Hello and welcome back to home and hosting with me Louis Burke.
I hope you've been well. Lately I have been doing a huge
deep clean. Usually I always reserve a good
wardrobe clean out per season, but this week I've been really
getting into all those cupboards that we put off like the
cleaning cupboard and removing any cleaning products that I
just don't use or out of date. And also in the laundry and also
the bathroom because there are just so many different.
Cupboards full of. Things that we've just collected
over time, usually I'll get to them when I move in and out of
different places, which is also one of the benefits when it
comes to renting because you really do clear out a few
things. Whereas if you've been in your
house for a while, I'm sure there's plenty of things that
have just gathered dust in those cupboards that you need to do a
good clear out of I. Still have the garage to go.
And I probably need to go through my Christmas collection
to be honest with you. But no doubt I have not touched
the bent linen cupboard just yet.
And I really need to I. Did one at the start of the
year. But it's time to do it again.
Anyway, Speaking of bed linen, I thought I would do 1 episode
going through all there is to know about beds, which is going
to be very exciting for some and maybe an eye rolling moment for
others. But as you would have seen over
the last few weeks, there are a couple of new faces around here
that absolutely love the world of beds and bed linen and have
so many questions. How can they get their beds to
be more chic? And as people have slowly
discovered, there's a lot that goes into beds.
It's not as simple as a sheet set, duvet set and calling it a
day. Speaking of, it's a duvet, not a
Duna. Even the terminology varies
depending from country to country.
Even the sizing, there is a lot that goes into it.
I remember when I first graduated from my Creative
Direction and Styling degree, I, it was a bed stylist and I
entered the world of beds and I was blown away at the amount of
knowledge that there is to know about beds and bed linen sizes,
the GSM, the quality, the fabrications, the amount of
pillows, the variations and all the different styles.
And then just to see that no one really knows these things,
particularly in Australia. I don't know why we have so much
bed linen and so much access to so many different styles and yet
we all kind of don't know what we're doing.
And that's kind of where my profile really started by going.
This is how we make a really good bed because let's be real,
we all have beds. We all spend a third of our life
in bed. So we want it to be the best
thing possible. And not only that, I think this
is the Virgo in me. We wanted to look good but also
be and perform amazingly. Like we want a really good
sleep. It's about the comfort, but it's
also about the look. It's the design of it all.
It's the bomb meets function, so this episode is all about the
things that. Is to know about beds and I'm
sure I'm going to miss something.
So be sure to comment either here in the podcast or on my
social media and say add listen to this episode and you missed
this part. And I will gladly respond to you
because I do think that I need to start doing a few more Q&A
based episodes, so. I'll be sure to put that in
stories very soon. OK, so without further ado,
let's get into this bed episode. Now I think we have to just go
from the start. We need to talk about bed
frames. What bed frame to get.
I highly recommend grabbing a gas lift bed frame.
I've had one now for over 8. Years, it was the best.
Decision I ever made. I did have a full poster bed
previously to this one and I did like it, but I admittedly it's
quite a hard thing to style like tucking duvet through there.
They can look really beautiful in some contexts, but in a lot
of contexts they don't look great.
Also they don't cover the Valance.
If you are going to get A4 poster bed, make sure that it
has a base so you don't have to think about, you know, covering
that open. Footed design.
I had to make my own. I used using a Kmart tablecloth
back in the day. I'm sure it's on my TikTok
somewhere but I. Transitioned into an upholstered
gas lift bed and I will never look back because there's just
so many opportunities to store whatever you want.
It could be luggage, it could be your hobby, your collections,
whatever. I like to store my collection of
bed covers and European pillows. And it's the best because.
Especially if you live in an apartment or a small house, you
need the storage, a gas lift bed.
There's just so much surface area that is going underneath
your bed where you have the opportunity to store so much
stuff. And the drawers, they just don't
work as well. They also don't like house as
much as what a gas lift bed can. And also yes, of course you can
grab a Valance. You can get those plastic
containers. I just think it's a hassle.
The gas lift bed is just the best because you literally lift
it up from the base and you have access to everything.
A mine doesn't have a leg in the centre as well so it's
completely open space and I love it.
I will never look back. So please do yourself a favour
and get yourself an upholstered gas lift bed base.
They look great. And they function amazingly.
The next thing I'm going to talk about is bed heads because I do
think that your bed head should be separate to the base because
you want to be able to switch it out.
My current bed base came with an arch bed head and then I swapped
it out for a beautiful custom one that I had made by Zen
Design. They make beautiful bed heads by
the way. Definitely check them out.
You can pick your size, your fabrication, the lot.
It was so easy. We didn't have to do a bed base.
Like you don't have to fork out extra money for a bed base when
you can literally just swap out the bed head.
It's genius. Now what I would recommend with
the bed head too, is that you size up similar to your duvet
GO-1 size up. So the arch bed head that I had,
it was a king. And I like that kind of
exaggerated. You know look the sides poking
out of the base and made it feel more elevated.
Now with the one that I have currently, it's like a super
king crystal bed head in a super king size with a queen base.
I love the exaggerated sides. It houses my bed sides as well
as the bed base, so it all feels connected and very chic.
Do highly recommend this one. If you could integrate some
sconces that would be incredible too.
If you can go custom, go custom. It looks really beautiful.
Before we move ahead onto the mattresses, but I will say too
is there are a lot of timber bed heads in the market right now.
I love the look of them. I do think that they should sort
of be more reserved for a spare bedroom versus a main bedroom
because I think the best thing about a bed head is that it's
upholstered so it feels more comfortable, but not only that,
it also absorbs sounds, whereas like a Timber 1 is a bit too
cool and it bounces noise and echo.
I think that's something to think about when it comes to the
materiality of these products. Whilst they might look really
good in a photo, I don't think from the day to day they work as
well. But you do you.
