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

Summary

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How to Decorate – Ep. 474: Best of Archives: The Ultimate Bedding Guide with Amy Jordan

Podcast by Ballard Designs | July 14, 2026
Hosts: Caroline, Taryn, Liz | Guest: Amy Jordan (Bedding Expert, Ballard Designs)

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Episode Overview

This “best of” episode revisits one of the most beloved topics: creating the ultimate bed. Caroline and the Ballard team are joined by in-house bedding expert Amy Jordan to break down everything from material choices—like percale versus sateen and linen—to pro tips for bed layering, mixing patterns, and tackling tricky pillow arrangements. Whether you want your bed to look catalog-perfect or simply feel extra comfortable, the team shares practical advice, personal stories, and a few trade secrets.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Material Matters: Percale, Sateen, Linen, and More

[02:59-07:43]

• Amy breaks down the three most common sheeting materials:
  • Percale: “Percale is a cotton, it's a one over one weave...it sleeps cooler, it can wrinkle a little bit...But it does tend to wrinkle more than other fabrications.” (Amy, 04:26)
  • Sateen: “Sateen tends to have a little more of a sheen...It's warmer because it’s a really tight weave and tends to sleep a little hotter. Smoother, more formal look.” (Amy, 04:26)
  • Linen: “Super breathable, a little more eco-friendly...strong, typically lasts longer than cotton sheets. The trick is knowing that it’s not always going to feel soft right away—you have to wash it.” (Amy, 04:26)
• Bamboo is emerging as an alternative, offering silkiness but a more casual look.
• Care Tips: Avoid bleach on linen; overuse can break down fibers and cause holes. Use gentle stain removers like OxiClean instead. (Amy, 07:10)

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2. Layering 101: Building a Beautiful, Functional Bed

[11:30-15:20]

• Minimum layers: Start with sheets, then a duvet cover or quilt/coverlet.
• For Catalog-worthy Beds: “It’s easier to get a professional looking bed with a duvet for volume...with thin layers it’s harder to achieve that loft.” (Amy, 11:52)
• Mix shams and pillowcases: People often use matching shams for the ‘foot of the bed’—but mixing in layers (e.g., a coverlet partially exposed beneath a folded-back duvet) helps visually break up color and texture.
• Style trick: “It’s nice to have the bed split into thirds: sheets at the top with pillows, middle third for your patterned or quilted layer, and a fluffy duvet at the bottom.” (Caroline, 16:31)

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3. Mixing Materials & Patterns for Visual Interest

[15:35-18:39]

• Texture is key: “Textures are having a moment… waffles, unique weaving, and quilting all add depth.” (Amy, 15:52)
• Pattern mixing: Use a patterned quilt or coverlet to accent a solid duvet, or vice versa, for a designer look.

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4. Decoding Pillows: Sham Arrangements and Euro Secrets

[18:39-23:24]

• There’s no single “right way.” Options include:
  • Two standard pillows in back + two euros in front + decorative throw/lumbar (Amy, 18:50)
  • Three euros all the way across a king for a tailored look (Amy, 18:50)
• “Stacked pillows tend to feel more modern.” (Amy, 19:28)
• Practical tip: Get fluffy, new inserts for stacked arrangements—they look better! (Caroline, 19:38)
• Lumbar pillows: Increasingly popular for their streamlined, designer look—and “can double as a body pillow, which is nice.” (Amy, 21:10)

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5. Pro Tips: Bed Sizing, Fitted Sheets, and Special Touches

[23:44-27:19]

• Standard mattress depths vary; Ballard sheets have extra deep pockets. (Amy, 24:37)
• Trick: The tag on Ballard sheets is always in the bottom right corner—use this to orient your linens correctly (Caroline & Amy, 26:18-26:56).
• Double stuffing: For catalog-style “fluffy” duvets, use two lightweight inserts together—ideal for looks, though too warm for summer sleeping (Amy, 47:12–47:47).

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6. Box Springs, Bed Frames, and Bed Skirts

[27:53-32:52]

• Box springs provide support; low profile versions help keep beds from looking too tall and are easier to dress.
• Bed skirts: Many designers prefer upholstered bed rails for a neater look. “Nothing more annoying than a bed skirt that moves around, gets wrinkled, or covered in dog hair.” (Caroline, 30:53)
• Skirt-stabilizing tip: Velcro or corkscrew pins may help, “but they’re sometimes only effective in guest rooms or low-use spaces.” (Amy, 31:57)

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7. Kids’ Bedding & Low-Maintenance Solutions

[33:13-34:46]

• European approach: Flat sheet + washable duvet cover—easy for kids to pull up, less laundry hassle for parents. (Amy, 33:26)
• Use lightweight polyester inserts for kids who tend to sleep hot.

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8. Duvet Inserts & Filling Choices Demystified

[34:56–36:13]

• Down vs. Polyester: “Poly pillow or quilt inserts maintain appearance better (don’t shift), but down can feel luxe; just be aware it moves and needs regular fluffing.” (Amy, 34:56)
• Quilts: If you want a “fluffy” quilt, go polyester; cotton fills require tighter quilting to avoid shifting.

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9. Cleaning & Care: Making Bedding Last

[37:43–38:28]

• Rule of thumb: Wash sheets once a week for cleanliness, but frequent washing can shorten lifespan. Linen sheets can last up to five years, cotton less. (Amy, 38:06)
• Own at least two sets per bed, swapping one on wash day. (Amy, 38:20)
• Care hack: Don’t overdry sheets; take them from the dryer still slightly damp to avoid wrinkles (Amy, 52:04).

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10. Bed Making Rituals & Daily Habits

[38:45–59:10]

• Caroline’s Bed-Making Rules:
  • Flat sheet placed upside down for correct turnback
  • Duvet folded in thirds “S-curve" for easy cold-night access
  • Tuck coverlet and quilt tightly with military corners for extra neatness
  • Use oversized (28”) euro inserts for full, tailored shams (Caroline, 42:50–44:00)
• Flange standing tip: Overstuffed inserts and proper fluffing make all the difference. (Caroline, 44:16)
• Insider trick: In catalog shoots, “we literally put duct tape behind the pillow flange…and sometimes double stuff duvets.” (Caroline, 45:51 & Amy, 47:17)

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11. Changing Bedding for Seasons & Style Updates

[48:12–51:21]

• Swap throws or pillows for mood/season change.
• Most homes with steady HVAC don’t really require full seasonal bedding swaps.
• “In the South, I just change out the duvet insert for a heavier one in winter, but keep the rest the same.” (Taryn, 50:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "If you're going for a look, you're going to have to figure out a way to deal with either taking it off or sleeping through these."
     – Amy Jordan (03:44)

• “It’s easier to get a professional-looking bed if you’re using a duvet that has the volume…thin layers are harder.”
     – Amy Jordan (11:52)

• “Textures are having a moment. The waffle is back!”
     – Amy Jordan (15:52)

• “If you only have a duvet, it’s a big blob that’s really distracting in the room. Break it up!”
     – Caroline (16:31)

• “There’s no supposed to. I feel like there’s a million options [for pillows]...I love to see three euros all the way across a king bed—it just has a real tailored look.”
     – Amy Jordan (18:50)

• “I like a really layered pattern-on-pattern. Heidi Caillier, the way she makes a bed is like my dream bed.”
     – Amy Jordan (23:06)

• “The tag is always in the bottom right corner—so that’s how I know [how to orient sheets].”
     – Caroline (26:18)

• “I feel like, at Ballard, that’s how we sell pillows—inserts two inches bigger [than the sham]. It’s a designer trade secret.”
     – Amy Jordan (43:06)

• “In catalog photoshoots, our beds are all smoke and mirrors—duct tape behind the flange and two inserts in the duvets!”
     – Caroline & Amy (45:51, 47:12)

• “The moral of the story is put all the effort into the guest room for the real wow moment, and make the king bedroom very easy to do.”
     – Amy Jordan (33:00)

• “It brings me joy to make my bed perfectly in the morning.”
     – Amy Jordan (55:11)

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Timestamps for Essential Segments

• [04:26] – Deep dive: Percale vs. Sateen vs. Linen
• [11:52] – How to layer a bed for style and function
• [15:52] – The importance of texture and pattern mixing
• [18:50] – Cheat sheets and formulas for house pillow arrangements by bed size
• [24:37] – Mattress depth struggles: why coverlets and duvets sometimes seem short
• [33:26] – Streamlining kids’ bedding with the European method
• [38:20] – How many sheet sets do you really need?
• [42:50] – Euro sham stuffing: why “size up” matters
• [47:12] – Double stuffing: The catalog secret to lofty duvets
• [52:04] – Sheet care: The “not over-dried” trick for fewer wrinkles
• [55:11] – Daily bed-making: a shared team habit

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Tone and Language

Warm, witty, and filled with “real talk” about achievable, affordable bedding that looks and feels great. Plenty of personal stories and candid, behind-the-scenes industry secrets.

