a coordinating blanket. Thank You. D.H.
Hey Lindsay,
I’m updating my Calf King bedding and fell in love with a velvet coverlet with Euro shams. Dressing the bed with beautiful layered, luxury, linens is my “step one” when decorating a bedroom. The big “blank canvas” with endless possibilities is so easily changed for seasonal comfort.
Your “love hate relationship” with Euro shams hit home, I’ve avoided them for years for the reasons you mentioned.
Your helpful advise on size and filling is sure to save me time and frustration!
Thanks for the great information and Emma’s bed is adorable!
Deb