You might love the look of a beautiful walnut bed head and
I'm not going to argue with you. I just would say that I think an
upholstered 1 is a little bit more comfortable, but also now
that I think about it, some people who'd like to sit in bed
with wet hair, having a timber wand is better because it's
easier to care for because you won't have any stains on the bed
head. That is definitely something to
think about if you have wet hair or your partner has wet hair
because it can cause staining if you're resting your head on the
bed head and spending a lot of time in bed.
I personally just use my bed to sleep in so I'm not really
working out of the space. And what I would recommend for
anyone that does is to get yourself a European pillow
because you lean on the European pillow.
So you do your SAC pillows and then you do the euro in front.
So you are a fair distance away from the bed head.
And the European pillow should be taking up some of the wet
hair mess that's going on there. I did see a video where Chica
had some custom fabric that she put over the bed head to kind of
protect it, and she had them embroidered with her initials.
So that's also an idea that you could put into practise as well,
sort of like a towel of sorts. But I don't know if I can commit
to that. It's not necessarily my style.
It's definitely more reserved for a traditional look, which I
know a lot of Aussies don't have.
So if you do get a polyester blend versus a natural fabric,
it should repel the stains more. Look, So what I mean, this
episode could go for three hours, but we have to move on.
OK. So just be warned with the bed
head situation, my one is upholstered.
I had this one and I had one before that and I had no stains.
Be sure to get yourself a sticky roller.
Muji sell amazing large sticky rollers so you can sticky roll
the bed head and also the bed base and get rid of all the hair
and the dust that accumulates on the fabric.
Especially in bedrooms, there's a lot of dust because the dust
is predominantly all those excess fibres from your bed
linen. So having a little sticky roller
and vacuuming is perfect because vacuuming alone is not enough.
The sticky roller does a great job.
It's like how you would sticky roll your clothes.
You're just doing the same for your bed.
So you get a jumbo size from Muji.
Great price, very quick, effective, and it looks
fantastic. OK, now moving on to mattresses.
You need to invest in the mattress.
I don't care what people say, grab a really good mattress,
grab a thick, juicy mattress. It can be more supportive.
I think it's better when it's more supportive, a bit more firm
than soft, because what I would say is I always like to add in a
Topper. Now a Topper is a great thing
because it's super comfortable, it's super lush, and also if you
live in a warm climate and you can't handle a heavy duvet, the
Topper can give you the look of a fluffy bed without having to
have the heat that comes from a heavier duvet.
But if you live in a cool climate you are so lucky because
you can have a Topper and a thick and juicy duvet so your
bed is extra plush and cloud like.
I just have a few people who question how do I get my bed to
look fluffy but I live in a warm climate and I would.
Say grab yourself a thick. And juicy Topper.
Now when it comes to bedding, I like to use goose down because
it's fluffier and it absorbs the air and that's what gives it
that fluffiness. If you're using synthetic fill,
it doesn't have the same effect. It's also not as thick.
So you could buy a 1500 GSM mattress Topper with a synthetic
fill and it's very flat because GSM is based on the weight and
the fill, whereas the feathers obviously, you know, take up the
air. So make some fluffy.
So don't make that mistake. I've made the mistake before in
the past. So just be sure to grab yourself
some feather down or the closest to like a cloud corn fibre, like
Chic Society sell a cloud corn fibre for anyone that's allergic
to down or doesn't want to use down.
It acts like feathers and that it absorbs air and is light and
fluffy. I do think it's warmer than
feathers. So be warned by that.
Slightly warmer, but a very good alternate if you don't want to
use feathers. Just don't use a synthetic fill
because it's flat. It looks dull and limp.
It's no good. Now, once we have our Topper, we
need to talk about protectors. OK, So what are protectors?
Not because, look, some people might have accidents.
It's not even about the accidents.
What it's about is the sweat. You don't want to have yellow
sweat stains on your mattress. There is nothing worse than when
you're making the bed, particularly if you're making
like a spare bed. Say if someone was over and you
didn't have a chance and you're changing the bed linen and then
they just see the yellow stains on the mattress.
Yes, you can grab bicarb soda and vinegar.
Or better you could describe yourself a waterproof protector
so you never have to deal with it ever because it protects the
mattress. The last mattress that I had
looked as good as new because I always had a waterproof
protector on it and it just works wonders.
Now I know some of you are going to say, hey Louis, the
waterproof protectors. I don't love the texture and I
also don't love the sound of the plastic.
I've got you. So what you're going to do is
the mattress, the waterproof protector, lay the Topper on
top, and then you grab yourself a hyper allergenic protector to
put on top of that that protects the Topper and the mattress from
dust mites and dust. And it's great if anyone has any
allergies. And then it feels much more
comfortable because the Hypoallergenic 1 is not
waterproof, but it still protects your Topper from sweat
stains because I haven't seen any sweat stains on my Topper.
But what it does is it feels a lot more comfortable and a lot
more like a mattress because it's fabric.
So you don't get that scratchy towel Y plasticky sort of sound.
With the waterproof protectors, it's not going to feel like your
kids single bed. With the, you know, waterproof
protector, it doesn't feel like that at all.
It just feels like a bed. It's fantastic.
Also, if it's winter, for anyone out there that likes to use an
electric blanket like me, it's also good because you put the
electric blanket between the Topper and the hypoallergenic
protector. So it's higher up because if you
put the electric blanket underneath the Topper, it takes
forever for the bed to heat up. You've just got to swap it.
But then you're not sleeping directly on top of the electric
blanket. You have that hyper allergenic
protector surface layer in between as well as the fitted
sheet. That's my tip.
OK, so we have our bed base, the headboard, the mattress, the
Topper and the protectors. Now we move on to pillows,
sleeping pillows. I like them to be slightly firm.
I use the ones from Adairs that the high loft memory foam
surround pillow in the medium density.
What it is, it has memory foam on the inside like a memory foam
cushion and then it's wrapped in a high loft fluffiness.
So it looks like a pillow and it feels like a pillow, but it has
the support of memory foam. Love it.
I have bought 3 rounds total because I've had them for well
over a decade and you should change your pillows every three
to five years and I love them every time.