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Takeaway Tips

• When in doubt, mix textures and patterns for a designer look—don’t just match!
• Use oversized pillow inserts (2” larger) for a plump, magazine-worthy sham.
• Double up duvet inserts if you want the fluffy catalog effect—but maybe not for everyday sleeping, especially in summer.
• Don't skip daily bed-making—it's the quickest way to make your entire room feel more put together.
• For tricky beds (deep mattresses, visible box springs), look for deep-pocket sheets, box spring covers, or choose a full bed frame with upholstered rails.
• And remember: guest beds are the place for maximal wow—your primary bed can be practical!

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For full show notes, visuals, and links to products or reference materials, visit howtodecorate.com.

Transcript

[Caroline]

Welcome to how to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home. I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team.

[Taryn]

And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer.

[Liz]

I'm Liz. I head up the creative team.

[Amy Jordan]

We're your hosts.

[Caroline]

Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks and tales from interior designers, stylists and other talents in the design world.

[Taryn]

Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode.

[Liz]

We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email [e-mail] now on with the show.

[Caroline]

Hi listeners.

[Narrator/Producer]

Welcome back to the show. A little note from our team. We're taking a short summer break in the month of July, but we did not want to leave you without your weekly design inspiration. So we're re airing some of our best and most beloved episodes. If you've heard them before, we think they're worth a re listen. And if you haven't, you don't wanna miss these. Today we're talking about a topic I am personally very passionate about. With the help of our in house bedding expert, we're breaking down everything you need to know to create a beautiful bed. The kind you see in catalogs and wonder how they did that. We're talking about thread counts, materials, how to layer and mix textures, and how to arrange pillows depending on your bed size.

[Caroline]

It's one you don't want to miss.

[Narrator/Producer]

And let's get to the show.

[Caroline]

Okay, so I am very excited about today's episode because this is a topic I'm very passionate about, as you've probably gathered over the years. But we have our in house bedding and boss expert here today. Her name is Amy Jordan. She's been at Ballard for nine years and she is our bedding and bath and soft goods. But for the purposes of this podcast, she's our bedding expert. So she help she with Taryn's team. They design all of the products. They figure out like what are we missing? What do we need? She knows everything about thread counts and materials and mixing and matching. She also designs all of those gorgeous beds in the catalog that have quilts and duvets and shams and they're all perfectly mixed and matched. She picks them all out and so she knows what goes together, what makes the perfect mix. And so we're going to get into everything bedding and bath today. If you're trying to create the perfect little nest for your Guest room or your primary bedroom. We have all the answers for you today. So, Amy, thank you for joining us.

[Amy Jordan]

That was so nice. I feel so good about myself right now.

[Caroline]

You also have two. Okay. I do also think that at some. Probably towards the end of the show, we should talk about kids beds, because I do feel like that is a whole other world. And you have two kids, two little girls, so you might. We can kick that around, too. I think we should start with materials. You're picking out your bedding for your bed. Like, how do you. What I want to talk about the intersection of, like, how you want it to feel when you're sleeping and how you want to bed your bed to look. Because I do feel like sometimes, as we were talking about before the show started, sometimes those things intersect, sometimes they don't.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

And how do you balance that?

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah. So I feel like everybody's dream is to have your bedding look like what you've seen in a catalog or what you saw in some shelter magazine or something like that. And it's tricky because if you're like me, I sleep like, a thousand degrees, so I can't have a sheet, a coverlet, a duvet cover, and a quilt and sleep with all of it and survive. So I think figuring out how you're going to make your bed look pretty while it. Having it function to whatever your needs are is tricky. So either you make it how you want it to look, and then you take half that stuff off every night when you're going to sleep, or you can make your guest room look fabulous and just put your guests through the wringer when they come stay with you.

[Caroline]

Just turn your AC way down.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

I mean, there's differences in materials that some are more breathable and some are a little warmer, and you can make those selections as well. And thinking of duvet inserts, and they make all different kinds of duvet inserts now that are lightweight or heavyweight or fluffy or not as fluffy. So there are some options, but to an extent, I feel like if you're good, if you're going for a look, you're going to have to figure out a way to. To deal with either taking it off or sleeping through these.

[Caroline]

Okay, then what are, like, the main bedding materials, like, for sheets and the bed linen? Yes. And then we can get into, like, inserts and pillows and those type of materials later. But let's start with what are the big ones that you need to know and what are, like, the qualities about them that will help you understand what to Buy.

[Amy Jordan]

So I think for our customer, what we've seen what sells best at Ballard is percale. So percale is a cotton, it's a one over one weave. So meaning there's one thread that, that goes over the warp and one that goes over the weft. And I, I talk to that because that essentially just means it's more breathable. So percale tends to be crisp. Like people always make the compare comparison that it's your crisp white button up shirt. It sleeps cooler, it can wrinkle a little bit. But I, I think sheets have come a long way. They have finishes now and they go through washing processes that can help reduce the wrinkling. But it does tend to wrinkle more than some of the other fabrications. And it doesn't really have a sheen to it. It's fairly flat. And then sateen is the other pretty widely known one. So sateen tends to have a little more of a sheen to it. And the reason that is is it's three yarns woven over every opposite yarn and that gives it that shine. It also makes it warmer because it's a really tight weave. So sateen sheets tend to sleep a little hotter though. They are super smooth. I kind of think sateen has a little bit more of a formal look just because it does have that sheen to it. But that's another one where I feel like now there's a lot of different washes that they can do to a sheet. Where we've got a sheet set at Ballard that is a sateen, but it's been through this wash and it gives it this really, it makes the sheen a little subtle so it doesn't have that look as much. And then linen, of course linen also is super breathable. It's a little more eco friendly, more sustainable in its production, which is always nice and it's actually really strong. So your linen sheets are typically going to last longer than some of your cotton sheets are going to last. But I do think the trick to linen is knowing that it's, it's not always going to feel soft. As soon as you get it, you have to wash it and it just feels better like the more you wash it. But linen for sure is interesting.

[Caroline]

I did not, I am surprised to find that it lasts longer because I feel like linen as an upholstery material is, has the lowest lifespan that I guess just within a country I do

[Amy Jordan]

feel like it's for upholstery. You could see that the deconstruction or the softening of the linen probably didn't lend itself to a sofa. Whereas with your bedding, you're wanting it to get softer and to break down that stiffness.

[Taryn]

And aren't you drying your bedding per se too?

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Yeah. We do have to talk about care. Yeah.

[Taryn]

I was just thinking, I guess on your upholstery you might be like, again, wear. And then, yeah, maybe you're washing a little part of it that got a stain or something and you're not getting. I was just thinking with my linen bedding and I just have the Ballard duvet and shams and it's definitely become even softer for sure. But I dry it. It's tight where I feel like on my upholstery. My linen has opened to your point and got sagged. I don. Anyway, I don't know if that's how you're supposed to care about it, so please fix me there too.

[Amy Jordan]

I care the same way. I'm all for ease. And I do feel like half the time I'm breaking the rules on how they say to take care of it. I'm testing my way into it. Let me just see what happens if I wash it one time because I'd rather not dry clean it. But. So I feel like those are the three, like, most common materials. I think you're seeing some bamboo. Yeah. For sheeting. Some bamboo coming about now. It seems to be a little bit more popular of a material, I think that tends to have the feel of sateen. Like it has a little bit of silkiness to the feel, but it's. It looks a little more casual to me. And then sateen does. And then of course you have. And things like that.

[Caroline]

But those are.

[Amy Jordan]

I feel like those aren't as practical and not common for that reason.

[Caroline]

What about the, like, care of those three? Like we talked about linen and percale being like a little bit wrinkly. How is. Is the care methods of three of those different?

[Amy Jordan]

I think they're fairly similar. I think I'm not as big of an expert on this. I feel like. But I do feel like linen. You're supposed to be careful with bleach, that you can really damage the fiber if you're bleaching it, which for me I like. I. I love white bedding because I have a dog and I have kids. And you can just bleach everything out of it so that I think if you do bleach, it's possible it's just going to break down faster. You'll get holes in it eventually, but it Might be a word if you're

[Caroline]

talking about, like, actual bleach. Like, oxiclean doesn't really count as bleach, does it?

