Friday, September 25, 2015

How to Create a Beautiful Bed


As part of this series sponsored by Classic Casual Home and Rough Luxe Lifestyle, I am happy to contribute to the topic of "How to Create a Beautiful Bed". This is a fun topic, since my favorite thing is crawling into bed at night with crisp clean sheets.  First of all, there is no perfect bed, but you certainly can make any bed beautiful.  Your bed and comfort are solely your at personal discretion, directed by your taste and budget.  Get the best you can afford, and I guarantee as you get better linens, your taste will demand an even better set the next time your purchase them.  Spoil yourself!  Afterall, we spend 25 years of our life sleeping*

At Powell Brower Interiors we recommend keeping the bed and bed linens simple, crisp and minimal-most often white.  Let a few spectacular accent pillows and a throw be just enough accent to compliment the rest of the room.

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 In creating a beautiful bed, first, lets talk about the bed as a piece of furniture. 

 Do you want a functional headboard, such as fully padded if you sit up and read in bed, or do you want it to have wings so as to embrace you and hold you in when sitting up? [Perhaps you don't read in bed and you want a low headboard or one made of wood, rush, or other hard material.]  How high do you want your headboard? These are fairly personal requisites.  My wishes about a headboard have changed over the years from wood and basic to more padded and luxurious.  How about you?

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Can we mention that when we designed this master bedroom pictured above, with a fully upholstered bed for a client, both Bethany and I have put that high on our list of priorities.  I don't know about you, but I am tired of banging my chin on wood, or metal edges of a bed; or having it move away from the wall.  I want padding, a quality fabric, great craftsmanship and a fully upholstered headboard and bed frame.

Secondly, decide on your linens.

Your bed linens are also personal preference.  We love soft, high quality cotton [Eqyptian, organic] and  high thread count (400+) sheets with layers of soft cotton blankets, soft cotton matelasse coverlets, and thick, fluffy comforters. The quality of your linens is price directed, whether you get Leontine, or Matouk, Yves DeLorme, or some off of Overstock, get the best you can afford.  If you can't afford the entire set, get high end pillow cases and they'll make you  feel like a million bucks.

          Thirdly,                     
 I prefer lofty, fluffy layers, so I often add a thin comforter over my flat sheet and fold it down over the coverlet for an extra luxurious layer.

Fourthly, ask yourself about the tolerance level of the throw pillow, bed pillow and sham situation.

 Do you like many sleep pillows or a few? Do you like shams, Euro, king or standard?  [In my opinion, shams are for looks and not for using as a sleep pillow, as my family likes to do.]  We prefer layering pillows back to front: bed pillows, Euro or standard sham, then throw pillows and bolster.

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We have often used an heirloom scarf made into a lumbar pillow, as a unique accent pillow.
                                    
A colorfully dressed bed or white?  Currently we love white bedding, a white duvet cover and shams, with minimal color trim and then a brilliant lumbar pillow, like this...

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What keeps a white dressed bed from being boring?  Texture, both physical and visual, accent color and form.  A bolster, or a surprise shape like a round pillow, keep simple from being bland.

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Beds and bedding are like choosing art- what one person feels comfortable with may not serve the next person well.  You could always have a bed like this:

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Sleep well my friends and check out these lovely blogs and their take on creating a beautiful bed!

     Vintage Contessa 



15 comments:

  1. Loved this!! I adore the first pic. That is exactly what I wanted to do in my guest room but with my crazy life I did not have time. All of these rooms are so fresh and peaceful. Love all your suggestions. Thank you so much for being a part of Project Design. You guys do such wonderful work!!

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  2. Lots of great information here Nancy! I love so many different looks myself~easy to change it up when I see all the inspiration here on your blog.

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  3. "Tolerance level" for pillows...Ha! I know so many husbands think the amount of pillows has gotten out of hand :) Love the idea of using a vintage scarf for a pillow...beautiful bedrooms!

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  4. Yes, my husband thinks my beautiful euro shams are for sleeping. I am not going to give up the fight! Gorgeous bedrooms from you and Bethany!

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  5. LOL! That pic is funny and made me remember the times during my training when a good long surface was enough for me to sleep on! Great tips, I have to pin this! Thanks!

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  6. Beautifully done Nancy and all of your tips are perfect. I also like a calming soothing master bedroom, a refuge! For winter I like a beautiful faux fur throw at the end of the bed! Thank you!

    xoxo
    Karena
    The Arts by Karena
    Painting Central Park

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  7. Hi Nancy, I love your great graphic on Layering Your Bed! And I also agree that an upholstered headboard is such a nice addition to a bed where comfort should always be key. Ditto to the idea of using white sheets which are much more soothing than a busy print.

    Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com

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  8. THAT LAST Bed I will send to MY SON........he is a BACK TO NATURE kinda GUY!
    A BEAUTIFUL description of a BED making BLOG POST!I agree with you on the headboard moving, banging etc........
    The heirloom scarf into a PILLOW SPEAKS TO ME!!!
    THANKS for your TIPS!Hope you come and visit me!
    The Vintage Contessa.net

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  9. Nancy this is such an excellent post because bedding and sleeping preferences are all so personal. "ask yourself about the tolerance level of the throw pillow, bed pillow and sham situation"......I love how you put that! My husband is low tolerance to thousands of pillows and shams that are not for sleeping - and over the years I've come to agree with him in the less is more category! You have made some beautiful beds....and I totally agree about buying some nice pillowcases if you can't afford the whole shebang at once!! Thanks for all your wonderful ideas as usual!

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  10. Great post. Love the diagram and the last picture! Have a great weekend!

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  11. Oooh, I love those words lofty, fluffy, luxurious and white ~ that's my perfect bed, too! The headboard you designed is fabulous, such a gorgeous room! Have a wonderful weekend, sweet friend!

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  12. Love all of your tips (especially about turning a vintage scarf into a lumbar pillow - I need to do that!). I'm with you on the upholstered headboard - I've slowly been switching out all of the headboards in our house for upholstered ones - there's nothing like it!

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  13. Great advice. So true about high quality pillowcases. That last pic cracks me up! (p.s the link is fixed :)

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