Tip #24: Make the bed.
i get a lot of questions about how two of us survive life in our luxurious loft. since we’re busy getting married this week, i thought a tip about our bedroom would be fitting. i don’t want to get too hot and heavy on you, but it’s only fitting to discuss the (pre)marital bed on such a week.
after yahoo shine’s decorating guide recently published a story on our tiny apartment, the emails (and the ridiculous number of comments) that we (and the article) received told us two things: 1) america is very concerned about our sex life 2) jokes about flatulence are still all the rage. seriously, read them and weep.*
let it suffice to say that a somewhat lower-than-usual ceiling does not impair our sex life. point final.
now that that’s out of the way, let me also suggest that no matter the size of your sleeping quarters, making the bed is an essential part of (pre)marital bliss.
sorry, this isn’t a sexy post after all. but bear with.
for me, making a bed is not so much about how it makes the apartment look throughout the day (though that’s nice too), but it has everything to do with climbing into a made bed at night. unfolding the top sheet and shimmying into bed is like unwrapping a present, and loving what you find so much you want to climb right in. for me, it’s the most delicious and peaceful moment of the day and it marks a clear transition from needing to be awake and thinking to getting to be asleep and dreamy. i like clear transitions.
plus, there are bonus points for those of the cohabiting persuasion: being the one to make the bed can earn you all kinds of do-sweet-little-somethings-for-each-other points. almost as many as climbing out of bed first to make tea. almost.
what about you guys? are you bed-makers?
*for the record: we love burritos and each other.
39 Comments
yes! I read somewhere that if you only do one thing all day, let it be making the bed when you get up -and I totally agree!
We just moved to DC (and the little apartments that come with this city) and your blog is my life line. Yes, we have to make the bed in the morning. It makes a HUGE difference in this tiny space.
My bf and I have an arrangement…I make the bed and he kills the bugs, haha. I work from home and a messy bed drives me crazy all day if I don't do it.
I love this post! We are definitely bed makers since our bed is also the couch, the desk chair, the place where laundry gets dumped to be folded, the piece of furniture that greets upon entering our 450 sq ft apt. To me, it sets the tone for how the whole place looks.
I have always made the bed every morning – part of that reason is because I make hand quilted quilts and I always have one on the bed and want it to be displayed properly even if we are the only people to see it most days. I do not like to get into a wrinkly bed!
Karen
I'm all for making the bed for the reasons you say. I don't always make it in the morning but I will make it before bed time.
I hopped over and read the article and some of the comments. The comment that gets me; calling it the "nudey crunch" – not heard that term before.
Congrats on your marriage
Last one out of bed makes it. Every day. No exceptions. Picking the battles that are most important has certainly helped in 18 years of marriage. I don't care if the nightstand hasn't been dusted in a couple of weeks but the bed gets made every day!
i can't believe that article got so many comments! and some don't make any sense at all… "thug life"?! anyways, happy for you that you're getting so much press! 🙂
have an amazing wedding week!
love this post. you made me giggle 🙂
i am a devout bed-maker. i love the ritual and how it fits perfectly in between my morning coffee-in-bed-then-shower routine, i love knowing when i am away from home that it's tidy and waiting for me, and, like you, i love slipping into a crisp made bed at night. it's such a small thing, but it makes all the difference!
Definitely a bed-maker and after almost 7 years I have finally made my fiance into one. However, there is a little dog that burrows under the covers most days after the bed is made. So it usually appears to be half-made.
-Sonya
Totally agree. There's something so comforting about the routine of making the bed. And you're a good sport. Some of those comments…yeesh.
Its amazing how completely ignorant people are. I only read the first few handfuls of comments and had to turn away. It was making me so irritated. I truly admire what you have done with your space. I, myself, live in a studio. And while its not as "cozy" as yours, i do feel moving to a studio has made me aware of how much junk i can accumulate if i am not careful. I love your tips and your apartment.
I also love climbing into made bed. Its like a fresh start every night.
I love this series! After reading the tips, I am always more conscious about my space and what is in it. You are really inspiring a major purge for me and affecting my purchasing. I'm a big proponent of making the bed when I wake up. I personally feel it signals my start to the day.
my husband works from home and so he makes the bed every day. he's getting pretty good at it too 😉 it's the nicest thing to come home too… i leave the house with a sleepy husband and two kitties still under the covers, and when i come home it's all neat & tidy and just waiting for me to climb in. and you're right, it really is one of the best parts of the day!
Only thing better than climbing into a made bed is climbing into a made bed with fresh sheets and pillowcases that were dried on our clothes line. Delicious!!!
So excited for your wedding this week! Congratulations~~~~
Ha! Unbelievable how nosey (and rude) people are!
I agree about making the bed though! Since my fiancé and I just moved in together, it's much nicer to climb into a made-up bed at night and not a wrinkled mess!
