Bedding Chic

Bee Bedding and Pillows

Here are some nice embroidered percale sheets from Pottery Barn featuring the Napoleonic Bee.  They come in white with either gold or blue embroidered bees.

Embroidered Bee Sheet Sets, $99 - $159.


I love the idea of paring the sheet set with a couple of these throw pillows.  I'm totally into pillows, the more the merrier.  I think 2 sleeping pillows, 2 euro pillows and a couple of throw pillows is great... I would have more if I had anywhere to put them!

Bee Pillow Covers, $34.

Westin Heavenly Bed, yes it was heavenly

I stayed at the Westin New York Times Square on Wed. night and I was really impressed with the bed and bedding!  It was super comfy. I especially liked their down pillows.  It turns out you can buy the whole bed and bedding on their site: Westin At Home.

You can buy the entire bed (mattress, box spring) and all the bedding from $2,670 for a Queen size.

The pillow that I really liked is available in queen and king for $75/$85.  It's a 50/50 blend of European goose down and feathers.

New Egyptian Cotton Percale at Echelon Home

I'm a sucker for a good old fashioned percale so I was happy to see that Echelon Home has a new one.  It's a 200 thread count percale (plain weave) that comes just in classic white.  This is a sheet for a purist, no extra bells or whistles, just pure cotton in the most traditional weave.

Egyptian Percale, prices from $69 to $89 for complete sheet sets.

The sets include flat sheet, fitted sheet and pillowcases.  I'm looking forward to trying it!

Emperor's Dream Bedding

Just recently I mentioned in a post that I love the Chinoiserie style, well he's another good one from Garnet Hill, Emperor's Dream Percale Bedding!  It is available in sheets (flat, fitted, cases) and duvet covers and pillow shams.

Shades of blue, green, red and gold make up the striking design which was reinterpreted from an antique Asian print.  It is sold open stock, a queen sheet set with standard cases adds up to $130, a full/queen duvet cover is $95.

New Villa D'Este Bedding at Cuddledown

Cuddledown has a new bedding introduction: Villa d' Este a beautiful print inspired by Tivoli, Italy's famous Villa d' Este estate. You can learn more about the villa in Italy here.



The print is on a 350 thread count Italian (of course!) percale.  The rich red is on an ivory ground.  It is available in flat sheets, fitted sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers and pillow shams.  Prices range from $49 to $249.

I love prints like this!  They look best in rooms that are pretty plain however (think white or off-white walls and dark woods perhaps), rooms without too much other visual "noise" going on, or else it could look gaudy.  These sheets are a statement on their own, so you want to maximize the elegant look by making them the focal point of the room.

Vintage (style) Percale Sheets

I was so excited when I was browsing through the Restoration Hardware catalog and ran across their new Italian 50-Year-Wash Vintage Bedding.  They should call it "vintage-style" really, because they're not old... But anyway the reason I was so excited is that when I was little, I had a set of old sheets that I used on my twin bed that had come from one of my grandmothers.  They were percale and so soft and perfect.  I adored those sheets!

These are "reproduced to feel as if it's been lovingly washed for 50 years" and hand-tailored by Italian artisans. They are stone-washed and naturally distressed and will become softer and more inviting with time.

They are available in both sheets and duvet covers/shams.  A queen sheet set is $219. A full/queen duvet cover is also $219 and sham are sold open stock, for example, a euro sham is $79.  They are available in dune, ivory, mist, shore and white.

How to make a bamboo bed

I don't know about you, but I love bamboo!  I love the look of the wood and I love it as a fabric (aka "rayon from bamboo"), so wouldn't it be fun to have an all bamboo bed?

Here's a platform bed from Crate & Barrel that's made with solid bamboo, 'Bento Bed', $1599 for a queen.

Company Store has some great bamboo/cotton sheets.  They are 300 thread count and sold open stock.  A queen set adds up to $127.

This blanket is 100% bamboo, Bamboo Dreams Woven Blanket, a queen is $175.

Percale Sheets for Summer

Lots of people like to sleep on percale sheets during the Summer because of their crisp feeling, which also makes you feel more cool (there is no fuzziness on the sheets).

Garnet Hill has a great option: Signature Hemstitch Percale.  It's 250 thread count and made with Egyptian cotton.  It's available in nine colors and you can even have it monogrammed.

It's sold open stock: pillowcases $38 - $42, flat sheets $25 - $65 and fitted sheets $19 - $65.

Here is what a few reviewers from Garnet Hill have to say about it:

"These sheets do indeed remind me of sheets of my childhood. I love the crispness. They wash beautifully, going from dryer to bed with little to no wrinkles. Easily fit our 18" mattress. I will definitely be buying another set. The hard part will be selecting the color - the all look so beautiful."

"Love percale and this is crisp and pleasing. The finish could be a bit softer on the skin, but overall as good as I've been able to find (now that everyone makes those soft floppy sateen-finish linens!)"

"I read where others, mostly younger folks, rated these sheets poorly. Mostly because they weren't "soft enough", etc..... Obviously these "kids" don't know what crisp sheets are. The Percale Sheets are NOT supposed to be soft cotton. THAT'S THE POINT! They are supposed to be CRISP and firm, just like the sheets were when I was a kid. I have been married for 24 years and my wife and I have searched our entire marriage looking for the old fashioned CRISP sheets and finally found them! These are the BEST! "

The bad reviews generally say that they're not soft enough... which make sense because percale is not for the "soft" customer!

100% Supima Cotton Wrinkle Free Bedding

I know hardly any of us like to iron sheets or have time to for that matter.  For me, I like to have a perfect looking bed so I usually iron the pillowcases and the top of the flat sheet so when you fold it down it looks nice.  Sometimes though, I just don't have time, and to heck with it, I just have to put un-ironed sheets on the bed. 

So here's a solution, the Company Store's Wrinkle-Free 550-Thread Count Supima Sheets. They are 100% Supima cotton and come in a quite nice color palette.

A queen sheet set is $159.99.  Extra standard pillowcases are $34.99. 

New Linen Bedding at Restoration Hardware

I LOVE sleeping on pure linen sheets, what a treat.  They're so expensive though and hard to find.  So good news - - Restoration Hardware has come out with a fabulous line of linen bedding that is reasonably priced and comes in great colors (typically places offer it only in white and ivory).
 

AND, even better, it's Belgian linen. (fyi - Williams Sonoma Home's is from China) It's available in white, ivory, mist, dune, lilac and shore (seen below in that order).

A full/queen duvet cover is $219 and comes in all the colors above.  A queen sheet set is also $219, but comes only in white and ivory.  So you can have color for the top of your bed at least...  Apparently it's for sale at pre-season prices right now, although it doesn't say anywhere what the normal prices are (?).