I also use protectors, hypoallergenic protectors on
actually I use both waterproof and hypoallergenic protectors on
my pillowcases as well because again, I don't like yellow
pillows. It's because I work in bed linen
online guys. So when I'm making the bed,
there is nothing worse than having these yellow stains on
the bed when you're filming. So some people think it's going
overboard. I am a Virgo.
I'm very detail orientated, but I'm also a creator.
So the bed linen needs to look good, it needs to look fresh.
But honestly, I just think it's a no brainer.
You just want to keep things clean.
And it's so much easier to wash a protector than it is to wash a
whole pillow or a whole duvet or you can't wash the mattress, you
know? And these pillows, they last
really well with the protectors. So you've got those two standard
pillows. If you have a queen bed or a
double bed, get standard pillows.
If you have a king bed, grab yourself some king pillows.
Now, Australia really hasn't developed much when it comes to
the king pillow market. It's amazing for a king bed
because it takes up the whole width of the bed.
There's nothing more awkward than these tiny little standard
pillows on on a king mattress, because the king mattress has an
extra 30 centimetres. Of width to a.
Queen mattress, right? 30 centimetres, which you might
not think is a lot, but it is a lot.
When you stack those pillows on the bed, it looks awkward.
King pillows are a must. I think they just look so much
better and so much more chic. The issue is that they don't
have as much support. You can find them online.
Maya sells a lot of them. My friend has the king pillars
from linen house. However she is like me.
She's a Leo but she's like a Leo Virgo cusp and she has her
standard pillars that she sleeps with but then she styles her bed
with the king pillars instead. But she's also an ex bed
stylist, so, you know, take it with a grain of salt and the
fact that we're both more leaning down the aesthetic
front, but we also have the practicality.
So she stores the standard pillows in her bench at the end
of her bed or in the cupboard and then pulls them out each
night. I would probably just commit to
the king pillow and get a firm king pillow from Maya.
I think her king pillows are linen house.
They're only around 35 to $40. A great price point from Maya or
David Jones, but definitely go and have a look at what you can
find in the market when it comes to king pillows because it makes
a significant difference. So Speaking of pillows, we need
to have 4. Pillows on the bed.
Because you have a sheet set and a duvet set that both come with
pillowcases, and you need to use both of those sets on your bed.
I don't want to see two pillows. And I know people are getting
like, why would you need 4? I think let's not question that.
Sometimes we need more support, sometimes we want softer
pillows, sometimes we want this, whatever.
If I have indigestion, I like to sleep up on an angle, so I will
use that second pillow. I just think if you've got 4
pillow cases, use them. And also you should technically
be changing your pillow case every two to three days.
You should be washing it. So instead of doing that, what
you can do is just swap the pillows around.
So if you buy four of the same pillows, each of you have two
pillows that you can sleep through the week.
Each pillow has two sides. So each night you can swap sides
and then swap pillows and you're good to go.
You don't have to do as much washing.
Your face stays clean and you don't have any breakouts.
Win win. Right now we move on to sheets.
I think you should buy a sheet set.
I think it's more economical. But if you have to buy
separates, then go for it. Buy a fitted sheet and grab a
top sheet, a top sheet, a flat sheet, whatever you want to call
it. I think they're great.
If you're going to buy separates then maybe size.
Up. With the top sheet to meet your
duvet, because we'll talk about this a little bit later, but you
should upsize your duvet in accordance to your mattress.
So if you have a queen bed, grab yourself a queen fitted sheet, a
king flat sheet and two pillowcases.
I think that's especially good if you have a king bed because
the pillowcases that will come in a set will not be king
pillowcases. So you really should look to buy
separates. But if you have a queen bed,
then you can buy the sets where you'll have.
You know the fitted. Sheet, the flat sheet and the
pillowcases. You don't have to upsize your
flat sheet, it's more just if you wanted to completely meet
your duvet from end to end. Because if you have a smaller
flat sheet with a larger duvet, when you fold it over, there'll
be that little bit of duvet poking out on the sides.
Honestly, most people do not notice it at all.
But if you are hyper vigilant and you are very detail
orientated, you will notice that.
Particularly if your bed orientation is like you walk
into it on the side and you see it on the side, which to be
honest, I think it's the best way to look in a bed.
Looking in a bed on the side versus front on seeing all the
layers and how the pillows like sacked down.
You have the headboard and then the pillows and then the
default. It looks so beautiful from the
side. You will notice if the top
sheets a little bit smaller, you will see that it like doesn't
end completely on the duvet anyway, just use a top sheet.
I thought most people who don't like top sheets just don't know
how to use them properly because I was very anti top sheet
growing up because I felt like they always fell down to the
bottom of the mattress. But then I discovered that
you're actually meant to cuff it over the duvet.
So then it stays in one place. And the first night that I did
it, it stayed in place and I woke up and it was a miracle.
I was ecstatic. So the way that you do it is you
lay the top sheet down and eat like all the way to the top of
the mattress. You put the duvet down and you
leave around a 30 to 40 centimetre cuff and you fold
that top sheet over. So then when you get into the
bed, because there's that cuff over the duvet, it doesn't go
anywhere. That doesn't matter if it's not
tucked underneath the mattress. You really should be doing
hospital folds and things like that.
But people like to kick around and whatever, it doesn't even
matter if you didn't have it fully tucked in, it will stay in
place. It's amazing what a little cuff
over a duvet can do. So definitely use a top sheet.
It's just. Cleaner and it looks so much
better. I love all the layers on the
bed. So that is our sheets done.
Now we move on to duvet covers. Duvet covers and duvets.
You want to upsize your duvets just like that flat sheet.
So if you have a queen bed, get a king duvet, If you have a king
bed, get a super king duvet. And then if you have a super
king, unfortunately there isn't a size that is bigger than a
super king, so you have to settle for a super king duvet.
I know a couple of Americans will be listening and they'll
say, couldn't you get a California king?
A California king is at different dimensions.