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, yeah. Do you feel like OxiClean works better? I'm torn on this.

[Caroline]

Oh, I love Oxiclean, dude. If we get cancer, it's because of

[Taryn]

this.

[Caroline]

Is.

[Taryn]

It's. No, I.

[Caroline]

We used.

[Amy Jordan]

I need the tricks. I need. But it works. One of the cleaning experts and find out all these tricks for getting stains out.

[Caroline]

Yeah, we do need. That's a good idea. We should have a cleaning expert. Oh, that'd be amazing. Next time.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Okay. What about. Okay, those are sheeting materials, but I feel like there's a little bit more variety in terms of like your coverlets, your comforters, the duvet.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, I feel like those are still mostly what you're going to see for duvet. I feel like duvet covers match back to the sheeting materials for the most part. Ours do especially. But. But I do think coverlets and quilts, you then get into some different materials. So coverlets, I think most of ours are probably cotton. Woven cottons may have some linen coverlets. I feel like that's definitely a trend right now, is having a linen bed spreader coverlet that drifts or floats all the way down to the floor. So we're starting to see that. But for the most part that's. It's cotton or linen. I think for coverlets and then for quilts, they tend to be thinner fabrics because you have that fill. So you're not wanting a super thick fabric plus a fill plus a super thick fabric. It's going to be too hot. So I think a lot of quilts are out of lighter weight. Cottons or a linen. Cotton blend. Some linens, I don't think you'll see as many sateens there. It'd be pretty hot. And then you can have different fills, too. For your quilt. Quilts, they can be a cotton fill or they can be a polyfill. And those both have different properties, like as far as how fluffy they are, how warm they are, how tightly you can quilt with them.

[Taryn]

I have questions only because as you dive into this. So quilt has a fill. Duvet is where you put an insert, a coverlet. What's the difference between a mat, let's say, and a coverlet? Or is it is a mat, let's say, a coverlet? I don't know what it is.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, gosh. I think a matlab, they can qualify as a coverlet, but it's a More specific construction. Whereas to me, like a coverlet, I think you can get away with a lot of things being classified as a coverlet. Like the linen one that I'm talking about is essentially like a flat sheet. Yeah. It's like a blanket. I definitely think a coverlet can have fill. It just tends to be super thin.

[Taryn]

Okay.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah. So I think in general, a coverlet is going to be a lot lighter in weight than a quilt and physically than.

[Taryn]

Okay.

[Caroline]

And it's interesting you mentioned the quilt having a fill. Cause I guess I always think of a quilt as just being like a flat. I think of quilting things together. I didn't realize, obviously I knew there was a fill because I have quilts and there's a layer in between. Like it's three layers, right. There's like the thin, soft and then there's like the fill of it. I always think of it as being like things being quilted.

[Amy Jordan]

I guess there are quilts that would not have fill. Like a kantha quilt from India is typically saris woven together and they may have some other material, but they're thin. So it's not even. It wouldn't even be a material. I think it's fabric that they weave in between those. And so it tends to be really thin, but it's not. Doesn't have a cotton or a poly.

[Caroline]

Poly. Okay, let's talk about layering your bed. Okay. Where do you start? What do you think of as the bare bones of what you need? And then maybe we can go from there in terms of making it like, let's get all the way to a full on catalog bed with a million layers. Probably impractical to sleep with, but it looks beautiful.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, of course, the bare minimum would be sheets, a sheet set, a duvet cover, or a quilt or a coverlet. If you go with. I think it's easier to get a good looking, more professional looking bed if you're using a duvet that has the volume to it and it gives your bed this like lofty, dreamy look to it. I think it's harder to make your bed look beautiful when you're working with really thin layers. It's possible for sure, but. But I do feel like that's a harder look to achieve without just the most perfectly designed bedding for your bed. It's all the right length, et cetera, et cetera. So I generally will do sheets, a duvet cover, and then layer from there. Typically your duvet cover, you're going to buy at least one Set of shams that kind of coordinates, or it doesn't have to coordinate, but a set of shams that's not pillowcase. But we can get into pillow arrangements later too, because I think sometimes people will just do sheets, a couple of stacked pillowcases, and call it a day, and then just have a top of bed duvet cover or cover letter quilt. But yeah, generally I think you'll see that people want to match their shams to, to whatever's more at the foot of the bed.

[Caroline]

Okay, so you got your sheets, you have a duvet cover and matching shapes. Got it. What's next?

[Amy Jordan]

That's the bare minimum. Then I would say you could either do a coverlet under the duvet cover and really to style that, I would typically pull the duvet cover down, fold it down so it's on half of the bed, or you can fold it down just some to show a peak of that coverlet at the top. But you do, you're adding a coverlet not just for comfort, but to have maybe a contrast color or just something to break up the whole duvet. Because I tend to think if you've got a bed that only has one duvet on it, it's just this big blob that's really distracting in the room. It's nice to have it broken up and that color broken up. So I think that's one option. Or of course, a lot of people like to drape things more at the foot of the bed to have a quilt or something that's got some movement to it. So a quilt or a coverlet that's draped at the foot of the bed if you'd rather have it there. And maybe that's easier for somebody that's doing it more for a look and not for, for warmth or for function.

[Liz]

Okay, so I learned a term yesterday when we were looking at photography.

[Amy Jordan]

We did too.

[Liz]

The corner of whatever you have draped over the end, you have a quilt draped over the edge of the bed. It's called the bell.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, the bell of the bed.

[Liz]

Like a fold that kind of makes a, an outer triangle over the corner.

[Caroline]

Does that make sense?

[Liz]

But when you drape the, you drape the quilt over the edge of the foot of the bed, pull out the corners like a triangle and makes a triangle fold at the end so that if you have corner detailing on your duvet or quilt, that you can see that. So like we have the Greek key bedding and we always like to show that, like that corner detail there. And that's. That's how you.

[Caroline]

So there's a certain way you have to make it in order to show that.

[Liz]

So you pop that corner out a bit.

[Amy Jordan]

And I feel like that's a way to show from a catalog. When you're photographing bedding, it's so hard for us to show the way something feels. And so you want. If it's perfectly crisp in all the corners, you don't really get an idea of, like, how it drapes. And I feel like the bell of the bed helps show, like, how something drapes. And if it's thin or thick and it's just a pretty moment.

[Liz]

Yeah, I think it does. That's just. It makes a pretty moment. Almost like when you are getting dressed and you have a beautiful skirt on or something like that, and you, like, floof it out, and it's just. Yeah, it's just really beautiful. Yeah, it's a nice touch.

[Caroline]

Then you add, like, a coverlet or something. What should one think about when they're mixing materials? If you've done a. Like a percale sheet and duvet, like, do you need to add that texture of a quilt or, like, a waffle, or should you keep it?

[Amy Jordan]

No, I definitely think it's nice to add texture. Something that really changes the look. And break again, breaks that, like, monotony of one duvet cover across the bed. I think textures are having a moment right now. We certainly have introduced a lot more textures. And the waffle is back. I think that went away for a while. Yeah, I definitely think it's to your point. Nice to introduce some texture. And that can also happen not necessarily through the way something is woven, but the way it's quilted. But if you're not adding texture, I think you can add pattern. If you've got a solid duvet cover, you can add some. Just an accent of pattern. If you didn't want something too loud for your room, it's a good spot to just have an accent of something without fully committing to that look. For a bedroom.

[Caroline]

I like what you said earlier about if you only have a duvet, it's just like a big blob. I feel like if you look through bedding images, like just beautiful beds, it ten. It tends to be. At least the bed is cut in half. Usually I would say it's cut in thirds. So, like, you have your sheets at the top, like, close to the headboard with your pillows. And then you've got, like, your middle third. Sorry, I'm making gestures. You've got, like, your middle third, which Is maybe like your quilted or your pattern or something. And then you have the fluffy duvet at the bottom third.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Because especially if you have a king, that's a lot of real estate. And if it's just one solid material. Yeah, it looks like. It looks weird. I don't know.

