Decorating With Linen

Furniture and decorating trends change over time. At one time, the focal point of the home was the sitting room and the dinning room. Today, turning a home into a haven starts with the master bedroom and bath. These rooms offer a luxurious reprieve from life’s stress and strain.

The bedroom has become the place where people truly live. They spend the last hours of the day there, being entertained, corresponding with friends, and snuggling under a overstuffed down comforter with the recent bestseller.

The idea that the bedroom is designed for sleeping in has given way to the ideal that the master bedroom should be the one place on earth that reflects your sense of style and personality.

Most home decorating magazines create designs for large, spacious rooms with luxurious carpeting or glossy hardwood floors. However, most homeowners have modest sized master bedrooms with comfortable but efficient baths.

This does not mean the room needs to loose its charm and elegance. Any room, of any size, can be enhanced by employing carefully selected linens.

The first step is to understand that the local decorating store will probably not have the highest quality. Even brick and mortar stores must limit their supply of embroidered linen sheets and pillowcases to what they expect will sell quickly.

Homeowners who do not live near large cities should go shopping online for their linens. It may take a while to find a reputable online store, but the hunt is worth it. They can offer the best Egyptian and PRIMA cottons at the price of cotton blends in the local decorating or department stores.

High thread count linens are stronger, softer, and more durable, making them the best choice for the average home decorator. Both PRIMA and Egyptian cottons have longer threads. This increases their durability and softness, it also makes them more absorbent.

The first question to ask is whether the home needs the versatility of solids, or if it can enjoy a different set of linens for each season, and the holidays.

The color of the linens should come next. Selecting trendy colors may make a fashion statement, but it will be difficult to purchase matching colors when you want to replace a piece, or expand the linens.

An elegant room can be created by carefully matching Sateen cottons with solids, altering the textures and giving depth to the linen. Try to use damask and jacquard instead of prints. The variation in texture as well as color will bring any room to life and give it an ‘expensive’ aura at a fraction of the price a professional hoe decorator would charge.

A complete set of linen for a modern master bedroom includes:

3 Flat sheets
3 Fitted sheets
3 Cases per pillow
1 Sham per pillow
1 Down comforter
1 Mattress pad
1 Comforter/Duvet cover
1 Lightweight summer blanket
1 Winterweight blanket
1 Dust ruffle
6 plus decorative pillows
Window treatments

Duvet and comforter covers can be alternated to change the room’s look. A finished look can be created by buying a matching dust ruffle and a couple of pillows to match each comforter cover.

The most important thing to remember is to keep the colors coordinated so the room does not loose the ‘finished’ look.


Patricia Taylor advises on home furnishings and decor from her web site at http://www.babyshowerstar.com She invites you to get her FREE home decorating guide here http://www.adjustablebedshere.com