People are strange, aren't they. Some of those comments were just… not that well thought out. 🙂 As if you'd create a space for yourself that didn't allow for sex? Anyway, yes I make the bed 99% of the time because I go to work and leave the dogs inside until lunch time, so I have to stack the bed with stuff or else they makes a nest out of it. Congrats on your impending wedding! Love your blog.
i make the bed everyday; it just seems neater & cleaner to me. even if i'm sick as a dog, the bed will be straightened up. and, when we got married we could only fit a full size bed in our apartment and we still have the same size, although not the same bed, because we've accumulated sheets too pretty to get rid of.
i have always made the bed! even if it's a situation where i've had to wash everything before bed, i'll still make it before i go to sleep! no matter how late it is!
I remember thinking that people needed to chill out in the comments of that article. I'm really glad your ceiling has zero effect on your sex life (the fact that people actually pondered this baffles me to no avail!).
you are funny.
Oh my, I wanted to smack so many of those commenters. Next time, don't tell them how much you pay. People in Wisconsin will faint. I have to protect this point in my San Francisco living to my family in Idaho.
Point blank, people can be rude on the Internet because they feel anonymous. If it makes you feel any better, a) I didn't immediately think of your sex life when I saw pictures of the loft, and b) the people who have the gall to say that your relationship won't last need to have a sock put in it. My guy and I live in a non-lofted 375 sf place, so I understand it totally.
P.S. Congratulations on your premaritalness
Oh my goodness, Erin, this post has got giggling here at work! Congrats on all the press you've made with your 240 apartment!
But I love the fact you made about crawling into a nicely made bed, such a true statement that I never thought about. I have to make my bed in the mornings. It makes all the difference to making a room look "cleaner", even if it's not.
i always like the bed to be made probably because otherwise the piles of pillows and cushions on the floor drive me insane.
and a clean bed is amazing–i get excited. i lead a very sad life 😉
After leaving for work earlier than B last week, and thus returning earlier than he as well, only find our bed made perfectly, I literally shed a tear I was so proud and grateful.
Also – LOVE and appreciate that you're taking America's funny fascination with your tiny apartment in stride. With such grace and humor.
People are crazy.
I'm generally not a bed maker, but I'm testing it out right now. I see the advantages, but I also feel like the made bed discourages afternoon naps, which is a big bummer.
The morning after I first stayed at what is now our flat, I made the bed and when he came home from work he said 'It looks like a hotel bed!'. Making my bed as soon as I got up was instilled in me as a child, and it still gives me a sense of calm, and of anticipation at bed time!
I make the bed daily because it makes the room neater. I think I first read that in a Martha Stewart magazine many years ago.
Same here, I make my bed daily, I love to 'unwrap' it in the evening before going to bed :p
I might feel weird after reading all those comments about how you live. But what I can't understand is why so noise?? Is there no more people living in tiny apartments in NY? I'm sure that in the same building as yours must be the same kind of apartments, don't it?
At least, when I went to Paris, I lived for few days is a tiny apartment,very similar to yours (I'm talking today in my blog if you're interested).
Man, people are strange. The "nudey crunch" comment made me laugh, and I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, so $1500 a month seems about right to me for that amount of space. It's all relative I suppose!!
Getting into a clean, well made bed is such a great feeling!! I can't wait until I have a set of drawers again and have somewhere else to leave my clothes so I can get back to a constantly lovely bed 😀 Rhi xx
The Wildest of Dreams
I'm so bad at doing this, my bed is always unmade.. and even worse than that there is always stuff piled onto it. I do my make up on my bed and leave tubes of lotions and potions thrown across it when I'm done. I must get better at making the bed.. maybe it'll get me that coveted morning cup of tea?
also, I just looked at the article on your apartment.. your place looks so precious! I kind of want to live there. You've definitely made the best of that space x
Congrats on your wedding!
Since I'm the first one out of bed each morning, I'm usually not the bed maker. I love a made bed too.
Way to handle those comments with grace + elegance, my friend. And congrats on the marriage!!!
Man, I really want to smack the people who are spouting the they-won't-last comments. Sorry, but if you need 1000+ sqft to hide from your partner, something is seriously wrong with your relationship. I'll admit – I have a 1200 sqft loft, but my boy and I spend most of our waking moments together. We didn't get a big place so we could have "our own space" or "do our own thing". Ugh. People.
I'm the first one up in the morning, so I don't deal with the bed making – but, like you, I love unwrapping a present each night, crawling into it, and pulling the perfectly tucked sheets up over my body. Ahh.
I've never been committed to making the bed, but I loved this post. It just might make a bed-maker out of me.
it's kind of funny that a small apartment like this is such a big deal. In Hong Kong, every apartment is about half this size, and holds families of 4 or more. People don't live with it, it's their lives. It's nice to see such a small apartment so lovely decorated and all but seriously people live like this everyday. 🙂
I it's not a big deal to survive in this tiny apartment,,At this place,every apartment has to consist a similar size as this apartment..Anyway you really were do amazing work on this post..I like your post,so thanks for this..!!
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