Your bed is your “spot”. Your home is your safe place, and your bed in your safe place within that. Who wouldn’t want their bed to phenomenally welcoming?
What Makes a Luxury Bed
When a person decides to make their bed into a gorgeous, luxurious oasis, where do they start? Most people’s minds turn immediately to pillows- lots of pillows. But that’s not the right start. Take a moment to think about it: what is the purpose of a sumptuous, indulgent bed?
It’s not just to look at. It’s to sleep in, even more so. For maximum comfort, you need to consider touch. Here are some tips for creating maximum comfort:
- Go for 600 thread count sheets for that silky touch
- Long-staple cotton is what you want. This means the fibres used to create the thread are longer and smoother. The touchable difference is notable
- Your arms should touch nothing in a different texture than your body, to minimize tactile input- so match your duvet cover texture to your sheets
- If your mattress could be more comfortable, you can add a mattress pad to fine-tune the feel
- A lightweight down or synthetic comforter is ideal for weightless warmth
- If you prefer a weighted or heavy blanket, pick the most breathable one you can
The Basic Components of Your Ideal Bed
If you don’t love your bed frame or mattress, this might be the right time to replace them with ones you love. If you are sticking with the foundations of your bed (frame, mattress), then here’s what else you’ll want:
Standard Pillowcases, Flat and Fitted Sheets
Italian bedding is known to be well made, and Egyptian cotton is always top quality. Keep in mind the guidelines: 600 thread count and long-staple fiber cotton. Long staple Egyptian cotton is the fiber used in Italian, Swiss, and fine French linens. Many American luxury lines are using it as well. You’ll be using these sheets for a while, so don’t hesitate to buy the best. This is the texture you’ll feel the most falling asleep and waking up.
Eurosham Pillows
Have at least as many euroshams as sleepers, and pillows to fill them. These are the pillows you’ll prop yourself up with to read, so choose pillows with the right firmness for leaning into. On a queen bed, I might have two Euro shams, but I use three to go all the way across a King bed.
Standard Pillows
One or two standard sized pillows per sleeper, only as many are used in a night’s sleep. There is nothing luxurious about having to throw your pillows on the floor to fit in the bed.
Choose your sleeping pillows by the comfort they afford you. Some people love buckwheat, some love goose down, some love a slippery synthetic fiber. Don’t be afraid to get different pillows for different sleepers. Once in the pillow case, they’ll look similar enough, or if the sleeping pillows look quite different, you can put the euroshams on top of them when making the bed.
Sleeping pillows should always be covered with a pillow protector under the pillowcase.
Your Warmth Layer
A light, fluffy comforter, family quilt, or weighted breathable blanket is for keeping you warm and cozy, and also affects the look of your bed. You can often see how lofty a comforter is by looking at the bed, so keep this in mind when choosing. If the blanket you choose doesn’t have the fluffy look you want, there are still ways to create a cozy look.
Washable Duvet Cover
A washable duvet cover fits over your warm comforter or blanket, keeping it clean, allowing you to match your sheet texture, and giving that airy, lofted look to your bed. The fabric quality you choose for this matters just as much as your sheets. If your silky fabric looks more smooth than you like, choose a quilted, ruched, or pleated cover.
Bedskirt
If the legs of your bed frame aren’t worth looking at, a tailored bedskirt solves your problem. Never leave boring or ugly legs exposed under your otherwise luxurious bed. 90% amazing is too close to quit!
Accent Pillow?
This list is on the basic components of your ideal bed, so guess what? An accent pillow doesn’t belong on this list. Unless it’s really important to you. Accent pillows on couches and chairs make themselves handy for positioning and comfort, but in a bed they aren’t needed for anything. I do like a single long kidney pillow or roll on a bed—it can tie other fabrics in, but I like it as a lower back support when I’m sitting up in bed.
Other Luxurious Bed Considerations
Color
What color you bed is won’t effect how it feels to lie in it, to your skin. But it might affect how it feels, emotionally.
- White is always a wise choice, because it feels “clean” to the mind. Not just simple and easy, but also literally cleanly.
- For maximum luxury, you can choose gold or silver.
- Don’t choose lots of different colors to use together, it can drain all the relaxing feelings right out of your bed. Go monochromatic or close to it.
Headboards
An opulent bed invariably has a headboard. Selecting a headboard is a bit outside the scope of this article, but if you already have one you like, keep it clean and show it off. If you dislike what you have, you can drape a luxurious fur or beautiful throw blanket over it and prop up your pillows against it until you find the right headboard for your room.
Throw Blankets
A throw blanket at the foot of your bed isn’t necessary, but some people find them handy. Throw blankets can also be used to soften the look of a bed, or tie it in to the rest of the room visually. Choose your throw blanket carefully, if it doesn’t look cohesive with the rest of the bedding, it can make your bed look smaller.
Creating the bed of your dreams is easiest when you know what you’re looking for. It can take some time to locate all the ingredients for your sleepy haven. Enlisting the help of an interior designer can be priceless for finding the right quality of materials, many of which can be hard to find for the general public.