Monday, February 23, 2015

Hotel Bedding At Home

If you had to choose your favorite space in your entire house, what space would you choose? For me, the coziest space in our entire apartment is our bedroom, hands down. Why? My bed. It's the first place I go when I'm feeling under the weather and on those rare rainy California mornings, it's nearly impossible to make me leave. On the weekends when we don't have anything pressing getting us up and at em we extend our stay here to catch up on emails, check in on social media, or just talk the morning away. Let's also not forget to mention the huge chunk of time we spend here catching zzzzs and counting sheep. It's absolute heaven!
 
It all started after we moved into this apartment almost a year ago. In all my/our previous apartments, the bedroom had always been neglected when it came to comfort or design. I was decorating on a budget (still am) but I think in a lot of ways, this is usually always the case for most people. Since we don't all have unlimited funds, we tend to neglect and put little to no effort into one of the spaces we spend the most time in, but why? I'll tell you why! It's one place that most guests probably won't see so it's easy to close the door on the bedroom and tell yourself that one day you'll get/have the dream bedroom that you always wanted and instead, spend the time and money on the areas that will be most visible to any potential guests.
 
When we moved in here I wanted to make a real effort to give us a space we loved and one worthy of all the time spent here. We deserved it. And you deserve it too. Bedrooms should be a retreat...the place we go to unwind, refuel, after a long day at work, when we're feeling under the weather, or when we need a breather during the chaos of the day. Bedrooms should be the 1st thing on our decorating to-do list, not the last!
 

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to give a little love to your  room and give it that retreat like feel is to focus on the bedding. Hotels across the world (not of the Motel 6 variety) are known for their high end, sink yourself into, best sleep of your life kinda vibe. And who would object to sleeping in one of those luxurious beds every night? Not I.
 
The last time I was on vacation, I took inventory of the all the yummy bedding and realized just how intentional and important each piece of bedding was. There really is a science to doing up these beds that make them some of the coziest beds you'll ever sleep in. So it got me thinking...just because we aren't all jet setters living out of suitcases and sampling the finest hotel beds across the world, doesn't mean we can't re-create that feeling right in our own homes. Am I right?
 
And so it began. I got home and started re-creating that hotel style bedding using bedding I already had on hand but wasn't using the right way or at all. Showing the bed a little attention immediately brought the entire room leaps and bounds. It really does feel like I'm vacationing every night in a swanky hotel with turn down service. Let me break it down for you:
 
 
 First start off with your fitted sheet. You can choose to top your mattress with a feather bed or memory foam topper but it really isn't necessary. We topped our bed with this memory foam topper from Costco but only for support reasons. When selecting sheets eons ago we chose to go with the white Kirkland Signature sheets also from Costco which set us back about $80. They're 540 thread count and at $80, they're literally the best sheets I've ever purchased. But why white? Well...a lot of hotels use white sheets. White looks clean, crisp, airy, and it gives the feeling of comfort and relaxation. I was initially nervous when purchasing our white sheets that after several washes they'd end up looking dingy and dirty but they've held up extremely well and the white is just so clean looking that I'm not sure I'll ever go back to colored sheets again.
 
Next up is the flat sheet. Admittedly, I never used to use a flat sheet until recently because it was just another piece to wash, fold, fluff, tuck and I just didn't even want to bother. But guys...I've totally changed my tune. Do it! Use it! Don't be a flat sheet hater like I was. Why? For one...it's especially great for those warm summer nights when its too hot for the blanket but you still want to be covered up a little. Aside from that, sheets are the softest part of your bedding. The higher the thread count the softer they are. With the fitted sheet as your first layer, the flat sheet as your 2nd and you tucked in between, your body is wrapped up in all that sheet goodness and it just cant get any better than that. Sometimes our blankets or comforters can be scratchy or stiff and sandwiching ourselves in between the 2 softest layers of bedding makes for heaven on earth!
 
To use your flat sheet, lay it on top of the fitted sheet with equal overhang on all sides. All flat sheets come with some sort of threaded line, embellishment on one side of the sheet so you know which side is which. As you can see in the picture below, my flat sheet just has some decorative trim to distinguish the top and bottom . Lay your flat sheet over top of your fitted sheet with he embellishment face down towards the top of the headboard. Like so:
 
 
 Next, layer a lightweight blanket on top of your flat sheet...not to be confused with your comforter/duvet. That comes next. Adding a blanket is optional. I added it as another layer of yummy coziness and the hotels do too. It's another great alternative to keep yourself warm without having to grab the heavy top comforter during those warm summer nights. We have this one that I got from West Elm on clearance but I also considered this one from Target as well. I chose to go with a light tealy blue for a fun pop of color but white would be super clean and crisp.
 
Once you have your layers ready, it's time to make the bed.
 
From the corner of the mattress, pull both layers toward you.
 
 
Pull both layers tight and wrap the corners toward the headboard...almost like you're wrapping a present.
 
 
Once your corner has been pulled tight, tuck the excess sheet and blanket underneath the mattress. Congratulations! You just made a perfect hospital corner! 
 
 
Fold down the flat sheet exposing your decorative trim over your lightweight blanket and tuck in both sides.
 
 
Now, fold your duvet or comforter in half, covering the foot of the bed. This will give you the flexibility to pull the blanket up on colder nights or leave it as is and just use the lightweight blanket and flat sheet.
 
 
 Now it's time to layer in your pillows. There's a bunch of great illustrations you can find on Pinterest that show several different pillow configurations, but I'll share what works best for us.
 
First up is our "sleeping pillows". We each have 2 and are unique for our specific sleeping preferences. I lay ours down flat, stacked on top of one another butted up against the headboard.
 
 
 The next pillow layer is our shams. We have 2 King sized shams from H&M Home that get propped up against our sleeping pillows.
 
 
 The last pillow layer is the decorative pillows. I have 2 white lumbar pillows that I got from Ross a long time ago and 1 grey sequin pillow that I got from Home Goods. I'm looking to replace the white lumbar pillows for something with a pattern to give the bed a little pop and to tie everything together, but for now, the white pillows look great too!
 
So there you have it! The perfect hotel bed right in your own home! Don't worry, I know you'll be thanking me later when you've just woken up from the best sleep of your life.
 
 
 
 

4 comments:

  1. Your creating method is very nice. Do you know how to make Bed Linens using Eucacel tree pulp. If you have a knowledge about this, please share to me.

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  2. Where is the shelf above the bed from???

    ReplyDelete
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