This is the thing, in different countries, there's different
dimensions for the mattresses and the bedding.
Why? Who knows?
To be honest with you, it's very confusing and I don't think it's
necessary. But yes, if you have a super
king bed in Australia, that is the biggest you can go.
And if you wanted to get bigger, you'd have to go custom.
Fortunately, we need to settle for the Super king or we just
get the king and downsize because I think a super king bet
is very large. Like they're very hard to style.
The wider the mattress goes, the harder it is to start with
pillows because things are starting to get awkward.
You know, it starts to look really long, especially if you
want to start using EUR and squares, because the square is
so awkward on such a long rectangle.
You're trying to use something that's like even on all sides on
a really uneven long rectangle and it feels awkward and
strange. And then you Chuck on a throw
blanket and it's just an absolute mess.
So I highly recommend sticking to a king, a mattress, if you
can. I feel like the Super king is
just going a little bit too far. It's like TV's keep it relative
to the space. And As for the duvet covers, I
don't mind what the closures are like.
You can have the pop closures, button closures, tie closures,
zip closures. The thing is with the buttons is
you want to push the buttons into the duvet cover.
You don't want to button it up like a shirt.
Imagine if you were buttoning up a shirt reverse where you're
putting the buttons inside so you couldn't see them.
If you do it that way, it looks so much better because you don't
see the buttons at the bottom of the bed.
As for the. Fabric the.
Textile medium. I really love linen.
I like that linen. When you sleep on it, it sort of
surrounds you and falls on you and it kind of hugs you other
people. Prefer.
Cotton, because cotton feels like a tunic, like a school
uniform. It Wicks away the moisture so it
keeps you cooler. I find that I don't love that it
doesn't hug me or like hold me in the bed.
I feel like I could slip off the bed.
So it's that sort of sensation that I just don't love.
But I feel like with anything when it comes to beds is you
have to give it a few days to get used to it.
If you change your pillow, give it a few days.
If you change your duvet, a lot of people have like gone up
higher in the GSM count with their duvets and they go, Oh my
God, it's so hot. Give yourself a few days to get
used to it because yes, it's hot initially because your body
hasn't acclimated. It takes a couple of days.
Same thing goes for bed linen And the way that it feels like
if I go to a hotel and I sleep there for a few nights, I get
used to the cotton. But then to be honest with you,
as soon as I get home and get in the linen, I'm just like, oh,
This is why I sleep on linen. I absolutely love it, but Oh my
goodness, it is not great when it comes to, you know, staying
smooth. The Internet has so many
opinions about the wrinkles on linen.
And it's like, I feel like everyone should know what linen
is, like flax linen. And yet there's so many people
that don't seem to know, because if they did know, they would
understand that the wrinkles that are on the linen is what
happens to linen. You don't even need to have
linen bed linen. You could have a linen shirt and
you wouldn't know that that's what happens.
You know, unless it's a really thick linen with a high GSM
count, it's naturally going to wrinkle.
And you can steam it and you can iron it and it's still not going
to be entirely smooth. The best it will ever look is
when you pull it straight out of the packaging that it comes in
because it's run through one of those hot roller irons out of
the factory and it looks crisp and smart.
I have one of those industrial steam irons for my bed styling
days and it does a really good job at ironing the linen, but
there are still wrinkles on that linen so I don't want to hear it
from anyone. If you don't like wrinkles, grab
yourself some sateen or crisp cotton bed linen and you will
love it. It will be wrinkle free.
Another linen that I really like is actually Jersey.
And I think a lot of people would be shocked at that because
you actually kind of think of Jersey.
I don't know. The first time I saw Jersey I
was like, oh, these are like kids leggings because I used to
work in kids fashion back in the day.
It's like the Jersey Bonds kids leggings, but it's amazing is
bed linen because it hugs the duvet.
So if you don't like loose duvet corners, if you grab yourself
some Jersey bed linen, it will. Hug the bed.
And it also doesn't wrinkle, so the fitted sheet is snug on the
mattress and then same as the duvet cover.
It's amazing. In winter it works so well and
it's so warm and cosy. I think it's a more elevated
flannel because you know how flannel can get a bit Bally.
I think jersey is the chic version of flannel, but I'm also
not opposed to a flannel sheet If you want something a bit more
warm and cosy in winter. I'll let it pie, but I would
recommend grabbing a cotton jersey.
A quilted cotton jersey, duvet cover chic.
I got one recently from Madea's and I have one from Chic
Society. I like it because it looks quite
contemporary. If you have a contemporary home
and you'd like that more clean line, simple chic look, a
quilted jersey cover can look really good versus a linen,
which might look a bit too rustic and then like, you know,
a crisper cotton could look a bit too traditional hotel.
If you want something that feels more urban contemporary, go with
a jersey and you can also grab a mile heathered jersey and that
looks quite chic and cool too. If you like that more
traditional hotel look, definitely go out and grab some
Egyptian cotton. The reason why Egyptian cotton
is so good is because it has the longest staple fibres.
It's not necessarily about the thread count, and I'm sure
you've heard some people say, you know, thread count doesn't
matter. What does matter those staple
fibres, and what I mean by that is the little fibres of cotton
or fax linen. How long they are depends on how
well they can sit in their weave so they don't peel.
If you've got some bed linen and it is peeling, then you know
why. It's because the fibres.
Are on the shorter side, they're not long staple fibres, and then
you have to get the pillar out and have to shave it down to
make it look good. The same thing applies as well
if you notice when you put linen in the dryer, if the vent fills
up with lots of loose fibres, a lot of the time that kind of
says maybe this linen is on the short staple fibre route rather
than the long staple fibre. But that's not 100% true because
let's be real, there is going to be some loose fibres that come
out of the bed linen once it's been made, processed and relaxed
inside the packaging. When you wash it for the first
time, there is going to be a fair amount of lint that comes
out and then when you wash it maybe the second or third time,
it significantly reduces. It's more if you were doing
maybe after four or five and it was still filling up with lint
in that dry event, you'd be like, OK, righto, this maybe
isn't the best quality, but ultimately.
