Make Your Bed!

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. William H. McRaven

The bedroom. The place where we go to be relieved of the day’s stresses and renewed in our body and mind through sleep. The bedroom is your sanctuary and should be regarded as such and kept with the same amount of reverence as a church or temple. And what is the focal point of a temple? The altar. And what is the altar of your bedroom? The bed.

When cleaning a bedroom, the first thing a professional house cleaner does is make the bed. No matter how dirty or cluttered your bedroom is, a freshly made bed can make it look clean. (or at least hopeful)

To start the bed making process, use a fitted sheet that fits your mattress tightly. A loose fitted sheet tends to bunch up, leaves wrinkles, and comes undone with a restless sleeper.

Next comes the flat sheet. The instructions below will show you how to achieve those crisp hospital corners that will also help keep your sheets from bunching up and coming undone during the middle of the night.

Now that you’ve laid the foundation of your bed, you can throw on your comforter or bedspread and your pillows. And this is where as a professional house cleaner I’m going to get on my soapbox.

1. Beds with one side pushed against the wall – This makes bed making difficult and the more difficult it is to make your bed, the less likely you are to make your bed. I highly discourage this! I WANT to make your bed and make it look crisp and clean, but I don’t like crawling on people’s beds to tuck sheets down the wall because I feel as though I am treading on personal territory, plus it’s very difficult to achieve a great look while messing up your sheets as I try to scoot off the bed. If your bed is pushed against the wall, please consider rearranging your room so that your bed can be accessed on both sides.
2. Duvet Covers – Duvet covers are a great concept for not having to wash your comforter all the time, but…not only do they cost almost as much as a comforter, but they are a pain in the rear to get on to a comforter and they never lay as neatly as just a comforter.
3. Bed Skirts – Another great idea in theory, but when trying to make a crisp bed, they tend to get in the way, get all “whopper-jawed”, and UGH! Not to mention the amount of dust they collect. It’s my professional recommendation to avoid these.
4. Pillows – Pillow cases do a pretty good job of keeping your pillow clean, but after a while, your pillow does get dirty and starts to smell a little funky. You may not notice it because you’ve become “nose-blind” to it, but a professional house cleaner isn’t in your home that often and trust me, your pillow stinks. PLEASE WASH YOUR PILLOWS! But if your pillow cannot be washed, please buy a new one! PLEASE!
5. More Pillows – Home decor goes through trends and the latest trend seems to be pillows GALORE! Why??!! How many pillows do you actually sleep with? How many decorative pillows do you really need? All you’re going to do is toss them on the ground before you go to bed and you’re not going to want to pick all those pillows back up. Trust me! Do you know how much time I spend trying to figure out how to put 10+ throw pillows back onto a bed in a purposeful, artistic manner? A few pillows looks cozy, too many pillows looks messy. I recommend a maximum of 4 pillows for you and your significant other’s heads and 4 throw pillows. Personally, I don’t use throw pillows because if I’m not going to sleep with it, why have it? Guess that’s the pragmatist in me, plus I don’t like doing more work than I have to.

OK, I’m off of my soap box and back to the original point of this blog…making your bed. Once you have your fitted and flat sheets tightly secured and your comforter and pillows nicely arranged, making your bed in the morning should be as easy as taking your pillows off, pulling up your sheets and smoothing them out, pulling up your comforter and smoothing it out, and laying your pillows on top. 5-10 minutes tops! Then stand in your doorway and look how lovely a freshly made bed is. Think about how nice it will be to slip into those soft sheets and drift off into dreamland. Think about how that simple act made your room feel like the sanctuary it should be. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…isn’t that nice?

Now, GO MAKE YOUR BED!