While making my bed this morning, I was thinking. I have a lot of time to think while making my bed because there seems so much to do. There's the tucking in of the sheets and blanket, putting the blanket cover back on top of the bed, and arranging the mohair throw at the end of the bed. Then there's fluffing of the four (yes, four) standard pillows and placing them neatly at the head of the bed, not to mention the two Euros and the boudoir pillow. We just seem to have so much "stuff" on our beds today. And beds are high off the ground now. I used to have my bed perched up on those plastic cones that you get from the hardware store, but then I realized that that was just plain stupid. I'm no pygmy- I'm 5'8"- but it's silly when I have to stand on my tip-toes just to get into bed. And forget about Alfie. There would be no way that my canine short stuff could even make it up on the bed if I still had it jacked up. (And by the way, that's not my bed at top. Pretty linens, though. A lot of pillows, too.)
So what I was thinking about this morning was this:
Remember when we used to make our beds up like this? When we tucked our pillows (usually just one layer) under the bedspread? This was the way I learned to make my bed. In fact, I believe that I spent much of my childhood doing it this way. It's as if one day, this simple bed making method just went "poof!" and the next thing you knew, there was an explosion of pillows, duvets, covers, and throws.
I'm not necessarily advocating a purging of our bed accoutrements. I like my pink and white Schweitzer Euro shams and Yves Delorme mohair throw too much. All I'm saying is that it used to be much easier when our beds were minimalist.
And I'll let you know where my thoughts take me tomorrow morning when I repeat this daily exercise.
A London bedroom by designer Joseph Braswell.
This bedroom decorated by Louis Bromante is rather Mad Men.
This bedspread is a look that does not need revisiting.
A master bedroom designed by Arthur Smith
Thomas Jefferson's bed at Monticello.
(Second image in post is the bedroom in the Madrid apartment of designer Duarte Pinto Coelho.)