[Amy Jordan]

I think some of that depends on your room. If you've got a loud room or you have tons of art or wallpaper or something, then it may be great for you to have just something really simple and classic. But I'm sure most of us probably have a solid color on the wall, a piece of art here or there. So it's nice to have something on the bed, but it's. It's a lot if it's all one pattern or one color. And I think that's another thing too, is maybe there's. I think if you really looked at catalogs and shelter magazines and the way beds are styled, probably something that customers wouldn't immediately think was. I think customers tend to buy duvet cover, matching shams, throw it on the bed, and think that's like, that's it. That you can be done there. But I think what really makes the bed feel special is when you are mixing and matching and breaking up that pattern. So that's really how we show things in our catalog. It's how we sell it. It's how we've created our whole bedding collection is focusing in on colors that are consistent across different collections. To. To pick a pattern that goes with this pattern and know that the colors are going to mix together because it looks good on the bed. To have a break in the eye. Like you said, the bed's split into thirds, and it's nice to just not have all over pattern. It's a lot to have just everything be the same, but to each their own. I mean, sometimes. Sometimes that's also a look where you'll see drapery, wallpaper, bedding, all in the same. All in the same pattern.

[Taryn]

How do I layer my pillows when you're talking about this? Because do I stack them? Do I put them in front of each other? Which way are these. Which way are my pillows supposed to go? I'm so confused.

[Amy Jordan]

There's no supposed to. I feel like there's a million options. We have thought about, could we put together some kind of simple cheat sheet for customers? If you have a queen, you can do two standard pillows in the back and you can have two euros in the front and then some kind of throw pillow accent in front of that. Or you can do the euros in the back and you can do your standard pillows in the front. I feel like king beds. I love to see €3 all the way across the front. I feel like that's so clean looking and it has a real tailored look to it. But I think this to your question, stacked pillows in the back, I feel like that tends to have a little more of a. You tend to see that, like on a more modern looking bed, a little less traditional.

[Caroline]

Okay, here's. Here's my thought on those stacked pillows, though. I feel like that only looks good if your pillows are like fluffy. Brand new and fluffy.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Like, you know what I mean?

[Amy Jordan]

It can't be like loose and sloppy looking.

[Caroline]

I don't know, I just feel like my, personally, my pillows, maybe they need a refresh, but they don't look great like that. I don't know. I feel like they only look like that in pictures. I like them stand it up better. Anyway. Sorry, continue.

[Amy Jordan]

But I feel like even, like upright can be tricky sometimes.

[Taryn]

Sometimes the flange, because I want mine

[Amy Jordan]

to be super upright. Oh, yeah.

[Caroline]

But that's where the euro helps. The euro helps them stay upright, stay up.

[Taryn]

Yeah, yeah.

[Caroline]

It's like extra support.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, that's a good point. So get a fluffy pillow if you're gonna do the stack. Okay.

[Taryn]

And then if I want to do. This is a personal choice, right? If I want to do €3 versus 2 king shams on a king bed.

[Amy Jordan]

Yes. And I think you could do all of it. Your husband might hate you and think

[Caroline]

you're ridiculous, but hey, you know what?

[Liz]

I've got my husband on board now with pillows.

[Amy Jordan]

Do you?

[Liz]

Yeah, it's like.

[Caroline]

It's like a whole.

[Liz]

I have no idea. I kind of put too many on the bed at one point. And then we compromised and found a good place where we are right now. So we've got two kings.

[Caroline]

Two.

[Liz]

And then our standard pillows and then a long lumbar and then two little, little velvet lumbars. That kind of.

[Amy Jordan]

That's a lot of pillows. So did you have more than that at some point?

[Liz]

I think we did. I think we did. And I think that the lumbar was the one that made it all okay. Because it's just putting one and it

[Amy Jordan]

can double as a body pillow, which is nice. Yeah, I love a long lumbar. I feel like it's such a clean, easy look for. And finished. I think that really started as a designer custom product, you know, so it's got this elevated look that you used to Only see in magazines and such. And now it's. Now it's. Now you can buy it elsewhere. It's nice.

[Taryn]

But.

[Caroline]

But to your point, it has a functional.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Thing. Because it's just the one.

[Amy Jordan]

Or if it doesn't, it's just one pillow that you can remove. And it's not like eight throw pillows that you then have to toss off the bed.

[Liz]

Right. Listen, it worked for me. It somehow turned his mind around. Even though it was just one less pillow.

[Amy Jordan]

It worked great.

[Taryn]

I was gonna say I wish the lumbar was part of that. The norm of bedding now. Cause I do love the really long lumbars and the way they look. So to your point, yes, they're more readily available, but I do wish they were part of that. Like where you're like, oh, and then I have to get the lumb bar. Cause anyway, it just looks so good.

[Amy Jordan]

Like you wish it was available in the same pattern as the bedding or just you wish it was more readily available in everything.

[Taryn]

In everything. That's what I meant. Just the general.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Taryn]

I want one on every bed.

[Amy Jordan]

I feel like it's getting there. Yep. Yeah.

[Caroline]

See, I like having. I don't want my lumbar to match back to the bedding. I want the lumbar to be like the accent. Like mine is like a velvet. Like a cut velvet designer fabric. Because I often feel like your bedroom has less fabric vehicles than like your. And I just. I guess I like more pattern mixing. But like your living room, you've got like a rug, your sofa, the chairs, the drapes, like the pillows. And there's less of that in the bedroom. And so I want to like get a cool, funky pattern or something in there anyway.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, No, I agree. My lumbar is not.

[Taryn]

I'm.

[Amy Jordan]

I feel like I'm in a very anti matchy stage. I can really appreciate that look, but for my own house, I don't do it as much. Yeah, I like a really layered pattern. Pattern on pattern. Lots of different patterns. And Heidi who do. It's Heidi Kalyer. I don't know if I'm saying her last name right. Her. The way she makes a bed is like my dream bed.

[Taryn]

What is everyone's dream bed designer. That's a good one, but a hard one.

[Caroline]

You know who I love? Katie Ritter has great beds. She has a lot of color and a lot of pattern on her beds. So she like does a lot.

[Taryn]

She has a formula though.

[Caroline]

She does have a formula.

[Amy Jordan]

What's the formula?

[Caroline]

She always uses a Quilt. She's really into quilts. So sometimes she'll mix two quilts. She definitely does like almost every bed I feel like has a quilt sheets turned down. The sheets have the colored border that coordinates to the quilt. I think she does everything probably custom because she's amazing. But and then. And same with the duvet. Like the duvet has an unusual embroidered trim that has whether it's like a spicy orange that has cement. But yeah it. But it is very tailor.

[Taryn]

Everything is under the mattress.

[Caroline]

Yes.

[Taryn]

And then she has a covered box spring and or skirt.

[Caroline]

Yes. And she did mention on our podcast episode that she's really particular particular about the type of mattress that she gets them custom made for her clients because she finds that mattresses are too deep. Thick. Yeah, they're too deep and they look weird.

[Taryn]

What's the standard depth of a that a mattress should be for our bedding?

[Amy Jordan]

There is no standard depth. Our sheet sets are super generous with the fitted sheet. If you read the reviews on our sheet sets they're really meant to. They have a really deep pocket. They're meant to accommodate the wide range of mattress steps that are available now. I think the challenge for me is and we've had a few complaints and even like people around the office address my husband nuts too is king size duvet covers. Getting your king size duvet cover to reach the bottom of the mattress. It's a challenge because mattresses are so tall now and a king size typically is using the widest width fabric that you can weave. So that's why there's like a limit to how long a king's A big cover can drape because the machines that weave the fabric are only so wide. So then you're either adding a seam to get extra length which not everybody really wants a seam or you're stuck with something that's a little shorter. So the mattress people really just want to get on board with that is

[Taryn]

actually that was one of my questions was going to be I hate that my coverlet. It's just not is not long enough and so long enough to Caroline was saying about Katie Ritter I have to tuck it in to make my bed look finished because otherwise it's just like an inch like long where it like now hits my bed rail that's upholstered and anyway it looks weird so it needs to be tucked in but there's not enough to tuck or barely. And then I'm and then on a king two which is a 76 by 80 or whatever, it's almost a square so when you're making your bed, you're like, which way is which?

[Amy Jordan]

Which way? I know.

[Caroline]

I have a.

[Taryn]

Okay.

[Caroline]

I have a theory slash tip, and I want to see if Amy confirms it. Okay. My. I think that the tag is always in the bottom right corner.

[Amy Jordan]

For every vendor or for Ballard?

[Taryn]

Both. That's what, you know, I don't know

[Caroline]

about for Ballard, but for both, I feel like standard typically. So that's how I'm like, okay. If I find the. The tag is in the bottom right corner, so that's how I know which orientation. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's.

