Bedding Style Guidelines

Selecting bedding involves weighing a number of factors: style, comfort, durability and value. There are a dozen or more attributes to consider to select just the right sheets, blanket, bedspread or comforter and pillowcases. Not to mention the half dozen more features to review if you want a good bed skirt.  But some aspects are more important than others.

But what style do you want? With so many options how do you narrow your choices? 

Integrate

Selecting bedding is like choosing any other decorative feature of your home or wardrobe. Some things go well together and others clash. Come to think of it, that applies to mates, as well, but that's another subject. Like food and drink, some will enhance one another, others in combination will ruin the experience when they would fine individually.

Some lucky people have an innate capacity to know what blends together attractively. But you don't need to be a designer to take advantage of that sense. Good taste is an ability that is open to anyone.

Consider color initially. But don't just think of a color in isolation or merely look at a color fabric swatch. Consider it in the context of your overall bedroom design. Red can be bold or lie quietly in the background, depending on the shade and how it's used in the whole ensemble.

Next, look at patterns. There's a reason those old Television test patterns from the 1950s make you dizzy. It is essentially the same principle that a set of parallel smooth arcs will create a sense of peace. The brain is simply wired that way. Whether your personal taste enjoys expressionist splashes of random splashes of color, or you prefer a regular geometric pattern, it will strike the eye a certain way.

Now expand those two characteristics to include all the elements of bedding: the sheets, comforter or bedspread, pillow cases and other items. Unless you want to revive your teenage years, or your college experience when you were happy to acquire items from numerous odd sources, put item together that combine well together. This is not to say everything must match. It can if you like, but an eclectic collection can work just as well, depending on your tastes. But even an eclectic collection of colors and patterns should have a central theme.

You can choose collections where much of the design work has already been thought out for you. Vendors offer matched sets of sheets, pillow cases and even entire bedding or bedroom collections. Select according to how it suits the rest of your bedroom and you're on your way. Do you have Colonial-style bedroom furniture? Focus on the simple patterns and warm hues of New England. Are you wanting an Asian look? Seek out bedding with those bright reds and greens with contrasting black that exemplify this stylish choice.