I’m not very good at pampering myself. You won’t often spot me at the spa, getting a mani/pedi. It’s rare for me to take a day off. And, I almost never go on vacation, to Dan’s dismay. But there are two things I do to indulge myself, refilling my tank to keep that bounce in my step. The first is to melt into a steaming bubble bath every night. The second is to dress my bed in lovely linens.
For a lot of women, investing in beautiful bedding feels like a luxury. We are happy to fix up all the public spaces in our house. But when it comes to our own personal oasis, we shortchange ourselves with sheets, pillows and blankets that may be functional, but don’t make our hearts light up. Maybe it’s time for you to pamper yourself a bit by sleeping on a gorgeous bed. I asked Kathy and Paula, our bedding design pros, to pick three spring ensembles to kindle your flame. Here’s what they came up with …
BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
When you look at a summer garden, it’s often a combination of brilliant, showy colors and soft pastels. I think one of the reasons I love this bedding collection so much is it captures that very spirit. And, it’s just really, really fun. I adore the oversized hound’s-tooth check in a sassy apple green and the velvet green lumbar, with its playful pompom trim. Mixed together, these elements showcase the joy of the season, but with a sophisticated flair.
As the weather warms up, you want to peel off the weight of your winter bedding, but not the interesting layers. Keep your duvet and light blankets on your bed, just lighten them up.
This beautiful two-sided duvet allows you to get two completely different looks on your bed. The fun floral was our inspiration for this bed because it included so many great colors we could pull from when finding fabrics for pillows. One of the best parts about having a custom bed is getting to add unique trims and finishes to your pillows and duvets. Among our favorites are monograms and tapes.
CLASSIC BLUE
When you build your bedding around a classic color combination, like blue and white, or black and cream, it will always be in style. This wonderful bed has timeless elements, to be sure. But we added a splash of fun, too, with a mix of pillows.
When your color palette is tight, like ours is on this bed, with just two tones, you get a chance to tell the bed’s story in patterns and textures. Our pillows do this in spades. Custom pillows allow you to add in small but powerful trim details, like micro welts, flanges, ruffles and tapes.
The first layer of this luscious bed is a long-drop ready-made bedspread. We have them in white and natural, and use them a lot on our spring and summer beds. They are a hot seller because they are so striking and versatile, working with just about any pillows and blankets you want to add.
SOFT AND ROMANTIC
Florals are big this season and show no sign of going out of favor. We are crazy about this soft floral fabric and used it as the inspiration for this soft, romantic bed. We adore the sage greens, blush pink and soft blues, a palette of soft spring tones that are ideal for the warmer months.
We often opt for four rows of pillows on our inspiration beds, with big Euro pillows in back, followed by two rows of square pillows, then topped with a lumbar pillow. Here, we wove in our inspiration floral, and popped in two sets of pillows in a sweet pink buffalo check fabric and old fashioned cream ticking. I just want to put on my PJs and curl up on this bed with a good book!
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This column was adapted from Mary Carol Garrity's blog at www.nellhills.com
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