[Amy Jordan]

I've seen a few that have a tag that says helps you or orient your bedding. This is the bottom. That's what I mean. Yeah.

[Caroline]

Amy, is that true or not?

[Amy Jordan]

It's true for Ballard, but I don't know.

[Taryn]

So you would place. Okay. I doubt.

[Caroline]

I found it to be pretty standard. Yeah, I found it to be pretty standard. Now, granted, for the last nine years. Because I've been at Ballard nine years too. I Ballard beddings. Although I do sometimes get Garnet Hill. Sometimes Garnet Hill, I feel like it's okay.

[Amy Jordan]

Sister brand.

[Caroline]

So, yes, ours is always bottom, so I do feel like that is an

[Amy Jordan]

easy way to remember.

[Narrator/Producer]

Okay.

[Caroline]

No. Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

But then you have to find the tag. Yeah, I'm with you, Taryn.

[Caroline]

It's easier to find the tag the first time than to put your bedding on the wrong way and then have to redo it.

[Amy Jordan]

I have also watched our video on doing a box. Or not a box spring cover, but a fitted sheet. And I still can't.

[Caroline]

I still can't make it.

[Amy Jordan]

I don't know if I'm just not remembering it, but it still ends up being sloppy. It'll never be as neat as yours, Caroline.

[Taryn]

Oh, she could. She's. She is.

[Caroline]

I'm very particular about bed making. I will say.

[Taryn]

So what are we supposed to do on the box spring, by the way? Because you brought that up. What are we supposed to be doing on box springs?

[Amy Jordan]

Covering them.

[Taryn]

We're supposed to sheet them. What's supposed to happen? Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, on the box spring. Okay. Yes, I do think. I think if your box spring is visible, which I think a lot of them are, now that we're sort of, like, moving towards beds and away from headboards, I feel like people are tending to buy more beds now. Either get a box spring that's a low profile, that's not visible, which may help some of your challenges. With making your bed if you have a really deep mattress, but if you have a box spring already and it's showing, you don't want to buy a new one, which would probably be me, then. Yeah, just get a box spring cover and a really simple fabric. I think a basic. No.

[Caroline]

Box springs are so cheap.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, they are cheap.

[Caroline]

It would probably be cheaper to buy a new box spring rather than buy some box spring cover to buy a custom one. Yes.

[Amy Jordan]

But you can get a pretty cheap box spring.

[Taryn]

What is the purpose of a box spring?

[Amy Jordan]

To provide extra support for your mattress so that it's not going to sag. They're starting to make mattresses now that don't need them if you've got a platform bed or something. But in general, it's to just provide additional support for your mattress.

[Caroline]

You can. I do. I'm fully in support of the low profile box spring. It's so much easier. I also like my bed being lower to the ground better than. It's so high.

[Liz]

Yeah. See, I'm. Yeah. So Labor Day was just this past weekend. I was like, oh, I'm gonna go look for a box spring and maybe I'll get. Yeah. And then my husband was like, what are you doing? I was like, I want. And he's. No, like.

[Caroline]

So we're.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, how.

[Taryn]

Box spring, which we got almost just a year and a half ago, was the one with. That's all metal. And then you put a sleeve around it. So you build it. It's all metal framing. And then you just.

[Caroline]

Yeah, it comes like.

[Taryn]

Yeah. When Bob ordered it, it was easy. And it's so easy to lift because we. I had my rugs clean last week, and I just put my rug back under my bed. And of course, we tried to put it under the bed the first time with the bed and the mattress all on, and was like, this is actually impossible. We're gonna get divorced. So we took the mattress off, took the bedding off, and I was. You take the box spring, and it, like, flies because it's just literally the most light aluminum. But it can. But it holds the bed or the mattress great. I was just shocked. That was all. I was like, what is this? I remember when he bought it being like, no, this isn't a box spring.

[Caroline]

No, honey, this is.

[Amy Jordan]

It's really inventive the way they've done this. Yeah. Cheap shipping.

[Caroline]

I am with you, Taryn. And I'm so glad people are buying more beds instead of headboards. I personally find that to be a key element of Making my bed look better and like the bed making process easier. I just think it looks so much better. I don't know if there's anything more annoying than a bed. So skirt that like it moves around, it's like up an inch on one side and too saggy on one side. Like it just.

[Taryn]

It.

[Caroline]

Oh my gosh. Like it gets dog hair on it, then it gets wrinkled in one place. Washing it is a freaking nightmare.

[Amy Jordan]

You gotta iron it.

[Caroline]

I hate them. Yeah, you have to hire it. I hate them with a passion.

[Amy Jordan]

I mean, I love. So visually, I love it if you have a bed skirt that really has an amazing pattern on it or the pattern coordinates to the headboard or it's actually a thought out design detail. But if that's not your look, then I'm with you. A bed, so much easier.

[Caroline]

Yeah. But even if like. Okay, if you do an upholstered bed, just get the upholstered bed rails, you know?

[Amy Jordan]

Okay. I come. I. My house has a lack of storage. I value my under bed.

[Taryn]

That's a great. I also just have hand me down headboards that I'm like, we're making these happen.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

I still have a headboard that I made 10 years ago with my dad. Yeah, like. Like one of those like DIY project. Awesome.

[Caroline]

Yeah.

[Taryn]

Okay. So we went over box springs. Is there anything. Yeah. Is there any tricks or tips on the skirts in play keeping a skirt in place?

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, keeping the skirt in place. I'm sure there are. I mean, I would think you could velcro it or to the box spring, have double sided Velcro or something like that. But I feel like

[Caroline]

it's like a. It's like a little screw that screws into. I think you have to have a wood. Yeah, kind of.

[Liz]

That makes sense.

[Amy Jordan]

But you'd have to have a wood in the spring. Oh yeah.

[Liz]

Because they're. Because it's like a little corkscrew.

[Taryn]

Yeah.

[Liz]

Explorer.

[Taryn]

Growing up and I was a very old explorer. And the top, the top part of my car, the roofing of the inside roofing, it like billowed with the windows down because it was that old. And so I had. Yes. The corkscrew screw things that went up into the ceiling of my car. That's the last time we used them. That's a great tip.

[Caroline]

Those things are great. I don't find them to be that effective. But it's been a while. I tried it once and it didn't work out great for me. But maybe I was doing it wrong.

[Amy Jordan]

Maybe the bed skirt goes in guests not used often.

[Caroline]

Yeah, yeah. Like where you're not making a degree.

[Amy Jordan]

Exactly.

[Narrator/Producer]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

The moral of the story is put all the effort into the guest room for the really wow moment and then make the king bedroom very easy to do.

[Liz]

Just keep walking past the guest room being.

[Caroline]

Yeah.

[Taryn]

That leads perfectly to what are we doing for our kids rooms and rooms that, again, are getting a little more beaten. What are we using material wise and layering.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah. I'm a big fan of the European style where there's no sheet. There's a flat sheet, there's a duvet cover. I'm not having to wash as much with my kids, but personally, they're three and a half and five. They don't know how to make their beds. But I'm. I don't like it looking sloppy, so I want it to be made so it's a little bit easier for them if they just have the duvet that they pull up and call it a day.

[Caroline]

Okay, so then how often are you washing the duvet cover? Because that's my only question about the European methods. I hate restuffing the duvet covers. Then do I have to restock the duvet more often?

[Amy Jordan]

I probably wash them, like, every, depending on what kind of what's happening in the bed. I don't know. Every, like, couple of weeks probably. Yeah, every week, too. I feel like the flat sheet's what's really getting beat up. So that's getting washed a bunch. But we also have. At our house, we have a, like a lofted bed set up. Their beds are on top of each other, and Daisy's is lofted, so her mattress is, like, sunken into. It's got, like a cutout with wood all around it.

[Liz]

I've been there with that.

[Amy Jordan]

I love it. It's. It was. It's like my dream bedroom. I always wanted something like that, like that as a kid, but making that bed and getting it remade is.

[Liz]

It's tough. Yeah.

[Caroline]

Yeah.

[Taryn]

So what are you. So what are you putting in your kids du base? What is the actual insert?

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, I just have, like, a pretty lightweight. My kids sleep pot. I feel like a lot of kids probably sleep hot. So it's just like a lightweight polyester insert. Something.

[Taryn]

I didn't know if there was a certain thing we should be putting inside our duvets and what are our options of what we put inside the duvet? Anything.