You should be. Kind of across that, given that
it will probably be reflective of the price point.
So you know, pick your battles. If you're going to go with a
more affordable option, maybe prepare for the fact that
there's going to be a bit of Pilling and the dry vents going
to get fuller quicker so you're going to have to replace it.
It all is relative to the price point, the quality and where you
find it. Now swinging back to the duvet
conversation, I've had a couple of people question whether or
not they should stack 2 duvets inside the cover.
The reason this came about is because a lot of the standard
duvets in Australia and in warmer climates only have around
that 400 GSM thickness. So by stacking 2, you get 800
GSM, whereas you can bypass this and not have to stack 2 and just
get 1800 GSM duvet and call it a day.
You do have to look a little bit harder, like you definitely have
to shop this online versus in store.
Or the advantages of obviously having two duvets instead of 1
is that you can take one off when it's warmer months and then
add another one in during the cooler months to make it better.
But I just think going with the 1800 GSM duvet is easier.
That's what I sleep with. And yes, like I said earlier,
you do have to sleep with it a couple of nights and get used to
it because I noticed it was warm and then I got accustomed to it.
Now if you do live in a warm climate and you still want to
have the look of a fluffy duvet, what I would recommend you do is
grab yourself a bed cover or a coverlet and lay it on the bed
between your flat sheet and the duvet.
So the way I would make the bed, I've done it a couple of times
across a couple of videos on TikTok and Instagram.
There are a few. Ways in which you could lay a
coverlet over your bed, you can either put it on top of.
The duvet. Or underneath the duvet, if you
live in a warm climate, put it underneath the duvet and then
fold the duvet back. So when you get into bed, you're
just taking the duvet off the bed.
It's kind of doing the reverse. Like if you live in a cool
climate and you have the coverlet or bed cover on top of
the duvet, if it's a bit warm that night, you might decide to
take the coverlet off and store it on a chair or a bench.
And also, that is the answer for everyone asking where do all the
extra pillows and coverlets go? On a chair or on a bench or in a
cupboard or in a basket. I don't know why that's a common
question, but it is a question that I'm asked quite regularly.
And I think if you have a chair, a bench, a basket, a wardrobe,
stick them there. That's the best spot.
So instead of putting the coverlet there, you're going to
put the duvet there and then you sleep with the coverlet or the
bed cover. So it's cooler, it's easier, and
then you get the best of both worlds.
Is it a bit more of a hassle because you have to take the
duvet off when you get into bed? Yes.
But ultimately, if you want to have the look and feel of a
fluffy bed, then you have to put in the work to get that look.
You know, I think it all just, it's all a matter of taste and
all a matter of how far you want to go with the bed.
If you live in a warm climate, then just stick with a bed cover
or a coverlet. You can definitely make them
look chic and sleek if you get an oversized bed cover and and
have it draped over the bed, but it is not going to look like a
fluffy cloud. So if you want to have a fluffy
cloud, then you're just going to lay the duvet on top of that bed
cover or coverlet and then take it off when you go to sleep.
Just use it as a decor piece or a piece that you might use if
you decide to turn the air con on, you know, so just kind of
flip and change it depending on your season and where you live.
The same thing applies if you live in a cool climate.
You can have the coverlet underneath the duvet and then
have the duvet on top. It's a really beautiful layering
moment if you look at the bed from the side.
And I think that it's nice because it kind of adds this
element of a weighted blanket when you sleep with it.
So if you like the feel of a weighted blanket, I think you'll
really like the combination of a duvet and a coverlet together.
Now I think there might be a couple of people asking what do
we do if we're using a bed cover versus a coverlet?
Now, a bed cover kind of works like a bedspread.
You're layering it over the entire bed, over the sheets and
the pillows, and then you might stack 1 lumber cushion on top.
Whereas A coverlet I would kind of treat like a duvet or a
blanket. So if I treated it like a duvet,
I would go fitted sheet, flat sheet, coverlet, cuff the
coverlet with the top sheet and then lay the duvet on top.
That's one method. The other method would be you do
the fitted sheet, the top sheet, you put the duvet down, you cuff
it with the top sheet, you fold it over, and then you drape the
coverlet underneath the duvet fold like a blanket, or you
cover the whole duvet with the coverlet and you show the little
cuff on top. I do have a couple of videos
that cover it, so definitely go and check them out, but they're
the two different methods that I would use.
Now I think we move on to our cushions and European pillows
and for any Europeans listening, they're the continental pillows.
This is the thing too with duvets.
You can call them a quilt, but it's technically a continental
quilt. But you don't want to say
continental quilt every time you go to the store.
You know, Australians, we have a habit of shortening absolutely
everything. So I don't think anyone's going
to be going around saying continental quilt.
So just call it a duvet because globally that's just a more
accurate term that just is across the board, just call it a
duvet, not a duna. We also have a habit of putting
a on the end of absolutely everything.
And we also have an issue with saying anything that's French
because we think it's fancy. And yet the same person that
will call a duvet a Duna is the same kind of person that will
call Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren, you know, explain that kind of
theory because Ralph Lauren's an American brand, so we call it
Ralph Lauren, not Ralph Lauren, so.
You are either going to. Go Duna and Ralph Lauren or
you're going to go Duvet and Ralph Lauren.
But I just said that you should do Ralph Lauren.
Generally speaking, I think we should just call brands what
they are and what their origin is.
Just makes the most sense, unless of course, it's like
something I don't know, that's a whole different conversation.
So let's just move back into the the EUR and the cushion front.
The European pillows. I would recommend going to IKEA
and picking up the feather down European pillows over there.
I think they're a great size and really good quality and nice and
puffy. I do think that the European
pillows stand for the amount of people in the bed.
So if it's two people in the bed, no matter if it's queen or
king, it's two. Don't be afraid of gaps.
