Furnishing and decorating a comfortable and warm bed, with all types of mattresses, mattress protectors, and bed covers – decorative and functional – can be overwhelming and quite expensive.
Knowing what you want and choosing the types of wraps you need is the first step to making wise choices according to your budget and preferences each season. You can have a sumptuous bed if that’s what you want or a practical and functional one, but first, you must decide between the types of mattresses, protectors and covers that suit you.
I have written about box springs, mattresses and mattress protectors here before. Now we’re talking about the types of bedspreads you could choose from: how many there are, what they are characterized by, and how you could best use them to bring you the desired benefits.
Decorative cover
The decorative throw can be made of almost any material, woven or knitted, and used on the bed and a sofa or as a spare cover for the guest room.
For example, it’s the cover on the hotel beds, often matched with the curtains. In the case of guest houses, these covers are minimal, but in your case, it can also be a knitted blanket or a lovely patchwork coverlet, used only on one side of the bed, if that’s what you want.
Remember that decorative means you can’t wrap yourself with it; if you do, the thermal protection effect is close to zero.
Quilt
The quilted throw and blanket have two sides, one decorative and one functional, with thermal protection material in between.
You can use it on its own or with a cotton sheet or other soft material, especially if the side you are covering is more shiny.
Depending on your thermal protection needs, you can choose thicker or thinner ones with various fillings: polyester, wool, and feathers. So that these fillings do not move randomly between the two layers of material, those seams are practised in symmetrical geometric shapes, by machine or by hand, which fixes the filling between them (quilting).
The thickness, density and filling determine the degree of thermal protection you will benefit from each season, so this choice is essential.
As a variation, the quilt cover can have a decorative face or two decorative faces. It is essential, as I mentioned, that the two sides are not made of glossy, cold materials because, in this case, a soft sheet is also required.
Woven or knitted blanket
The blanket and the woven coverlet are perhaps the oldest decorative element for the bed in our culture. Blankets with complex or geometric patterns, knitted or woven, with natural or synthetic fibre, mono, bi or multicoloured, decorate and protect our beds and sofas as if forever.
Although these decorative or warming sherpa grey blankets presented above are the most modern types of bed covers, we certainly have at least one blanket in the house: to wrap the legs when we read or have a cold, to throw over a sofa when needed, to put over the bedding in the bedroom if unexpected guests appeared, to throw in the trunk and go to the green grass. Or just in case.
Today, a blanket can be as decorative and warm as we want, thanks to many models, weaving, and knitting techniques. Still, its essential functions remain the same: thermal protection and decoration.
The ball
Whether covered or not, winter or summer, the quilt is the easiest to use for heating and as a bed cover.
It is known that making the bed every morning is as essential as a personal toilet and helps you enter the daily routine energetically, but that does not mean you have to occupy the whole morning with it.
Using the quilt both to cover and to decorate the bed simplifies to the maximum the activities of daily maintenance of the bed: airing, spreading sheets and covers in the morning or preparing for sleep in the evening, and it is perfect especially if you like simplicity and only you use that bed.
You will choose the type of quilt according to your preferences, the house’s temperature and the season, and the offer is more than generous. From duvets made of natural wool fibre with eco-friendly cotton covers to duvets made of goose down and polyester: the choice is yours. The density of the filling determines the degree of thermal protection. Also, you decide if you will use it as such or if you will use some bed linen – which would bring an extra colour to the bedroom.
Artificial fur – an unusual bed cover
Historically, for troglodytes, fur meant warmth and food simultaneously because it came from an animal killed for these two purposes.
Today, fur in a room automatically leads to luxury, exclusivity, warmth, comfort and softness. Of course, for reasons of animal protection but also our protection from possible parasites, degradation and unpleasant smells, the furs used in the decoration of the modern bedroom are preferably artificial furs. Artificial fur fits perfectly in a classic environment and stands out beautifully in a modern setting, with clearly defined surfaces, contours, and glossy accessories. It offers warmth, softness and texture; only you decide if you use it to decorate or keep warm.