How to Make the Perfect Low-Key Bed
While I hate the fact that people think interior designers “fluff pillows all day”, I’d be remiss to say that it’s not a part of the job (albeit, a small part). The key to successfully pulling off a good design, is thinking through every detail and making sure that each part of the space looks beautiful. Obviously in bedrooms, this means, making the bed perfectly!
These days, I’ve been really loving the “low-key” look for bedding. I’ve always believed a bedroom needs to be serene, peaceful and comfortable. For that reason, almost all of the bedrooms we do have neutral, low-contrast bedding that is high-quality and deliciously comfortable.
As most of you know, Mike and I have been renovating our condo the past few months, and with that, we’ve updated our bedroom entirely. We pulled in black hardwood floors (yes, black), painted the walls white, and introduced new wood and black leather furniture. We’re going for a really moody, “Don-Draper-esque'“ look, but don’t want it to feel too heavy. For that reason, we swapped all of our bedding out and brought in new pieces from Bokser Home, my new obsession for bedding.
What do you need to get started?
I never share sources for client projects, but because this is our own home, read on and click on to see exactly what we used to make our bed!
We went with all white percale sheets (to keep night-sweats away) and topped the bed with a white sateen duvet cover. To break up the white, we threw grey cotton knit blanket across the bottom, and tossed some accent pillows from my absolute favorite, Stitched by Grace at the top.
Today, I’m going to show you how I make our bed each day to achieve that easy, low-key but polished look. It takes me less than a minute every day and I can’t leave the house without doing it! I’ll also show a few alternate options to dress up or dress down the look further.
Six Steps to the Perfect Low-Key Bed:
First things first, get sheets on the bed and lay your duvet across the top. Make sure both sides are even and pull the duvet up so it is lined up with the top sheet.
Next, grab the duvet cover and the top sheet and fold them back about 1/3 of the way. Our set is all white, so it’s hard to see it, but if you have a colored duvet cover or colored sheets, this will help break the bed up visually a bit which can help it not feel so huge.
Give your sleeping pillows a little fluff and toss them up against your headboard.
Next, fluff your shams and throw them in front of your sleeping pillows. We wanted a really simple, Scandinavian look for our bedding, so both the sleeping pillow and the sham are the same percale pillow case, but the pillows inside are different. For the sham pillows, I typically go with a fuller, fluffier insert to give it some structure, but your sleeping pillow can be whatever you prefer!
To break things up a little further, drape a throw blanket across the exposed duvet, just below the folded portion. Chose a color that ties in with the room to keep things cohesive.
Toss on some decorative throw pillows and you’re done! I chose these pillows because they tie in the warm wood tones and black accent in the furniture, giving a cohesive and complete look to the room.
Alternate Ideas: Dress Down or Dress Up
There are a few easy moves you can do to kick it down a notch and make it more of a Scandinavian type look, or elevate it to be a little more polished.
If you want to go for an more low-key, European look, get rid of the accent pillows and stack the pillows on top of each other! This still looks finished and clean, but it has a more relaxed vibe to it.
Alternatively, if you want to dress things up a bit and still maintain a low-key look, swap the cotton blanket for a faux-fur throw and drape it across the corner of the bed if it isn’t long enough to straddle the bed. I love this one from West Elm.
I hope you guys found this post helpful! Curious to hear which look you prefer. If you use any of the tips and style your bed differently, be sure to tag us on insta!
-dgw