Let the bed breathe. I think the thing with European
pillows, they suit a double bed, a queen bed, and then when they
step into the king bed territory, that's where the wide
rectangle starts to look a bit funny when you start
incorporating squares because the balance is off.
That's why I highly recommend you get a long lumber instead
because it's a long rectangle sitting on a long rectangle.
If you want to go down the square front, you absolutely
can, but just be aware that it is going to look slightly
awkward, which is why in a video that I recently did, I recommend
flipping the European pillow to the side because they're not
entirely square. They are still slightly a
rectangle and if you flip them on the other side they are a
little bit wider. So they do.
Take on the shape of the bed a little bit more in the fact that
it's a wide rectangle rather than a tall rectangle, and then
I would stick a long lumber in front.
I wouldn't do 3 and I definitely wouldn't do a chop.
I just think it's strange because The thing is with the €3
is that you're starting to make. The.
King bed start to look like a day bed or a sofa.
It's on a sofa and it's not a day bed.
It's a bed and two people are sleeping on it.
Whether you're one person. The idea is that you would just
have two people sleeping in the bed.
I don't know, that's just the norm.
So having two European pillars just makes sense.
And then stacking one pillow in front, whether it be a lumber or
a long lumber, it looks chic. Don't be afraid of the gaps.
Don't do €3. It just looks strange.
You're building a wall and then doing the chop.
Let's talk about the chop because we'll get into it,
because we're talking about cushions and European pillars.
The chop to me was something that we did 10 years ago to make
things feel more lived in. What happens is it cycles all
the way. It's like Miranda Priestley when
she has a conversation about the cerulean jumper.
It cycles all the way down into department stores where people
aren't familiar with what the whole intention was behind the
chop, and it became an aggressive chop that created
like Bunny ears is what a bed stylist used to teach me back in
the day would call it. I think I call it cushion
cleavage. Nothing wrong with cleavage,
just not on your cushions and it just doesn't make any sense
because it doesn't look lived in anymore.
It looks rigid. Having your cushions sitting
upright really tall with the like enormous chop down the
centre, it looks awkward, It doesn't look relaxed, it doesn't
look lived in. If you want your cushions to
look and feel lived in, lean them slightly and give them a
slight push and that's it. That's the idea.
The idea of a cushion is to make it feel relaxed and comfortable.
That's the only purpose that it serves other than that of an
aesthetic choice, incorporating A colour or a pattern or a
texture. It doesn't have a purpose other
than that of looking relaxed. So having an aggressively
chopped cushion doesn't make any sense.
The only other context in which I think an aggressively chopped
cushion works is when you have a house cleaner because nine times
out of 10, you're out of home. The house cleaners come over and
they've cleaned. So they want to show symbols
that they've cleaned the areas, that they'll do an aggressive
chop on the cushion to go, hey, I've cleaned the sofa.
Or they leave the vacuum lines in the carpet to say, hey, I
cleaned in this room. Like when you're doing a rental
inspection or you're selling the property and they steam clean
the carpets, they leave the lines.
That's not an. Aesthetic choice, that is a like
visual cue to say that this is clean and there is a difference
between clean and aesthetics and having a put together home.
And also you'll find that there's a lot of people, they
might be really tidy people, but that might not necessarily be
clean. And then there's a lot of clean
people who might not necessarily be tidy.
And I think we really have to define those two things and find
the balance of having a clean home and also having a pleasing
style put together home because the feeling of home has to have
both. It has to be a clean
environment, but it also has to be an environment.
It can't just be a room full of stuff that's clean.
So the chopped cushion and the vacuum lines need to go because
they just do not serve a purpose other than that of being a
visual cue when you're moving out of home or you want to tell
like the person that you've cleaned the house that hey, it's
clean. So no more cushion chops.
I would also say that the square cushion, the square cushion has
just been overdone. It's been overplayed.
That's the reason why the lumber and the bolster cushions have
all come out because particularly in Australia where
we only have the one size square cushion, it's rare that we have
three different versions like in the US.
In the US you can buy lots of different size squares, but in
Australia it's pretty much the only one.
And I wish stores would just get rid of the synthetic feel
cushion. I think I've mentioned it
earlier, just get rid of the synthetic feel cushion and just
sell the covers and then get people to buy the down or the
down alternative insert. That way everyone actually has a
nice cushion. Because if the only purpose that
it's serving is an aesthetic one, it needs to be the best of
the best. It can't be half aesthetic
because what is the purpose in it otherwise it it needs to
serve its purpose to its full capacity, which is to have a
nice insert. So definitely change out your
inserts. Go to IKEA, just go to IKEA by
two European pillows, 2 lumbar pillow inserts, and two square
pillow inserts and you'll be good to go.
You can keep them and then you can swap them out and
interchange them and you can get rid of all those synthetic fill
cushion covers. And then that way it's so much
easier to store them as well because you're just storing all
those covers in the cupboard versus having to store all the
cushions in the cupboard. But generally speaking, across
the board beds and furniture, if you have a really beautiful bed
with a beautiful bed head and you have really nice furniture,
you don't need that many cushions.
If anything, once you start layering in lots of cushions, it
starts to feel quite cramped and it doesn't feel as sleek and as
chic as it could be. Because this is the thing about
good design and chic design, 9 times out of 10, it's about
having less. It's about the power of
restraint. Some people will think that it
looks empty and that's because that person hasn't developed
their sense of taste to understand the element of chic.
And I think that's the thing we have to remember too.
I feel like with the Internet and everyone having an opinion
because everyone has a home is that we forget that there's
nuance and everything is black and white thinking.
Of course. If you live in a cottage, yes
incorporate all those beautiful layers.
If you live in a mid century home, yes play with the low
profile furniture and play with the earth tones.
If you live in a sleek contemporary home, yes, strip
things back. Have less in the space.
Like there are different approaches to different homes.
Not everything is universal. Not everything is going to work.
You know, it can be very annoying because I feel like
sometimes we have to remember that just because they're loud
doesn't make them right in the comment section.
