Ep. 474: Best of Archives: Our Ultimate Bedding Guide

We are thrilled to bring you this special installment of our summer "best of" series! While the team takes a short summer break, we are reliving some of our absolute favorite episodes. Today, we are joined by Ballard Designs' own in-house bedding and bath expert, Amy Jordan. With nine years at the company, Amy is the creative force behind the perfectly layered, catalog-worthy beds we all swoon over.

Amy sits down with Caroline, Taryn, and Liz to break down everything you need to know about creating a beautiful, comfortable nest. From thread counts and fabric types to the secrets of mixing textures and arranging pillows, this episode is a masterclass in achieving the perfect bed.

Quick Decorating Takeaways:

• Know Your Bedding Materials: Percale acts like a crisp white button-up shirt and sleeps cooler, whereas sateen has a slight sheen and a tighter weave that sleeps warmer. Linen is highly breathable, becomes softer the more you wash it, and is incredibly durable—often lasting up to five years.

• Avoid the "Blob" Effect: Don't just throw a single, solid duvet across the entire mattress. Break the bed up visually into thirds by folding the duvet down to expose a contrasting coverlet or quilt in the middle, leaving the fluffy duvet at the bottom.

• Show Off the "Bell" of the Bed: When draping a quilt at the foot of the bed, pull the corners out into a triangle fold. This styling trick shows off how the fabric drapes and highlights decorative corner details, like a Greek key trim.

• Double-Stuff for Fluff: The ultimate catalog styling secret for an ultra-plush bed is to double-stuff your duvet cover by putting two inserts inside it.

• Size Up Your Sham Inserts: To make the flanges of a euro sham stand up perfectly and to reduce fabric wrinkles, purchase an insert that is two inches larger than the sham (e.g., a 28-inch insert for a 26-inch sham).

• The Fluffing Trick: When placing your insert into a sham, shake it so all the fill settles to the bottom, then turn it upside down so that the fullest part sits at the top to support the flange.

• Polyfill vs. Down: While down is luxurious, it can shift around inside the duvet cover. Polyfill is often better for maintaining its shape and structure without requiring constant fluffing.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

• 00:34 Intro to our summer series and welcoming bedding expert Amy Jordan

• 02:59 Breaking down materials: The differences between percale, sateen, and linen

• 09:15 Understanding the difference between coverlets, quilts, and duvet inserts

• 11:50 How to properly layer a bed to avoid the distracting "blob" look

• 14:06 Styling the "bell" of the bed for a beautiful, draped effect

• 18:40 Navigating pillow arrangements and the benefits of a long lumbar pillow

• 25:00 The challenge of deep mattresses and getting coverlets to tuck properly

• 28:00 Box springs, the hassle of bed skirts, and why fully upholstered beds are easier

• 33:26 Bedding strategies for kids' rooms, including the European duvet method

• 35:05 Choosing between down and polyfill inserts for your duvet

• 41:40 Caroline's exact bed-making routine, hospital corners, and sham insert sizing tricks

• 47:18 The catalog secret to achieving maximum fluff: Double-stuffing the duvet

• 55:09 The great debate: Who actually makes their bed every morning?

Also Mentioned:

• Shop Ballard Designs Bedding

Please send in your decorating dilemmas to podcast@ballarddesigns.net so we can help you with your space! And of course, subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it’ll automatically download to your phone.

Happy decorating!

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