But you need to do more than just choose a good mattress and bed frame. How you dress the bed — whether you create a pared-down crash pad of white linen, say, or a mountain of down topped by a pile of colorful pillows — affects the way a room feels.
It’s similar to fashion, said Deanna Wu, the vice president of merchandising at the bedding company Brooklinen: The way you dress your bed should communicate something about how you want to live.
“Do you want it to have colors, layers of texture and a feeling of whimsy? Or do you want it calm?” she asked. “You can dress your bed as you dress yourself. It can be a reflection of your mood and style.”
We asked interior designers and bedding experts for advice on the basics, from fitted sheets to decorative throw pillows, as well as tips for dressing a bed that looks appealing during the day and encourages snuggling at night.
“I like to start with a really nice mattress pad that gives you a little padding underneath the sheet,” said Chad Dorsey, an interior designer based in Dallas, who frequently uses a Hotel Collection pad from Macy’s. “It doesn’t get too hot and has just the right amount of volume.”
Add Layers for Warmth There are two basic strategies for bringing warmth to a bed: adding a duvet or using a bedspread, sometimes in combination with a blanket, just like a seat cushion.
Add Pillows There are two types of pillows: those used for sleeping and those used for decorative purposes and sitting up in bed.
For a typical queen-size bed, you need a minimum of two sleeping lumbar cushion pillows in your preferred level of firmness (or a single Gel bedding memory foam pillow for a twin bed). But many designers use more. “Typically, four for sleeping,” Mr. Dorsey said. “Maybe two medium, and then two very soft.”
Those pillows should be stuffed into pillowcases that have a similar feel to your sheets. “You can have two that match the sheets,” Ms. Spets said, “and then you can have two that have another color or something that makes it more interesting.”
