Remake Your Bed: Simple Steps For Improving Your Slumber Sanctuary

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UNLESS YOU'RE DATING George Clooney or Megan Fox, your bed may be the last good-looking thing you see before you hit the sack and the first one you see when the morning alarm sounds.

Yet many people devote less effort to dressing up their sleeping space than they do to reordering their Netflix queue. "Your bedroom is your sanctuary, and the bed is the biggest thing in it," says Aimee Wedlake, owner of Vienna, Va., luxury linen boutique Valerianne (111 Church St. NW, second floor; 703-242-1790). "If you make it special, then it'll both look great and be a nice place to crawl into at the end of the day."

A glance around Wedlake's calm, cement-floored store reveals boudoir combos that'd make the picky heroine of "The Princess and the Pea" nod off: a headboard upholstered in sueded beige fabric paired with a Bollywood-ish mustard print duvet, a sleigh bed decked in a paisley comforter and a pillow festooned with feather fringe.

This creative mixing and matching, fueled in part by younger, hipper textile designers, may finally kill off the bed-in-a-bag concept and its staid, overly coordinated looks. Fresh brands — such as stripe- and botanical-mad DwellStudio (which sells its higher-end line on their Web site and a punchy, less-expensive one at Target) and locally based, Asian-meets-mod Bliss Living Home — give nesters simpler patterned styles and more decor leeway when it comes to putting together ensembles for their beds. "Start with a set of sheets or matching shams and a duvet, and then expand and get creative," says D.C. interior designer Katie Leavy of Capital Design.

"It's interesting to pair more luxurious bedding with simpler things, like doing a Gap T-shirt with designer jeans," says Mia Worrell, co-owner of Timothy Paul Bedding + Home (1529A 14th St. NW; 202-234.2020), which hawks a combo of modern brands (Indian-print heavy John Robshaw; monochromatic, luxe Matteo; updated preppy LuLu DK Matouk), and pillows and quilts whipped up from antique Asian textiles. The resulting looks — a neutral-colored quilt jazzed up by a bolster made of cranberry-hued, zig-zaggy Indonesian ikat, a bed swaddled in different textures of all white — tend to be serene but stylish.

Such spa-like cool illustrates another way to get an uptown turndown: Like an outfit you'd put together to wear, the getup on your bed should marry a variety of elements: solids and prints, sleek pieces and fuzziness, or sparkle. (For the latter, try a furry green throw ($50) or a sequined pillow ($65).

"There's a move toward white or neutral bedding spiced up with colorful throws or maybe shams, kind of like having a solid sofa that you dress up or down," Leavy says. Furniture giant Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams recently added one of these less-is-more bedding lines, Modern Linens. Heavy-on-texture items — pleated cotton pillowcases, sweater-knit throws — come in tones such as crisp navy, earthy orange and homey khaki, which can go together or cozy up to items you already own. "We thought about how you go into the bedrooms of married couples and see these oversized, bright floral duvets. Men must feel out of place there," says brand co-founder Bob Williams.

Switching up the sheets and pillows works better if you consider the furniture you're outfitting. "It's fun to create a contrast, like putting an antique bed with a modern spread," Worrell says. "If your bed is tailored, maybe throw a whimsical John Robshaw quilt on it."

And if buying a bed takes up too much cash and square footage, "upholstered headboards add more texture and color to a space than a bed that matches the dresser that matches the nightstand," Williams says. Custom headboards aren't as spendy as beds, either (see below). "You could also hang a rug on the wall above your bed to create a visual anchor," Leavy says. "Suspend it from a drapery rod."

However you outfit your bed, remember, "it's really about creating a space that's restful to you," Leavy says. "It's not a showplace; it's an oasis."

Which means you can hold onto your childhood "Sesame Street" sheets — as long as you combine them with that swanky quilted comforter.

COMFORT ZONE
It's fine to have a fine-looking bed but better to have one that's plush and restful. Here are tips from the pros on how to upgrade your turndown.

» "Putting a feather-top mattress or feather-bed mattress pad on the bed is a sure way to not want to leave your bed in the morning." — Amber Kleiner, design manager, Blisslivinghome.com

» "Don't put so many throw pillows on your bed that you can't figure out
how to get in it." — Katie Leavy, Capital Design

» "Don't go for the heaviest down
comforter you can find — sometimes a lighter one plus a blanket is better in a temperate climate like D.C." — Mia Worrell, Timothy Paul Bedding + Home

CUSTOM COOL
It's one thing to find a comforter you heart at Pottery Barn and quite another to dream up truly custom bedding using Inmod.com. The contempo furnishings site boasts a design-your-own-linens service that lets you choose from dozens of patterns (mid-century amoebas, hipster flowers, zooming airplanes) and colors — all of which you see in place before you buy via a cool Web tool — that can be embroidered onto silk, cotton or linen pillows and duvets (pillows, $40-$80 each; duvets, $125-$870).

» At Inmod.com, use a mouse to choose from among dozens of patterns for duvets and pillows.

» Then, choose from dozens of colors to embroider onto your chosen project.

» Finally, decide whether you'd like your item in linen, silk or cotton; save; pay; and tuck in.

PERSONAL REST
An upholstered headboard brings lots of style without the high price of a new bed. DIYers whip them up by staple-gunning fabric to plywood (watch this video of an easy-yet-impressive project). Ballard Designs sells studded, plain and tufted ones in dozens of fabrics (from apple-green velvet to zebra print) beginning at $249.

Photos courtesy Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams and John Robshaw