I feel like The thing is, is that we hear so much and we
don't get a lot of context. So then we get anxiety about
what we're going to do in our approach because it's just so
many options. And then even creators, it's
like, oh, this person told me not to do this and this person
told me not to do this. Well, that's at the fault of the
viewer because the problem is with social media is that people
don't want to listen. They don't want to listen to a 2
minute video. They only want to listen to a
32nd video, and there's only so much that us as creators can put
into 30 seconds. So it becomes very black and
white and very literal. And that's like, that is the
issue because there is more nuance to everything.
But unfortunately, the way that everything is set up, we don't
have time to run through everything to say, if you have
this style of home, do this and this.
If you have this style of home, do this and this.
And you know what? Sometimes we probably do and we
have it in separate videos, but one person only comes across one
of those videos and doesn't want to go through and find the video
that has a different style, takes someone and goes Oh my
God. But I shouldn't.
Do that because I have this kind of home or they're in the
comments actually telling go off because they think they have a
cottage and it should have layers and it's beautiful.
We're all, I think majority of us have well aware of the fact
that like a cottage can look beautiful with less stuff in it,
but it also looks absolutely stunning when it has lots of
layers in it and it's collected, you know, You know, my mum has a
beautiful cottage and it looks great because it's got lots of
layers in it. I live in a terrace with a
little extension on the back and I love the traditional elements
in here, but I also love contemporary Australian design
furniture and I made a hard and fast real very early on to just
do that temporary furniture inside the old shell.
Not to mix things up and confuse it, particularly because I have
people looking at the home all the time and I don't want them
to get confused as well. So circling this back to
cushions, If you have great furniture and a great bed head
and a great bed linen, you don't need to have so many cushions.
A long lumbar does all the work you need and also you don't have
to stack 1015 cushions because again, I feel like you're
putting in a lot of effort and I don't think the output or the
outcome is what you necessarily apparently we're hoping for.
More isn't always more. Sometimes stripping things back
is the better option. I get that it can be tempting to
do more. Also as well, if you've bought
multiple cushions and you just added to them seasonally, you
just got more and more and more because you don't want to get
rid of anything. I definitely think you have to
cull things like I said at the start of the episode, like going
through your cupboards and cleaning things out.
Same thing applies with your cushions.
Time to move things on or have them reserved for certain
things. Or move that cushion that you
had on the bed and decide that you're going to put it on the
chair or the Bay window or wherever.
Or you might even change it and turn it into a lumber cushion if
you really want to. Either way, my favourite cushion
at the moment is a long lumber or a long bolster.
You can do 2 lumbers or two bolsters depending on how you
feel as well. I think it just depends on what
the bed looks like. I struggle at the moment because
I feel like my bedroom really suits a sleek minimal design
style with like the bed cover and the long lumbar.
The colour palette as well is all very neutral and very
stripped back, which I did intentionally so I can work with
different colours and patterns quite easily rather than feeling
restricted. By a colour.
Like with the bed head I did, I was tempted to go down a pattern
colourful front when it came to the bed head, but then I decided
against it because of my job and having to work with so many
different bed linen brands and so many different colours.
I didn't want to feel restricted by it.
And the bed linen brand be like, Oh well, we won't work together
this time because that colour is not going to work with your bed
head. You know, that just isn't what
I'm prepared to do. I would rather keep it neutral
because I also love neutrals. I also think we have to sit back
and also appreciate and love the neutrals in Australia.
We are Australian, we have a beautiful landscape that has
amazing natural earth tones and we have used earth tones
throughout the whole time. And I don't know why there is
this, this, this pressure, but we have to incorporate so much
colour and pattern on absolutely everything just because people
are like, oh, that's so boring. It's like, no, you could pick up
a book, you can watch a couple of videos and learn about the
beauty of natural earth tones and learn about layering things
properly and approaching colour correctly and not in a juvenile
way. Again, you know, we could talk
about it forever. Just because they're the loudest
doesn't make them right. So earth tones and neutrals are
gorgeous and you can actually use, you know, brown is a
colour, tan is a colour. Working tonally in the same
family is a very appropriate, sophisticated approach to
incorporating colour. You could go complementary, but
a lot of the time the complementary colours don't
necessarily work. Like, for instance, like a
complementary colourway is grey and yellow.
Are you going to do grey and yellow on your bed?
Probably not. Are you going to do red and
green on the bed? Probably not.
You know, it's, it depends on what you're doing.
So I feel like the tonal approach is the best way to go
about it because this leads on to a good thing, which is what
colour combos to do. So naturally, I feel like
everyone kind of rolls with the neutrals, even though I had a
brand reach out to me and wanted to do colour to counterbalance
the boiled chicken commentary. You probably saw the video and I
thought it was very interesting because I kind of went back to
them and said, hey, like, I don't necessarily see you guys
as a brand that does lots of colour and pattern.
They do a lot of colour, but it's very tonal and it's a bit
more sophisticated in that respect.
And I said that there are other brands that do more colour and
pattern more boldly that would probably work better in this
context. But also, I think I'm one of the
only very few creators that does neutrals, so maybe we should go
harder on the neutrals. We ended up going down the
colour front and I ended up doing tone on tone and it was a
beautiful look and it looked great, but it wasn't necessarily
what I think people were expecting, especially if we were
going to go down the route of talking about colour and
pattern. But that's for another time.
I think I probably have to do it in another video.
But again, it's also like you don't really want to feed into
the haters. Like, I don't necessarily want
to feed into a group of people that is complaining for
complaining's sake. Because those people who.
Want the colour and the pattern. They're not really my customer.
They're not actually here to buy anything or to consume anything
or learn anything. They're just here to complain
and say, well, I don't have to do that because you don't use
colour and pattern. So I don't have to buy a new bed
linen or make my beds in there. Like it's, I feel like when
someone comments that kind of stuff, it feels like they're a
teenager just having a go because they just don't want to
do as they're told. It's very funny because it's
like you don't have to make your bed, Like I'm not forcing you to
make your bed. And also my life doesn't change.
