Over time, we have gradually upgraded nearly every element of our bed and bedding situation to maximize comfort. You spend, like, a third of your life in bed! Why not make it the best it can be? Below, some of our favorite finds — many of them carefully picked to last decades! The photo above is actually from a couple of bedding iterations ago
01. SERENA AND LILY PONDICHERRY BED. I bought this for the first home we owned (in Chicago) and it remains one of my favorite pieces of furniture we’ve ever purchased. It is dramatic but inviting, comes in tons of fabrics, and wonderfully made. We are actually in the market for a new bed as we finally upgraded to a king size mattress and moved this bed to our guest room. We are in a limbo because we are still finishing up many of the plans and designs for the first floor of our home with our designer, and we want to take on the primary bedroom as a separate project once those areas are complete. I’ve long wanted a dramatic canopy bed for our primary, but we do have a fan in the middle of the ceiling and so I’m not sure that will work. There’s a part of me that just wants another Pondicherry, but that feels overly redundant. Stay tuned!
02. SLEEP NUMBER COMFORT FIT SLEEPING PILLOW. We use these to sleep on. They are consistently ranked the best sleeping pillow and they really are magical. They are, however, pricey, so we use these Beckham Collection sleeping pillows (no. 10 on this list) everywhere else in our house.
03. BOLL AND BRANCH WAFFLE BED BLANKET. I’ve talked about this bed blanket no less than four hundred times, but it is just the loveliest finish to a bed. It has the perfect weight, adds dimension/texture to your bedding setup, and comes in tons of great colors. Instant hygge.
04. TARGET 400-THREAD-COUNT PERFORMANCE SHEETS. These were a welcome a surprise to me — I’d read that these were rated “the best budget sheet set” by Wirecutter, and they have not disappointed. I know some of you Magpies have reported that you originally bought these as “back-ups” given their reasonable price point, and ended up using them as “your main sheet set.” I can see why. These are remarkably close to Boll and Branch IMO and just a great classic white sheet set.
05. HILL HOUSE CHANCERY LANE EURO SHAMS. We have four layers of pillows on our bed: king-sized sleeping pillows, these HHH euro shams monogrammed with our initials (love their monogramming options — so modern), decorative S&L shams, and then a long bolster in the front.
06. SERENA AND LILY EMBROIDERED SHAMS. We don’t own this exact set, but we do use S&L decorative shams on our primary bedroom bed — they have SUCH great designs and are fun to mix and match with other elements of the bedroom. Also love these solid-colored quilted ones, especially tucked behind a statement bolster like this or this. Fill with these inexpensive inserts (no. 14 below).
07. THE LAUNDRESS NO. 723 DETERGENT. This elegant detergent smells faintly of roses. I launder everything else with Tide (over time, have learned you just can’t beat it when it comes to stains/color preservation), but love to launder our bed linens in The Laundress for the faintest hint of elegant scent.
08. SAATVA ZENHAVEN MATTRESS. We recently upgraded to one of these hybrid mattresses and it is incredible. I’ve never slept so well! I will say it took about two weeks to adjust. It is firmer than our previous memory foam style. But this is really a fantastic mattress — I won’t bore you with the details, but Mr. Magpie did a ton of research into the best mattress given that he runs hot, and I sleep on my side, etc. This one is excellent. We also bought mini a Saatva brand junior mattress a month ago. Deluxe!
09. ST. FRANK ALPACA THROW BLANKET. These come in the most gorgeous colors and add extra color/dimension to your bedroom. A bought this in gray for our primary!
10. BECKHAM COLLECTION SLEEPING PILLOWS. These are absolutely incredible pillows for the price. Full, plush, inexpensive!
11. GHOSTBED MATTRESS PROTECTOR. We purchased both for our bed and for mini’s. It’s meant to extend the life of your mattress.
12. MATOUK DUVET. I have been eyeing this pattern forever — it’s already in my mind as an option when we upgrade our bedroom. I’ve also heard excellent things about Frette bed linens and Yves Delorme, and will also consider options from these linen brands whenever we get closer to decision-making time.
13. FEATHERED FRIENDS DOWN COMFORTER. This was actually a gift from Mr. Magpie — he loves to ferret out aspects of my everyday life and then upgrade them with “the best you can buy.” These down comforters are incredible and made to last a lifetime. You can customize the fill by how warm/cold you like to be. They are so incredibly fluffy and warm, and my favorite part of nestling under the covers.
14. PILLOWFLEX EURO SHAM INSERTS. Inexpensive but they have a nice, full shape. I use these in our primary bedroom as well as our guest bedroom for the euro sham sets. And PSST. We have some of Boll and Branch’s signatured hemmed euro sham pillowcases on some pillows in our guest room and these super cheap $17/2 sets mixed in, and it’s almost impossible to ascertain the difference to the eye. The B&B are better quality and softer but given that these euro shams are generally just decorative, these are great back-ups/mix-ins.
16. WOOL DRYER BALLS. I use these with all of our laundry, but they are especially genius with sheets, as the balls help keep the sheets from clumping/twisting and helps them dry more evenly. Also much better/more sustainable than dryer sheets!
17. BOLL AND BRANCH SHEET SET. Wonderfully soft and easy-to-launder sheets. These do not wrinkle as much as other higher end brands and are highly breathable.
Not seen above, but I have been very impressed with the sheets I’ve purchased from The Company Store for my daughter and for the bunks in our top floor. They have such great prints and a soft, satin-like finish. They are often running promotions, but the current one is really good!
P.S. A trick for falling asleep.
P.P.S. More bedding finds (mainly inexpensive).
P.P.P.S. My favorite bedtime books for children.
We reluctantly purchased a Casper mattress because it received such amazing reviews on Consumer Reports. But we hated it! Just not the right fit for my husband and I (I do really enjoy their bed pillows, though). Per your recommendation, we looked into Saatva mattress and have one on the way! I think we’re doing a different model than you purchased, but we are legitimately so excited. Here’s to hoping it works well!
Also, side note. Do you do a mattress protector and a mattress pad? We did on our previous mattress because it was older, but now I don’t feel like I need the pad? Just the protector. Curious to hear what other people like and enjoy. I don’t want the pad to take away from the mattress.
Oh my gosh! You are going to love the Saatva – I just know it. Mr. Magpie is extremely thorough and has done most of the heavy lifting in terms of research for mattress, mattress pad, down comforter, pillows, so these are all a notch above even my capabilities as a researched shopper! I really think you’ll love. Plus they have a good return policy if you don’t like it!
We JUST use the protector. We don’t feel the need for a pad – I do think it *might* interfere with the air flow technology of the Saatva mattresses? Not sure, but I would consider that.
xx