How to Style a Bed with Pillows

How to Style a Bed with Pillows

Many of us want our bedrooms to look like they could be featured in a stylish home living magazine, but reality doesn't always match expectation.

There is a fine art to interior design and few of us possess the innate skill to picture a perfectly designed bedroom, and turn it into reality.

The key is to start with the bed, or more specifically, the bed pillows. With a few handy and easy to follow tips we can all create a bedding scheme that even the most experienced of designers would look at with envy.

So let's get stuck into it, here are our tips and tricks for how to style your bed.

Table of contents

  • How many pillows should be on a bed?
  • How do you style a bed?
  • What about a king sized bed?
  • Where do you put your decorative pillows at night?
  • Time to get 'Home Design' on the phone for a photoshoot

How many pillows should be on a bed?

Before getting into how many and where, it's important to be aware of the different types of pillows at your disposal.

Just like mattress sizes, specific pillow dimensions can vary ever so slightly depending on the country and manufacturer. For the purpose of this journal entry, our advised dimensions come courtesy of Wikipedia.

In Australia, we commonly have:

  • Standard pillows (20" x 26")
  • Queen pillows (20" x 30")
  • King pillows (20" x 36")
  • European pillows (26" x 26")
  • Boudior pillows (12" x  16")
  • Neckroll pillows (6" x  12")
  • Decorative pillows (20" x 20")

With that out of the way, how many pillows should be on a bed?

Well, according to many experts in the world of bed design, you should at a minimum, have six pillows on your bed.

Now, there is of course the small matter of personal preference and we're not here to tell you how to live your life, so if you think five pillows look just as good, who are we to tell you otherwise!

The more pressing question is...

How do you style a bed?

With a whopping 61% of Australians resting their heads on queen-size beds every night, the following arrangements will be based on such. 

Invest in Good Quality Sheets

Investing in deluxe bed sheets is crucial to having a flawlessly styled bed. When in doubt, we advise you to choose white sheets as they give a touch of tidiness while evoking tranquility. A symbol of purity, white easily fits into any room’s decor, from ornate traditionalism to modern minimalism. 

  • Once you found the perfect sheets, start by covering your first mattress corner with a bottom fitted sheet. Proceed to the diagonal corner, making sure the sheet won’t pop free before you continue to the next corners. 
  • With the wrong side facing up, arrange the flat sheet across the entire surface of your bed. Once the sheet reaches the top edge of your bed, tuck the sides evenly.

Decorate With Luxurious Quilt

No matter the color on quilts, these decor lovers favorites can add texture to your bed like nothing else

  • Once you found your queen-sized quilt, lay it on top of the flat sheet so that its decorative side is facing up. Make sure the quilt’s bottom falls underneath the mattress, folding the top sheet back over the quilt’s top part to fuse their upper parts into a horizontal band. 

Decorative & Sleeping Pillows

Set two standard sleeping pillows at the head of your mattress with their openings facing the middle of the bed so there isn’t any surplus fabric hanging from the sides of your mattress. Make sure to put these pillows betwixt the empty space at the head of your mattress and the horizontal band’s fold from your sheet and quilt. 

Arrange two euro pillows in front of them, adding two more standard pillows for some added dimension. To create the finishing touch, place at least two decorative pillows at the forefront either to one side slightly, or completely centred. 

Fold a Duvet Down at the Bottom of the Bed

The first step towards folding a duvet is to lay it flat on your bed with its ending falling underneath the mattress at the foot of your bed. 

Fold the duvet back in a way that it coats just a third of your entire bed. This way, you can easily pull up the upper part of your duvet to keep you warm during chilly nights.

What About a King Sized Bed?

When it comes to arranging the sheets, quilt, or a duvet on a king-sized bed, we recommend reading our suggestions for queen-sized as they are pretty much the same. The only things to pay close attention to, though, are instead of queen-sized go for king duvet or quilt.

Pillows Arrangement

When it comes to arranging pillows, however, there’s a slight difference from queen-sized beds. 

  • The first step we recommend is propping three euro shams up against the bed’s headboard.
  • In the next row, you can put two king-sized pillows that are possibly encased in shams.
  • In case you decide on white as a classic variant, you can add a bit of color in the last row by putting a long bolster or lumbar pillow of your choice or a few throw pillows. 

Where Do You Put Your Decorative Pillows at Night?

The best place to put your decorative pillows at night would be an empty space in your closet, armoire, cupboard, or wardrobe in the bedroom. In case this isn’t feasible, lay them on top of your clothes hamper, or find a good spot in your storage bench, chest, or trunk at the end of the bed.

Final Takeaway

As insignificant as it may sound, bed styling is one of the most important things to do for yourself, and, of course, your home. It allows you to arrange spaces in such ways that will make it aesthetically pleasing while, at the same time, comfortable for sleeping. When styling a bed, we also get to personalize our spaces, leaving personal imprints to everything we change. We can even reflect our personal career progress when upgrading our bedding.

FAQ

How many king size pillows does a king bed require?

To make a king bed look rich, you will need three euro shams, two king sized pillows, and a decorative pillow or two of your choice.

Sources