Please refer to our Anatomy of a Bed illustration, highlighting each key element and its defining terms, so you will soon be an expert in planning your very own dream bed.

To help you decide which fabric is better for your home, we put together a handy guide that describes the similarities and differences of cotton vs linen sheets and the types of bedding manufactured from both.

It was during the Renaissance Period when bedding as we know it today was designed. Whilst the poor continued to sleep on hay-covered platforms, the wealthy owned mattresses stuffed with down and wrapped in luxurious materials. Their four-poster beds were covered in embroidered canopies and contained pull-out trundles for maids and personal valets to sleep on. Mattresses were suspended from the bedframes using ropes or straps. They were covered by smart linen sheets and wool blankets. The beds grew more and more lavish for the most wealthy. They became so expensive they were passed down through the family for generations. Reported to spend most of his day in bed, Louis XIV became so obsessed with bedding that he bought 413 beds for the Palace of Versailles. It is understood that he held court daily from his bed.