Styling a Bed - How to and Tips

Whether your approaching winter or spring, there is no better time to give your bedroom a new look. I don't mean totally re-decorating, making simple changes to your bed linen and the way you dress your bed can give a fresh, new look to your private oasis.

New bed linen is not going to do it alone, for a big impact you also need to think about the way you dress your bed, accessories to go with your new duvet, pillows/cushions, throws, coverlets and duvets need to work together. Co-ordinating, layering and texturing a bed will instantly make your space look and feel beautiful, a haven of relaxation. I don't know about you but if you put me in a bedroom with a black leather bed and red and grey cushions I would feel like I had just drunk 5 cups of coffee or stared at my phone screen for an hour and I would never be able to sleep. So, colour choice is important if you want a relaxing space. If however, you take a strong hues and tone them down to a pastel shade like purple to lavender, you will have the right strength of colour and you can always add a few pops of its richer shade with cushions or a throw. My personal choice for bed linen however, is soft blues and the palest of greys as they are clean, relaxing and work wonderfully with my personal style of decorating which is Hamptons.

Here's a hint when it comes to choosing a duvet cover especially if you are choosing 100% linen. Plain linen in pastel shades can be somewhat transparent so make sure your duvet inner is white, not cream or darker as this will affect the colour of your duvet, it sort of shines through like a glaze would on a painting. For instance I purchased a pale grey linen duvet cover, the grey was clean and leaning towards blue, however my duvet inner which was a slightly yellow/cream off white, affected the colour and made the grey seem a dirty slightly green grey, so this is something to remember. I have to replace my duvet now which is an expensive mistake so make sure your duvet inner is crisp white so that any choice of outer duvet colour will not be affected.

A few more hints about bed linen are:

• Choose the highest thread count you can afford, you won't regret it
• Look out for patterned duvets that are printed both sides not just the front
• Always choose 100% cotton or linen for comfort as poly-cotton blends will make you sweat
• Be aware that linen has a soft, messy look it is not something you are going to be ironing all the time, this is the nature of the weave. Take this into account if you love to iron your sheets as the overall look of your room will be more relaxed with soft, crinkled linen
• Linen softens with progressive washes
• Ironing cotton sheets will give you that hotel feel, believe me it makes a world of difference
• Don't overdo the cushions, stacking two sleeping pillows on top of each other and adding two 55cm cushions in front and then a rectangular one is all you need
• You don't have to have Euro's. I use two 55cm in front of my stacked pillows
• Think about whether you want a masculine or feminine feel to your room. You can still have feminine without going so overboard that your husband digs his heels in
• Buy what you love and not what is on trend as you are the one that is going to be sleeping in it
• Go all out to make a guest bedroom beautiful, restful and inviting
• Fresh flowers make a wonderful addition to a guest bedroom and can add that pop of colour that may be missing

When it comes to styling beds, the professionals know best, so I thought it a great idea to share some of West ELm's latest looks and check out their bed linen at the same time. Think layering, texture and a little pattern and calming, neutral shades.

I hope this post has inspired you to think about a few changes to your bedroom, as I have said, you can change the look and feel of your room instantly, so there is no need to completely re-decorate, just follow the tips above.