So it’s cold and miserable outside, but that’s no reason for you to be cold and miserable inside too.  Like the idea of snuggling up in comfort and style with luxury bedding that keeps you warm as well as brightening up your room?  Then read on ….

• Firstly, make sure that all of the layers on your bed are fully functioning.  Stop using anything that’s ripped, worn or frayed and replace it.  Now, this doesn’t have to be horribly expensive – you can recycle most things, sheets, comforter covers and pillow slips included, so if expense is an issue, make do and mend quite literally!  For instance, check out thrift stores for vintage lace or trimmings that you can add to fraying pillow slips or comforter edgings – lace really adds a sense of luxury to the bedroom!
• If you have a little bit to spend, it’s worth checking out discount luxury bedding in stores or on-line.  In this way you can replace your worn bedding with luxury comforter sets relatively cheaply and still re-use the fabric of your old bedding as and when you can – or pass it on to a thrift store or textile co-operative for someone else to reuse.
• Check out the light aspect of your bedroom in the winter: this can be very different to how it is in the summer and can influence your choice of color or style for your bedding:  it’s worth taking a moment to stop and look before you buy any new bedding or make any major changes.  For example, the room might be bright and light in the summer and can carry off ‘heavy’ colored bedding, whereas in the winter this might make the room too drab or dark, so perhaps muted florals would help to brighten it up in the winter.  Or, consider the satiny fabrics in jewel colors often found in contemporary luxury bedding, to add a sense of light and shine to the room’s winter aspect.  Identify how the shadows from artificial light play out in the room as there is much more artificial light needed in the winter!
• If you are uninspired about how to create a sense of luxury from your bedding, consider how the bedding is used and presented in hotels.  Sounds mad, but think about it: hotel bedding usually plays a big part in creating a welcoming, inviting atmosphere to your hotel room, which is exactly what you are trying to re-create for your winter bedroom.  So, think about hotels you have stayed in or research images of hotel rooms on-line so that you can identify how the bedding adds a sense of luxury –perhaps there are cushions, or an extra comforter running across the foot of the bed?  Make a mental note of what you like and don’t like, then see what it is feasible or practical to incorporate into your own bedding makeover.

Just by taking a little time to research what exactly it is you have to work with and identify your likes, dislikes and ideals can mean that the changes you make to your bedding could have the effect of giving your whole bedroom a winter make-over!  And from there, you can lie back in your luxury bedding and enjoy every moment of the winter!

The Duvet and duvet cover is a European version of the American comforter, having looked at them both there does not seem any difference at all, however there maybe a slight difference. The duvet or comforter is the best way to have your bedding and you only need a bottom sheet on the mattress and a sheet on top or a duvet cover with your duvet or comforter inside of the cover. This allows you to make your bed easy and quick as you only have to change the bottom sheet and the duvet covers for new visitors or guests. It also allows you to make your own bed tidy very quickly in the mornings as well.

The modern duvet is normally filled with man-made fiber such as polyester; however more expensive duvet fillings are duck and down feathers. Duvets come in a variety of ratings or thicknesses and as you would expect the thicker the duvet the warmer you will be. You can get lightweight summer duvets and dual duvets which combine a thin summer duvet with a medium thickness duvet and when put together make a thick winter duvet. These types of duvets are great as they cater for all weathers and temperatures, the only alternative to this is to buy a separate summer and winter duvet and swap them when the temperatures change.

The modern home duvet comes in various sizes to match the beds such as single, double, queen and king sized duvets. You will have to make sure you buy the correct sized duvet for your bed, although I prefer to have a king sized duvet for my queen sized bed, it just gives you more cover. You will also need to buy the correct sized duvet covers for your duvet, but the cost of both the duvet and the duvet cover is more depending on what size your duvet is the bigger the size the more the duvet and cover will cost.

Once you have picked the size and type of duvet you will need to buy some duvet covers, you are going to need at least two duvet covers for each duvet you own. This will allow you to change the cover when it is dirty or needs changing and allow you to both wash and dry one while the other is put on your duvet and you don’t have to do this all at once. The modern duvet cover will have either poppers or buttons at one end which undo to allow you to put the cover on and off the duvet easily.

Duvet covers come in lots of different designs, patterns, styles, colors and materials. You can have luxury silk or satin to cotton and polyester depending on which you prefer. The designs on the covers are as varied as you can think of you can have plain colored covers or for your children’s beds you can have their favorite super hero or football team the choice is endless. You can coordinate you duvet covers to match your curtains or the color of your room, or you can match it to the design or style of the furniture the choice is up to you. Bedding shops or sites on the internet will give you some ideas of what sort of choices you have and how much you will have to pay, but make sure you look around for the best deals prior to purchase.

Our fears about the ‘cost’ of fuel for heating are two-fold – on one hand we worry about putting our carbon eco-foot in it with unreasonable waste, whilst on the other we experience very real financial concerns about spending on heating, following international hikes in the cost of domestic electricity and gas.   If these are genuine concerns of yours, then take comfort in something that can help to alleviate both sets of worries: comforter sets!

Yes, in years gone by perhaps these were only known as bedding ensembles for use in the dead of winter in homes with no heating, but now they are back in modern homes and in wider contemporary use than just the bedrooms!  Consider this:

• From luxury comforter sets to hand-quilted down comforters, comforter sets do of course still offer great eco-friendly benefits to the bedroom.  Think about how easily many of us just switch on that electric blanket as a bottom layer – everyone knows that these are juice guzzlers and that you shouldn’t sleep with these switched on, so by switching it on for a bit before you bed down you are adding to your fuel bill in the knowledge that sooner or later you are still going to wake up cold in the night!  So consider instead a luxury comforter as an extra layer on the top of the bed, which can remain there keeping you warm throughout the night!
• As above, twin comforter sets can be particularly useful on bunk beds, as it’s just not possible to plug an electric blanket into a top bunk, whilst some parents do not want to risk hot water bottles in children’s beds when the children are in them.  So, twin comforters allow a matching cozy layer for both bunks.
• It can be extra helpful to buy or make a comforter that’s a size bigger than the bed, for example if it’s a single bed, buy a double comforter, if it’s a double bed, have a Queen-sized comforter, so that the comforter covers the bed completely and can even be tucked in if needed (great if the bed’s alongside a cold, outside wall or if you sleep alongside a midnight cover-snatcher, like I do)!
• Comforters are becoming increasingly popular as a throw over couches or sofas.  Because of the range of comforter cover types and fabrics on the market, it can be surprisingly easy to add a comforter that actually complements and blends into a living area, rather than turning it into a bedroom.  This is particularly true if you are able to make the comforter cover yourself, for example to match blinds, curtains or cushion covers.  Having a living area comforter makes it much easier to snuggle up warmly once the heating goes off at night, rather than keeping it on just because you’re watching a late-night movie!

Lastly, do be aware that handi-crafts are very big internationally and it’s currently really on-trend to create your own comforters.  Hand-knit or hand-crochet afghans are both hugely popular and, being easy to make, genuinely cheap and cheerful, they are truly helpful in the battle to be both eco and purse-friendly, so if you can make your own comforter sets this way then you are fulfilling everything you set out to do and then some (as they really keep you cozy whilst you click away)!   So, plenty of reasons to think about getting comforter cozy this winter!