[Amy Jordan]

I feel like you're putting your duvet insert in there, and so you can typically choose from, like, a down, which can be a Blend of down. And that pricing on that can vary so wildly, it's crazy.

[Taryn]

I have no clue how to buy them. Yeah. I have no clue how to even understand down when I look at those websites.

[Caroline]

Sure.

[Amy Jordan]

I think that's a personal preference. To me, I would never buy, like, a down pillow to sleep on. There's not any structure. It drives me nuts. I feel like you're, like, folding it to get the proper fill. And I think the same thing with the duvet insert. It feels nice, but it moves a lot. So I feel like polyester fill was introduced for function purposes, and it maintains.

[Taryn]

Is that what seems a little better?

[Amy Jordan]

It doesn't move much. Quilt could be polyester or cotton. Yeah. So if it's like a really fluffy quilt, it's usually polyester. Because it's not. It doesn't move as much. You can. Like, if you have a polyfill, you can have a really open quilting pattern. But if it's a cotton fill, it's gotta be really tight or else it starts to shift and move around. So with down, if you're. If the square's in an insert in the down insert are too big, all the down will be, like, in the bottom right corner. And you feel like you have to give it, like, a fluff to spread that out. So I feel like that's where polyester is different versus not having that battle.

[Caroline]

Yeah, we.

[Amy Jordan]

So we have a rental property, like an Airbnb, and we do have a signature scent, and it's a lavender essential oil that you spray on the beds. And we have gotten comments on it from customers or from renters, but we haven't ruled it out at our own house.

[Caroline]

Positive ones.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, it's pretty mild. It's not like a. It's not super overwhelming.

[Taryn]

So people do that.

[Amy Jordan]

It's like a subtle scent, but the

[Caroline]

only thing I ever do is. And I don't have these all the time, but Trader Joe's sells these lavender, like, laundry sashes, pouches, things, I don't know. Sachet. Yeah. So sometimes I pick those up. That's like the only time I ever.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

You put them in the dry or you actually put it in.

[Caroline]

No, you just throw it in dryer. And it. You can use like four times or something. So sometimes I'll do that if I'm

[Taryn]

feeling for the guest.

[Caroline]

Yeah, I'll throw one of those in with the. When you're driving? No, for myself. I actually don't have a guest room right now because we have three bedrooms and two kids.

[Amy Jordan]

I'M gonna bunk them up. And it's probably more of a need to figure that out. I feel like people don't. Fewer people are using dryer sheets now. Like we've figured out they're bad for the environment, they're not great for yourself.

[Caroline]

Skin.

[Amy Jordan]

That used to be how my thing smelled good, but now everything's fragrance free and so it's nice to have a nice scent without.

[Caroline]

Yeah, I just feel like if I have clean sheets, they've recently washed, then I'm good. I don't need to add like a whole other. My, my bed making situation is elaborate enough. I don't need.

[Taryn]

Okay, another question.

[Caroline]

Signature scent. But I do love the idea, especially at a vacation spot.

[Taryn]

And how often should we be washing? Speaking of care, like, how often are you washing?

[Amy Jordan]

I feel like there's probably one answer for maintaining your sheets and one answer for being clean, you know?

[Taryn]

No, I totally, I think maintaining your

[Amy Jordan]

sheets, you're probably not supposed to wash them as much, but most people will be like, wash them once a week. Yeah.

[Taryn]

Sheets last.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, I, I, I think linen sheets can last up to five years. I think cotton sheets are going to go a lot quicker than that. And again, I think it depends on the use too. Guest bedroom versus master versus kids room.

[Taryn]

How many sheet sets should we have per bed?

[Amy Jordan]

I just have two. You wash one, you put the other on, just flip them and I keep them under my bed, under the bed skirt.

[Caroline]

That's true. The storage thing is nice.

[Amy Jordan]

It really is. Although I guess I make beds now that have drawers too. Like good looking upholstered beds that have functional drawers. But yeah, yeah, we have very little space and we have kids that have big bulky toys and all of our closets are taken, so we use that space when we can.

[Caroline]

Yeah. Do we need to talk about bed making? Because I do feel like I, I don't know, I'm very. I want to hear how you're making it.

[Taryn]

Yeah, I want to hear this from Caroline. What is your particular.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, what's, what are your hang ups?

[Narrator/Producer]

Okay.

[Caroline]

I want the flat sheet to be placed on the bed upside down so that when you then fold down the edge, the proper side is facing up. So that's something I'm really specific about. And also especially in our house now our bed is at the very end centered of a long hallway that I pass hundreds of times a day. So I want it to look good because I'm seeing it a lot.

[Amy Jordan]

Yep, ours is the same.

[Caroline]

I also like to fold the duvet down in Thirds, but so that the edge that should be at the headboard is facing the headboard. You know what I'm saying?

[Taryn]

Like.

[Caroline]

Oh.

[Amy Jordan]

Like you zigzag it. Sort of like you pull it down all the way and then you bring the third way back up. Yeah.

[Caroline]

So that way in the middle of the night, if I'm cold, I can just grab the leading edge and I don't have to, like, you don't have

[Liz]

to think about it. You go back and sleep.

[Taryn]

I do the hair.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

So if you fold it in thirds, then you don't have to do that.

[Amy Jordan]

The other. The conundrum for us is our dog sleeps on our bed, and so she's usually weighing it down. And I'm like, get off the duvet.

[Caroline]

I'm cold. Yeah.

[Taryn]

Move.

[Caroline]

So recently I started making it to where, like, you fold it down. Like I used to divide it in thirds.

[Amy Jordan]

Exactly.

[Caroline]

You know what I'm saying? So it'd be like a third little

[Taryn]

an S. It was like an S pile.

[Caroline]

Yeah. An S. There you go. Now I'll do it down.

[Taryn]

Are you making it so.

[Caroline]

So there's a bit. There's. It's really folded in half, but the top half is in a third.

[Liz]

Right.

[Caroline]

So that way when our dog gets on the bed, she's not getting on, like, she's at the base folded part. She's just at the bottom. So it's like you fold it back just a little bit and then back again.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Taryn]

I love that you are. What other particulars do you have? This is gold. I love this.

[Caroline]

I like it to all be tucked, so that's another reason.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, you like your duvet cover to be tucked.

[Caroline]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. The quilt and the thing, it needs to all be tucked and tucked. Like I like a military or a hospital corner.

[Amy Jordan]

Are your corners visible or do your duvet cover them?

[Caroline]

No, it's into. Well, so I have an upholstered bed and then the low profile box spring. And so it. It all is tucked under and you can't see any of it. You really only see, like the top.

[Amy Jordan]

Okay. I just meant are your military corners visible or does your duvet cover. So that's just for like, personal. I know it looks so it stays.

[Caroline]

I hate when it comes out.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Cause then, like, you're. And then when you have to make it again and you have to retuck it again. So if you do the military corner when you make it the first time, then it's stays longer, you know what I'm saying? It doesn't come out okay. My other thing that I did recently was, and I mentioned this on one of our trials and trials, I was fixating on the sham insert. Okay. And Liz is what we were talking about. It's if you have a full. If you have a pretty flange on your sham, how do you get that to stand up and look nice without having. I'm not going to iron. Like, that's a no go for me. And I'm. But I want it to sit up. Right. So getting a sham insert that has a higher fill than regular or a bigger size or both, so that the sham is more filled out. And so this all sort of came about because my mom had a relative who's a designer, help her do the bed in the guest room where I sleep and I go home. And the sham, the Euro sham, is like super. It looks amazing when it's up there. So I was like, okay, what? But this is clearly like double the amount of feathers or whatever than what my normal standard has. So that's what sort of got me down going this rabbit hole. But I did find. Okay, so just. I'm sure that anyone has like a regular fabric shop, but you can go into the fabric shop. I went into like four size fabrics here. Because you can test out the different shams and say, okay, this one has. You can feel the difference. Your Euro Sham is what, 24 inches? 26 inches?

[Amy Jordan]

Usually.

[Caroline]

Yeah. 26. Okay. So go up to a 28 inch. But there is a difference between 28 inch inserts. They don't all have the same amount of feathers in them. Depending on how much they cost and what. Blah, blah, blah. The one that I found is like super full, but it's still 28 inch. And y', all, it looks amazing.

[Amy Jordan]

The 2 inches bigger is like a designer trade secret, not just with bedding, but with pillow inserts. Yeah. So like at Ballard, that's how we sell them. We sell all of our pillows. If you're going to buy the insert with them 2 inches bigger.

