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Interiors

Why We’re Dressing The Bed Again

In a busy life that can often involve overstimulation and exhaustion, a carefully curated bed feels like the height of luxury. Here, NATASHA BIRD explores the art of dressing the bed and why we’re re-establishing the bedroom as the heart of the home

Lifestyle
Make the bed the centerpiece of your interior scheme, as exemplified by female interior design collective House of Hone

The bed is the most important object in the room and often the most neglected. We collapse into it after long days working, relying on a convergence of all the right elements to give us that elusive but essential forty winks. Most of us leave it behind again in the morning without a moment’s thought, running hurriedly out of the room while the covers sag and the sheets wrinkle.

Bedrooms, too, are in danger of becoming the least resolved spaces in our homes: catchalls for clean and dirty laundry, overflowing wardrobes, a graveyard of half-read books and a tangled mess of chargers and blinking devices. Just about functional, but in a state of aesthetic disarray.

We’re calling it now, though. The bed is being reclaimed. This is the year of bed-styling, bougie vallances, sumptuous and unexpected fabric choices. Careful and respectful decisions about how to make the end-of-day ritual feel worthy and delicious. And with that, we’re reestablishing the bedroom as the home’s emotional center. The place for peace, meditation and resetting the nervous system. A sanctuary.

What distinguishes this new mood from the beige-heavy, slightly undone minimalism of the past decade is a return to intention. As Tamara Kaye-Honey, of design conglomerate House of Honey, puts it, “We’ve moved away from the undone… and back toward expression. People want their bedrooms to feel considered again.”

One of the brands capturing the spirit of this about-turn is Tekla. Founded in Copenhagen in 2017, the label built a cult following on the idea that bedding should feel as expressive as the clothes we wear. Its lightly stonewashed organic cotton percale sheets, eye-catching stripes and soft, but lovely palettes helped usher bedding into the wider design conversation, occupying that influential space between fashion, interiors and lifestyle.

Tekla’s arrival to NET-A-PORTER signals a shift in luxury shopping habits: the idea that personal style doesn’t end with what we wear to leave the house. Increasingly, customers are investing in the emotional engineering of the home, too. Tekla’s universe, which now spans bedding, sleepwear, blankets and towels, taps directly into that desire for a softer, slower and more intentional domestic life.

So, what are we actually doing with our beds, now? “There’s a return to layering, to contrast, to a bit of indulgence,” says Kaye-Honey. “Think of texture, first and foremost. A mix of materials that feel as good as they look. And also, fabrics that catch the light, tones that feel warm and enveloping. Calm, tactile and luxurious… and a little romantic!” Hurrah for velvet, grosgrain piping, frills, fresh cottons, silks and the broderie anglaise trim of Tekla’s ‘Anaïs’ pillowcase – they’re all about to have their moment. Beyond dressing it, think of the headboard as an altar and the frame as its own sculpture. There’s no reason to be boring about the one spot in your home that your body will spend the most time in.

And what of the bedroom around it? “The bedroom is becoming private again in the best way,” says Kaye-Honey. “It’s a retreat.” It should linger on the nose as well as the eyes, she adds: “We created our own House of Honey interior scent collection because design should engage all of the senses.” As well as room fragrances, candles are once again of paramount concern. The smell transports you, while the glow – as we can all surely agree – is more atmospheric than any room’s “big light”.

Likewise, art in the bedroom is taking on a bigger role than just coordinated, interior design distraction. Think pieces that move you emotionally, that provoke and stir you, that spur you to bring to the bedroom a certain energy.

Taken together, these elements begin to rebuild the bedroom as the heart of the home. Dressing the bed is imbued with fresh relevance, because modern life has demolished so many of the borders between work, entertainment and rest that the bedroom has been at risk of becoming just another indistinguishable zone of living. Reclaiming it is really about reclaiming life’s boundaries. In a world in which overstimulation and exhaustion are hard to avoid, a well-dressed bed might be the greatest luxury of all.

Copenhagen-based brand Tekla is known for creating covetable bedding and sleepwear

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