No Comments »

Design Trend: Luxury Bedding in Silk

• Tweet

• Tweet

 

If there’s any time of year to start thinking of luxurious bed linens, it’s now. In November, the days are getting shorter, the nights a whole lot longer, and the temperatures are dropping fast. What better place to be than in bed, wrapped in soft, silky sheets!

Indeed, many of us spend the darkest, coldest nights of winter (and plenty of days, too!) nestled in bed, where we can read mystery novels, watch movies, catch up on email, and snuggle with children and spouses.

But if we’re spending this much time in bed, maybe we should also be giving serious thought to the bedding we’re using. After all, bedding can have quite an effect on our sleeping comfort and health. Choose the wrong bedding — scratchy synthetic sheets for example — and suddenly bed becomes a much less comfortable place to spend time.

If you’re looking to “up” your game this winter, you might consider splurging on a fabric you may have never really considered before. If you’re thinking of luxury bedding, consider opting for silk.

Why silk?
Silk is naturally porous and absorbent, keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It’s resistant to mildew, moths and dust mites and is naturally hypoallergenic. It’s also a natural skin and hair preserver. Due to its high protein count, silk doesn’t absorb moisture, allowing your skin and hair to retain their smoothness and luster. It’s hard to beat the health and beauty advantages in this luxury bedding material.

Silk as stuffing.

And here’s something else you may never have considered: Not only is silk great for sheets and duvet covers (and of course, great for pajamas!) but it’s also great as a comforter filler. Silk floss filling adjusts to an individual’s body and the ambient temperature of a room. By trapping air next to your skin, silk duvets keep you warm in winter while drawing heat away from the body in summer. It’s also a great alternative for those allergic to duck or goose down. Similarly to down, however, silk floss is light and thin and will envelop your body without weighing it down. You can find silk-filled duvets in summer, winter and all-season weights.

Silk as a new aesthetic experience.

Silk’s got one more thing going for it: It has an elegance that’s missing with plain old cotton sheets, or with too-shiny satin sheets. The silk sheen is a subtle one — Old World Elegance, think a French Chateau, not Las Vegas. Of course, silk bed linens don’t come cheaply, a set can set you back several hundred dollars, but if you’re looking for a luxurious experience for yourself, or for a gift, you can’t do better than this. If you need more evidence as for the beauty of silk linens, take a look at a few examples:

Below, fresh white silk sheets offer a lustrous glow that speaks of all the comfort and refinement of a five-star hotel.

Below a dimpled taupe silk bedspread is a sophisticated take in a masculine setting.

And we especially love the slate gray silk bed linen pictured here:

Okay, so we know what you’re thinking. What about cleaning? You may be surprised to learn that washing silk sheets is not much different than washing cotton. The sheets available at the London-based company Gingerlily.co.uk, for example, are washable at 30°c (or about 86 F) using mild silk detergent. So if you’re ready for a big splurge to get you through the darkest days of winter, consider silk!