[Caroline]

2 inches bigger. But we don't. But if you buy it. But if you buy Euro sham insert.

[Amy Jordan]

Yes. The 28 inch is harder to find.

[Caroline]

Yeah, yeah. So you have to be intentional about finding the 28.

[Amy Jordan]

I do think a euro insert and a pillow insert, they tend to have thicker. They're more densely filled than an accent pillow. I think the accent pillow tends to have a lighter fill, which is where you really have to go bigger on the insert to get that like luxurious look to it. But I do Feel like in general, pillows have a little bit thicker of

[Caroline]

a fill to them for the, like a sham insert. Yeah, that's sold as a sham.

[Amy Jordan]

Exactly.

[Caroline]

Yeah. I guess my thing on it was just like, don't. It seems as though you can just cheap out on the insert because you're not seeing it. But I do feel like the look and feel of the sham itself is not going to look right if you don't have the right insert.

[Liz]

So don't skip on that even though

[Amy Jordan]

you don't see it.

[Caroline]

Yeah, I mean, I look, I, I tried some Amazon inserts, you know, just like, okay, I'm just going to size up, but they just didn't look right. So I think the pillows, I don't know, is something that I want the Euro sham to like stand up. I want the flange to be right. So the thing that we were talking about with our co worker, I sent. I found this video online and it talks about how if you're making your bed and you're fluffing your pillow, most of the time people will turn the pillow upside down, fluff it and shake it, and then they'll. They're holding the corners and they're shaking it and like all the pillows are going to the bottom of the insert and then they're standing it up with the more empty corners at the top. Oh, when you should do the reverse.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

You shake it and then you flip it upside down.

[Amy Jordan]

Sometimes kind of like tuck the corners utter to like under to really keep it tight.

[Taryn]

Right?

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

And then you stand up. The pillows that you just shut, you shook all of the pillows down to the bottom and then you turn the bottom upside down and the bottom is what sticks up. And that'll make your flange stick up more.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Liz]

Okay, so we need our pillows.

[Narrator/Producer]

Yes.

[Taryn]

Thank you, Liz. There's a lot of hand motions no one can see.

[Amy Jordan]

It's hard to describe.

[Caroline]

I don't know. I can link to the video in the show notes.

[Amy Jordan]

I think if you're hung up too on your flanges, like wanting them to be upright, then you should look for something that has a small flange that is easier to have them stand upright. Whereas if you've got like a two or a three inch flange, they're going to flop unless you're adding some kind of stiffener, like they're going to flop.

[Liz]

But if you have decorative edge, like our scallop, like you want that to

[Caroline]

stand up, you want that to show and be pretty.

[Amy Jordan]

You do. And I think, I think you Got to get strategic with how you're placing your pillows. I'll use the headboard to help my pillows stand up. If it's a flange that I want, like, I've leaned the pillows more or used, like, a Euro pillow to help, like, the standard pillows stand up.

[Taryn]

I stayed in a bed recently that had a not so great quality sham. Anyway, point being is I went to use the pillow that was the actual sham, and it had a big flange and there was plastic in it. And.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, yeah, there was a.

[Taryn]

There was literally a piece of plastic within it. And I was like, I can't sleep with this. It literally had a hard. But it makes sense. Somebody really want whoever that manufacturer or whatever that flange was standing up. But I was like, absolutely not. I will not be using this pillow

[Caroline]

because it was, like a hard piece

[Taryn]

of plastic in your pillow. So.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Yeah, I like your tricks better.

[Taryn]

Was the main point of me telling you that.

[Caroline]

Yeah, I was gonna just say that, like, our beds and our photos are all smoke and mirrors because what they do to make that flange stand up, they literally put duct tape behind the. The pillow flange to make it, like, to give it the flat, perfect, perfect edge to it. Yeah. It's just.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Liz]

And our big, fluffy duvets are actually two inserts.

[Caroline]

Oh, yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

Actually, so this is a good topic, I feel like, because we do the same trick at the retail store. People are always like, how do you get your bed? Still, if someone catches me at the retail store styling a bed, it's almost without fail, every time I've been there,

[Caroline]

someone asks, how do you get them

[Amy Jordan]

to be so fluffy? And it's almost always because we've double stuffed the duvet insert. So that's just another example of something that could work for the guest room. Or if you're really not sleeping with the duvet, then it looks great. Do it. Go for it. Double stuff it.

[Caroline]

But I've done. I did it.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Liz]

You double stuff.

[Caroline]

Yes, I did double stuff. I bought two of the lightest duvets. So I have, like, two light ones because. And, yeah, I think in the summer, it just. It is too much most of the time, but in the winter, I think it'll be great, actually, because it's going to be as cold anyway. But. But, yeah, but I normally wouldn't sleep with the duvet. It just stays folded at the end of the day.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

At night.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Because it's summer.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Well, okay, let's talk about. Let's talk about seasons because we're coming up on fall, how then do you change out your bed for the seat? Do you just add more layers to it and that's good. Or quite honestly, I don't do.

[Amy Jordan]

I don't change mine that much because the inside of my house basically stays between 68 and 72 or 75 or whatever your range is. I don't typically feel like I'm having to change my layers that much, but I like to change my pillows up and I'll change a throw to give it a different vibe. But yeah, people that live up north, where you actually are having trouble maybe keeping your house a little bit on the warmer side, probably add in a blanket or a coverlet layer or may even switch up the duvet insert. Duvet inserts now come typically lightweight, medium, and then a lot of times they call them winter weight to get that extra warmth.

[Caroline]

I love our velvet.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

It's too much for the summer, but I do have a velvet quilt that I use in the winter.

[Amy Jordan]

Pretty. So you have a full. It's really for the winter.

[Caroline]

No, I just switched the quilt. The quilt.

[Amy Jordan]

Got it.

[Taryn]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

So I do like the same sheets and duvet.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

It's just. I switched the quilt out to be a heavier quilt. Love it.

[Amy Jordan]

What about you guys? Taryn, Liz?

[Liz]

I pretty much keep it the same.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Liz]

I did have a velvet quilt that disappeared from my bed and my kid took it.

[Amy Jordan]

That's like.

[Caroline]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

And my kid likes velvet.

[Liz]

Yeah. I'm like, okay, that's just the thing. But it's a queen. No, it's a king. Because one of the things that. That saved my marriage at one point early on is we have a queen bed, but we got king quilts so that no one ever was short. She did. Yeah.

[Caroline]

That's smart. Yeah. So you obviously, you have to have the queen sheets.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Duvet and then.

[Liz]

But duvet and coverlet are all king so that it goes a little bit longer on the sides. So if somebody rolls over in the middle of the night, you're still. Everybody's still warm and wakes up happy.

[Caroline]

Taryn, could you do that? Could you get a California king?

[Taryn]

No, I think like a California king's only longer isn't that it doesn't help. I need to do, like you said, do the lower profile box. That would fix it because then I would just tuck into the actual bed rail. But right now I have to do the, like you said, the hospital sheeting corners because you can see them. But for me, in the winter, my only change is, like you said, I Do have a duvet. I change out just. It is one of those where one says it's summer weight and then one says winter weight and that's the. And then most of the time I end up pulling up the duvet versus in the summer it's on the end of the bed. David kicks it off his side.

[Amy Jordan]

I'm like, yeah, exactly.

[Taryn]

In the south we very much where my sister I think is under flannel sheets and 12 blankets in Maine.

[Amy Jordan]

But well actually so this whole thing we used to have a flannel vendor and he would always say it's actually not seasonal, it's year round because you keep your house at the same temperature. And I was like, huh, that's true. I do keep my house at the same temperature. So I don't feel like I need seasonal bedding, but I wouldn't do flannel feeding.

[Taryn]

Oh my gosh. Just the thought. It's a thought just like a mind.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah. It's like a mental block.

[Taryn]

It's like purple ketchup. You're like, I assume it's insane. Taste the same. But I can't mentally does that. I think I did for kids for a while anyway. I digress. No, I think changing out though I do think a lot of people will add to your point like just a fall palette or like a. Or spring to a simple bedroom. Especially again to a guest if you wanted to make it feel of season.

[Amy Jordan]

I love that.