It's your life that could possibly change if you decided
to make your bed every day. Right?
So The thing is with the colours and patterns is everyone starts
off with neutrals. Most people have white and
beige. It's mainly creators that have
colourful bed linen because most people don't want to take the
risk. So if you have a neutral colour
palette, beige, whites, I would incorporate tans and Browns and
then if you wanted to incorporate more colour, I would
step into the olive greens. I would avoid the navy's.
I feel like green and Navy. Some people like Navy blue is
coming back, but I feel like Navy is harder to work with.
I feel like some people either have white and natural or they
go charcoal and Navy because they think the charcoal and Navy
is easier to clean. I think whites are easier to
clean because you can just bleach them in a hot wash and
call it a day. I think that charcoal and Navy.
Can feel quite heavy. And it can feel quite clinical.
It can feel quite corporate, like if you work a corporate job
and you're around all that, like black Navy and charcoal all day,
and then you go home to black charcoal Navy.
It's just a bit too. Am I at work right now?
I think that it's better to just do lighter tones in the bed.
It feels softer and easier on the eye.
But then after the green you can incorporate like a rust colour.
Then you can move into more of those patterns like a stripe, A
polka dot, a check again, you name it.
Then you can move more into like the actual tone on tones, which
is like the sky blue with the darker blue, the sage green with
the olive green, the rust with the lighter orange.
You can go down the yellow front with the butter yellows.
It's. If you go the.
Pastel route with like butter yellow and pastel pink.
That was quite cute a few years ago.
I don't know if it starts to read a bit juvenile.
Again, it's really depends on the style of the room, but there
are a couple of colour examples that you could use with your bed
linen. Now when it comes to laundering
our linen, I like to change my linen over weekly.
You technically meant to change your pillow cases every two to
three days, but like I said earlier, if you have 4 pillows,
they have two sides each, so you can kind of get away with just
flipping the pillows over because I think it's about being
realistic. Some people will change their
linen every two to three days. It all just depends on where
they live as well. If you live in a really warm
climate with no AC, you're probably changing the linen a
lot more often because you're sweating a whole lot more.
If you're living in a cooler climate, you can kind of get
away with going, maybe like more to like the 10 day front.
But I think if you choose just one day every week, it makes it
a lot easier and you're a lot more organised, which also steps
into how many sheets and duvets you should probably have.
Now I've said in the previous episode that you have two
different seasons. Well, you have Four Seasons, but
two are hot and two are cold. So you have two sheet sets and
two duvets sets for the warm season and two duvet sets and
two sheet sets for the cool season.
Because when you change your bed linen over, you want to be able
to change it straight away. So you put the sheets in the
wash and then you have another sheet spare that you can put on
the bed straight away. You don't want to be having to
like wash the linen and wait for it to be dry.
That's such like AI just moved out of home and I'm 20 and I
didn't think about that kind of approach.
I think a minimum has to be two sheet sets, 2 duvet sets.
Then I think I would go into having other elements before I
got 1/3. I would go like EUR and a good
coverlette and also a long lumbar.
So then we have a whole set. Then I would step into getting
another sheet set and another duvet set.
And then whether or not you want to go down the neutrals first or
the colours is entirely up to you.
But that is the quantities that I would expect as a minimum for
each bed in your house. Unless you have the same bed
size in multiple rooms, like say your guest room is also a queen,
then you don't really need to have extra because you could
just, you know, make it work. Maybe you could have 3 sheet
sets and three duvet sets just to.
Tide you over. As for washing the items, I like
to put the dark colours on a cold wash and I.
Use some oxiclean and just some liquid detergent and some fabric
softener. I use the Earth fabric softener,
so it doesn't have any nasty stuff in it and it makes it
smell really lovely. Then when it comes to my whites,
including my linen and my cotton, I will use a bleach
tablet and then I will also use some bluer.
There's an American version of this.
It's essentially like a blue liquid that acts like a toner
the way a purple shampoo would, and it counterbalances any
yellowing that could occur from the bleach because bleach has a
habit of making things go yellow.
The same thing is like when you bleach your hair, it goes
yellow, then you tone it. Same sort of science.
And I also put my whites on a hot wash because over 30°.
Same with my towels. They do the same thing.
Just really heat it up, get rid of any bacteria and just really
make those whites nice and bright.
You make them clean. And then if I'm going to iron, I
use the steam iron like I think I mentioned earlier, like one of
those steam irons. But I usually only do that when
it's a job and then when it's on my bed just week to week.
I don't. I do have a handheld steamer
that I'll run over if I feel like it needs it.
But if you want to find the balance between an ironed bed
and a non ironed bed, I would iron your pillowcases.
That really makes a big difference.
Having ironed pillowcases make the bed appear more ironed.
And also, if you have a coverlet, stick that over the
duvet because it's naturally thicker so it doesn't need to be
ironed and it makes it look a lot more clean and crisp Now.
I think that's all. I think I feel like I've covered
everything as far as beds are concerned.
And if you are still here after 52 minutes of talking about
beds, I truly appreciate you. Clearly you are passionate and
you love beds just as much as me.
I hope you've taken something away from this episode or a few
things. You've jotted things down and
all the best with your bed making adventures.
Be sure to head over to my Instagram and my TikTok and
check out so many videos with so many more tips and tricks in a
visual form where I'm showing you how to make the bed because
I think it's very helpful to just see someone make it.
And I hope you have been folding your duvet back 40 centimetres.
I hope you've been stacking your pillows versus having them
facing. And you most certainly do not
have to iron your bed limit, especially if you have like 5 of
them in your home and you are the bed maker of the family.
But in saying that if you are going to iron 1, iron the one
that you sleep on. Because there is.
Something about having a crisp ironed bed, it's just more you
have to prepare for the fact that if it is linen, it's going
to be wrinkled in .2 seconds, but for that .2 seconds before
that, it's a beautiful looking bed.
I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
Thank you so much for joining me today and I will see you again
Very. Soon.