How To Make A Bed Beautiful Every Day: 11 Easy Steps

When you know how to make a bed look beautiful and maintain that habit every day, you can bring more peace into your life. A made bed literally creates order out of chaos: wrestling with fitted sheets, stuffing a duvet into its cover, and tossing and turning all night leave a bed worse for wear each morning. And after a long day, the last thing anyone wants to do is see a rumpled mess.

In this post, you’ll find all of the essentials for proper bed making along with ideas and inspiration for how to style the bed like a designer. In addition to our own line of fair trade, block print linens, you’ll find suggestions for other fair trade, organic, and/or artisan-made products whenever possible. Let’s get started!

Begin with a bed skirt

Serena & Lily

Macrame Bedskirt

Before you go piling up the pillows and fussing with a fitted sheet, you’ll want to add a bed skirt. This isn’t something you’ll have to do regularly–it’s a one-and-done

Really, a bed skirt is the real-life, adult version of a cartoon character’s sweeping messes under a rug: it’s a pretty and functional linen screen that hides everything under the bed.

Clear everything off and place a bed skirt in between the mattress and the box spring.
Enjoy watching dust bunnies, box springs, and clutter vanish instantaneously.

Mind your mattress

Avocado

Organic Mattress Pad Protector

A good night’s rest starts with a great mattress. Protect that investment by covering it with a mattress pad or mattress protector. If you’ve already got that covered and you’re not in the market for a new mattress, you can still breathe some new life into your bed with a mattress topper like a feather bed.

Select your sheets

Under The Canopy

Organic Sheet Set

Sink into sheets that feel great to the touch and are easy to care for. Ideally, you’ll want fair-trade sheets fashioned from natural fibers–breathability is a must!

Smooth the fitted sheet across your mattress and tuck the elastic corners snugly around the entire corner of the mattress. (In other words, the mattress shouldn’t be visible once the fitted sheet is on it).
Bring your flat sheet across the bed, patterned side down, and with the largest hemming at the top of the bed.
Tuck the flat sheet in with hospital corners if you wish. Or don’t. It’s up to you!

Decide on a duvet cover

Saffron Marigold

Versailles Duvet Cover

What’s the difference between a duvet and a comforter? While a comforter is essentially a thick, one-piece quilted blanket that tops your bedding, a duvet is an insulated sewn bag that you wrap with a cover so that the duvet stays clean. Our reversible duvet covers are a great investment since you’re essentially getting two covers for the price of one.

Shake out your duvet to make sure it’s nice and fluffy.
Place your duvet cover on the bed.
Fold back the top of your duvet cover to reveal its reverse pattern. (This is when you’ll be extra grateful you bought yours from Saffron Marigold!)
Do as the Europeans:ditch the top sheet and enjoy your duvet cover!

Shop duvet covers here:

Don’t forget the bedspread

Saffron Marigold

Versailles Lightweight Bedspread

A bedspread is a great linen to keep around as a summer linen or as an option for warmer climes. If you happen to love a layered look (or just love to snuggle under a host of sheets and blankets and such), then you could certainly use a lightweight bedspread as an option.

Shop bedspreads here

Pile on the pillows

Saffron Marigold

Orange Blossom Euro Sham

Here’s the secrete of the pros: Euro shams, which are large square pillows made for European bedding, are the key accessory in styling a bed. They offer lots of cushioning, surface area, and height, so not only do they make your bed look good, but they’re practical, too: envision yourself cozying up with a great book or settling in for a Netflix binge session propped up on a few plush pillows.

If you want to know how to dress a bed with pillows, it’s simple: line a couple of Euro shams in front of the headboard as a base.
On the other hand, you can simply place two Euro shams in front of your standard pillows.

Shop Euro shams here:

Fluff your bed pillows

Saffron Marigold

Orange Blossom CP Pillow Sham

Whether you’re a back sleeper, a side sleeper, or a stomach sleeper, you’ll still want lovely shams to cover your bed pillows. And with pillows this pretty, you’ll want to keep them above the covers instead of tucked beneath the duvet.

Shop pillow shams here

Show some style with throws

Saffron Marigold

Wild Poppy Throw Pillow

Call them cushion covers, pillow covers, throw covers, or accent pillows–pretty pillows pack a lot of punch! Throw pillows give you an easy way to infuse a bit more personality into your bed. These little linens provide a quick and affordable way to change up the look of your decor from season to season.

Give one of your current throw pillows a facelift by covering it with a cushion cover.
To style the bed like a designer, keep size in mind. For example, a twin bed will look sweet with just one accent pillow while you can toss two or three accent pillows on a king bed.

Show throw pillows here:

Toss on a throw blanket

The Citizenry

Diamonta Alpaca Throw, Blush

You’ve seen this before: it’s the look we all covet, the one we see on home design shows, in shelter magazines, and in lifestyle blogs. It’s the carefree toss, and it makes a bed (or sofa or side chair) look lived in (in the bet way possible).

It’s an easy and practical look to replicate. Throw blankets always come in handy, and after all, you won’t want to mess up your freshly-made bed just to take a quick power nap!

Simply pick up by the corner–pinching it, really–and quickly and gently toss it over the corner. Instant casual elegance and ready for you to cozy up, relax, and unwind.

Have pretty storage handy

Connected Goods

Elephant Grass Floor Basket

Where will the decorative pillows go when you’re sleeping? Throwing them on the floor isn’t the most beautiful option. Try a large woven basket or a storage bench at the foot of the bed instead. You’ll be much more likely to make a beautiful bed each morning if you have an easy-to-use, lovely storage solution.

Set baskets beside your nightstand or at the foot of your bed to collect your pillows when it’s time to turn down the covers.

Make the committment

Committ to making the bed every day. Once you have the bed skirt, mattress protector, and fitted sheet in place, it won’t take any time at all to make your bed in the morning. It will just be a matter of straightening your flat sheet, smoothing out the duvet, and tossing on a few pillows. That’s it!

Looking for more bedding ideas? Find inspiration here!

How To Make A Bed Beautiful Every Day: 11 Easy Steps