[Caroline]

I had a question about care because I had read something about like how to like care for your sheets to where there's less wrinkles and it talks about not. Not drying it fully. How do you feel about that in

[Amy Jordan]

terms of not over drying it? I 100% agree. You can take them out like where they, they almost feel like a little steamy, just like slightly damp and spread them out immediately. You can't, you gotta be in your house. Like you can't set it to dry and leave. You gotta make it immediately. But yes, I agree

[Caroline]

totally. I have found it to help if I can time the. Time it properly to get it out. You know what I mean? Do any of y' all use like a wrinkle releaser or anything that you spray on your sheets? Do you not care?

[Amy Jordan]

I have linen for the very purpose that I'm never going to iron my bedding. It's never going to happen for me. So I just embrace the wrinkle, have it be casual and call it a day.

[Taryn]

Goes back to what I think Amy has said many times. Guest bed is linen bedding. But I will actually iron the flange because I'm not washing those pillows. And so that I will my own linen bedding again, it's just a crumpled flange, and I don't care because at least as the coverlet's tight and the sheets are tight and the corners are tucked, it looks. It's that whole juxtaposition of fluffy, wrinkled versus the simple part of my bed that is clean and tight. So I feel good.

[Liz]

See, I'm about to go take my linen shams and go see.

[Taryn]

You like yours?

[Liz]

Yeah. Because I have the Euro shams. I like for those to be a little bit. I mean, they'll still get crumbly, but I sleep with.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, I like. I want the plans to look good. And I do feel like a linen flange can really get crumpled. Like, really. You know, sometimes I get my straightening iron out and I just straighten it with my straightening iron. Oh, yeah.

[Caroline]

Way easier.

[Liz]

That's actually great because I got rid of my ironing board. I only have a steamer now.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah. I hate ironing. Anything to avoid it.

[Caroline]

I will say back to the double inserts on your duvet. And also my obsession with the fill on your sham is it does help with the wrinkles because it's fuller, and so it, like, fill. It literally fills the wrinkle out so that it doesn't look so wrinkly. So that does help a lot. Go to. For. If you go to Forsythe fabric, look for the Celeste. It's like double filled or something. I don't know.

[Liz]

Okay.

[Amy Jordan]

I'm guessing it's an investment.

[Caroline]

Yeah. It's more expensive because it has more pillows in it, but it makes a huge difference. And yeah, it looks less wrinkly.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

Yeah, for sure.

[Amy Jordan]

Thought this would only be 30 minutes worth of conversation.

[Caroline]

You're silly.

[Taryn]

And anyone still listening?

[Caroline]

They all are thinking the same thing.

[Taryn]

They have to be one type of us. I'm sure. Where they're like, oh, yeah, no way. Or they're like, absolutely like Caroline.

[Caroline]

Yeah, I do. To back to our original point, it's hard to. It's a very delicate balance to strike up what you want it to look like and what you want it to feel like, because you can't sacrifice what you want it to feel like just for it to look good. So you have to really play and test out a lot of stuff to figure out how, like, how much time

[Amy Jordan]

you want to put into making your bed in the morning, too, Right?

[Caroline]

Yeah. Okay, show. This is our last question. Then show of hands. Who Makes the bed every morning.

[Amy Jordan]

Oh, I have to.

[Liz]

Yes.

[Amy Jordan]

Drives me nuts that my husband doesn't want to do that, but I'm like, got to get the day started off the right foot. It's a. It brings me joy to make my bed perfectly in the morning.

[Taryn]

So we're all the same. Mine's more of the. Getting into an unmade bed at night makes me ragey. It doesn't feel as clean.

[Liz]

I don't. Yeah.

[Taryn]

It doesn't feel good to slip perfectly into a very made bed. I don't.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

And if you don't make it every day, then, like, your sheets really get untucked. And I just feel like it. It never feels right because the corners are pulled out and, like, I would

[Amy Jordan]

just feel like a slob, I think, all day long.

[Caroline]

I don't know.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah. It really bothers me to walk into the room if it's unmade.

[Caroline]

Do you ever. Does anyone else ever make the bed, even at 6pm if it's not made just to get into it?

[Amy Jordan]

Like, I don't think it's ever gone later than nine.

[Caroline]

Like, if you really just were rushing out the door.

[Amy Jordan]

Yeah, that would probably make it.

[Taryn]

I will literally pull the sheets up tight before for then folding them down to get in. Yep.

[Amy Jordan]

It also looks like a bomb has gone off in our room. If Will is traveling or if I'm traveling, both of us, like, perfectly unfold, pull back the covers, get in. You wake up in the morning like nothing's happened. And the second both of us sleep side by side, we've battled it out all night for the sheep, but we don't agree. Total disaster. Yeah. It's not even remotely made looking, so.

[Caroline]

Okay, I will. I will also say if you make your bed every day, like, if you're. If you let your dog into the bed. I also am really particular about that because sometimes Annie will sleep at the end the foot of the bed. But if we leave a bed unmade, she will just burrow in whatever.

[Amy Jordan]

And the thought of my sheets is gross. Yeah.

[Caroline]

I don't want to be on the sheets. She can be on the duvet. That's fine. But. Yeah, so if you don't make it, then, like, they'll just get in there and. Yeah. See, do whatever.

[Liz]

They having cats. They love.

[Caroline]

They have narrow.

[Liz]

They love when we make the bed. Like, they hear the sheets, like, the rustling of the fresh sheets, and they go bonkers and come sliding in across the bed as you're, like, fluffing down the top sheet. Yeah. It's a whole.

[Caroline]

It's like playtime.

[Liz]

It's a whole comedy routine. Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

Actually our dog, that. She hops up when I start making the bed and I'm like, no, it's. I think she knows that she could get attention if she does that. She hops up on the bed as I'm starting to make it.

[Caroline]

See, I feel like the reverse Annie. Like, I go to pull the. To start making the bed and she just hops down. She fell in love.

[Taryn]

He knows.

[Amy Jordan]

You sterilize this lady and her.

[Liz]

Meanwhile, I've got animals running across the room, like from across the house, like, sliding across my bed.

[Caroline]

Part of me, though, feels okay. If I can get up and I can make my bed and I can make it look good, then I've already accomplished one thing.

[Amy Jordan]

Exactly.

[Taryn]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

And so if nothing else goes right for the day, at least my bed

[Taryn]

looks in the bed, though. So that's the problem.

[Caroline]

Often.

[Taryn]

Yeah, there's someone in there.

[Amy Jordan]

I tried to do the rule, if you don't get up at the same time as me, you have to make up the bed. But it doesn't.

[Caroline]

Yeah.

[Amy Jordan]

Or he's. I was going to do it later.

[Caroline]

It's 8pm so you were

[Liz]

last one.

[Caroline]

My will has not made a bed or changed a sheet in a decade now. So he is hopeless. I will say. Recently he had to change Blair sheets because she. She peed the bed. And y'.

[Amy Jordan]

All.

[Caroline]

It's a twin bed. He put the sheets on sidewalk like the fitted sheet he put. I was like, how did you even manage this?

[Taryn]

I was gonna say unexpected. She happens, but on a twin, I don't even. I didn't know that was possible.

[Caroline]

I know. I'm like, this is.

[Taryn]

He was like, wow, there's so much to tuck on these sides.

[Caroline]

He's had to trim the point. He hasn't made a bed in 15 in 10 years.

[Amy Jordan]

Nothing frustrates a little more than trying to get the insert into a debate cover.

[Caroline]

It is awful.

[Liz]

Then I think maybe just my secret is longevity. Because we hit a point. He just doesn't after 20 years that, like, he now makes the bed.

[Amy Jordan]

We'll make it together some. Because I think we'll concede that it's easier if we're both doing it. But that always doesn't work out.

[Caroline]

So. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At this point, if he were to make it, I would just remake it anyway. So I'm in.

[Amy Jordan]

I think he's on you a terrible job the first time.

[Caroline]

She'll do it forever.

[Taryn]

Yeah.

[Caroline]

He does other stuff, so it's fine.

[Amy Jordan]

Yes.

[Caroline]

I'll saddle this burden alone. Okay. Thank you, Amy, for spending this time with us and answering all of our questions. We'll talk to you again some other time. Happy Bet Yeah, this was fun. All right, if anyone has questions about their bet that we haven't answered, send it to us and we can have Amy answer for you. If you have anything we missed, and that's our show, you can find all of the show notes on our blog, howtodecorate.com to send in a Decorating dilemma,

[Taryn]

email your questions to podcastallarddesigns.net so we

[Caroline]

can help you with your space. And of course, be sure to follow us on social media at ballardesigns.

[Liz]

Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. And please leave us a review. We'd love to hear your feedback.

[Caroline]

Until next time, Happy Decorating.