How to style your bed like you see on Instagram

In my books Home and Keeping House, I talk a lot about how to make your bed but I thought I’d share my little bedroom formula to help you get your bedroom set up.

Below is a list of items I generally place on every bed I style. You can vary the sizes to suit your bed but this is generally a good place to start.

Ingredient List For Making Your Bed

1x Bed Head
1x Fitted Sheet
1x Flat Sheet
1x Doona Cover or Quilt
2x Standard Pillows
2x European Pillows (60 x 60cm)
2x Scatter Cushions (50 x 50cm)
1x Lumbar Cushion (35 x 60cm)
1x Throw Rug

When selecting the items above I always tell clients to purchase the best quality they can afford. I would steer clear of any poly cotton or “cotton rich” fabrics as these have a polyester blend and can cause you to sweat in the night as the material doesn’t breathe as easily as natural fibres do. Linen, cotton and flanellette are the best options when it comes to bed linen.

It’s important to vary the textures, colours and patterns when selecting the items in your ingredients list. This means making sure you have about 3-5 different colours and 2 or 3 different textures. That might mean you’ve got a nice woolly throw rug for winter time at the end of the bed, mixed in with beautiful white linen sheets and some velvety decorative cushions. Mixing up textures is the most important element if you wanted to keep a neutral looking bedroom. You need the differing textures like chunky knit throw rugs, soft washed cotton cushions and 100% linen bed sheets to keep the room looking interesting. Sticking to one texture like cotton only can make the room a little dull and boring.

Now when it comes to actually making the bed:

1. Make the bed with the fitted sheet and flat sheet
2. Fold the top of the flat sheet down and tuck in the sides
3. Stuff the doona into the doona cover and place on top of the bed
4. Put the two European pillows against the bedhead
5. Place the standard pillows on top of the doona cover next to the European pillows
6. Place the square scatter cushions in front of the standard pillows (evenly space them in front of each pillow)
7. Put the lumbar cushion in front of the scatter cushions
8. Casually toss the throw rug across the base of the bed

VOLIA!

You can read more about the different cushion formulas I use in my book Home in the bedroom chapter. Buy your copy here.

Emma x