Via Design Public @ Flickr
“Bed is the best place for reading, thinking, or doing nothing.”–Doris Lessing
Dear readers, I’ve become obsessed with sheets. Colors! Textures! Thread counts! The exotic orgins of their cottons! Egypt! Pakistan! Indonesia! Now, generally speaking, I am not fascinated by the housewifely arts; a mere glimpse of Martha Stewart sends me diving for the remote. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m lazy and my preferred position is horizontal, so it follows that I spend a lot of time in bed, both alone and with gentleman callers. I also sleep naked, which caused quite a scandal among the nice Baptist and Methodist prudes girls of the Southern college I attended (not that they ever actually saw me naked, but they heard about it from my roommate and believe me, eyebrows were raised). Sleeping in the nude is a matter of comfort—as an active sleeper, I always got uncomfortably tangled up in nightgowns—but it’s also a sensual pleasure, and one I refused to apologize for. It does mean, however, that I can’t stand cheap and scratchy sheets, so I’ve become positively fussy and Victorian in my quest for good bedding.
If you do the math, you’ll realize that high-quality bedding gives you a terrific return on your investment. At an average of seven hours of sleep per night, you’ll be using that bedding 49 hours a week, 2,548 hours a year—and that’s not counting the hours you spend in bed reading, watching TV, surfing the web, making love, etc. So by all means, put some money into making yourself as comfy as possible—a quality set of sheets will last you for many years and will amortize better than anything else you own.
Personally, I own four sets of sheets, ranging from flannel to combed cotton to t-shirt material. The t-shirt sheets are increasingly hard to find, which is a damn shame, because they are like sleeping wrapped in your oldest, softest oversize t-shirt–the one that’s been washed a million times and is so faded and disreputable looking that you refuse to wear it outside and yet you can’t give it up because it feels so nice. Flannel is wonderful if, like me, you sleep in a drafty bedroom and need maximum snuggliness from November through March. Regular cotton is the ultimate cooling, breathable fabric if the same drafty bedroom becomes uncomfortably sticky in the summer months. Avoid polyester blends at all costs (a good life lesson in general). You need at least 400 thread count for maximum softness and durability—anything lower will be scratchy and prone to pilling. The truly high-end, luxury sheets are 800-1200 threadcount. I have a pair of 800 thread count sheets but to be honest, they don’t feel significantly better than the 400 thread count ones, so you might as well save the extra money and buy some nice pillowcases with it. I also recommend you don’t bother with big retailers like Macy’s or Bed, Bath & Beyond to buy your sheets. All my bedding is from either Overstock or Smartbargains, where the selection is excellent and the prices run 50-80% off what you’d pay at a department or big box store (don’t worry, both sites will give you full info about color, size and thread count). To be honest, I’d own even more sheet sets if I could, but space in my linen closet is limited and I decided to spend the rest of my bedding money on a big fluffy duvet with 400 thread count polished cotton cover.
Having my own home, and choosing its furnishings is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. As a single woman, my house is the one place where I hold absolute sway, and feathering my nest—or cottoning it, as the case may be—is sheer delight.
I have also developed a recent linen fetish, I have no idea why.
On another note, for most of my life I thought everyone slept naked. It was quite a shock to me when I moved into a flat and realised that other people own pyjamas (I used to wake up and throw clothes on the next morning. Until I had to give birth I’d never owned a pair of pyjamas).
For most of my life I thought everyone slept in pajamas. By pajamas I mean loungewear, generally.
It still surprises me that anyone would sleep naked.
Even as a child you slept naked? What if you live with people and have to pee in the middle of the night or go to the kitchen to get a drink, or, or, or?!
I LOVE jersey sheets but they usually only come in twin size!
I, however, absolutely cannot sleep naked, as I produce very little excess body heat and I take at least 2 hours in bed to feel warm enough. If my feet are cold, it’s completely impossible for me to fall asleep, and my feet are always cold (just ask anyone who’s ever shared a bed with me).
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SarahMC, um you put something on, generally a t-shirt or jumper that’s lying on the floor if you’re me. Actually as a child I wore pyjamas but I just thought that it was something that people stopped doing once they became adults. I have to admit to not really seeing the point of them even now, post-natal recuperation apart.
Overstock.com is a fantastic source for linens. My weakness is for thick soft bath towels. I have to have bath sheets and I spend as much time as possible in my fluffy bathrobe.
sarah we were definitely brought up in no uncertain terms not to sleep naked, starting at puberty. once i asked my mom why and she said “she didn’t want to see anyone end up pregnant.” good thing i had comprehensive sex ed in school! oh wait…
exelizabeth, I have a heated mattress pad because I have the same problem. It’s excellent and they usually have dual controls.
If the stork sees you sleeping naked he’ll leave a present in your belly.
In a weird twist, I had girlfriends when I was little who had been explicitly instructed to sleep w/o underpants on (although a nightgown or big t-shirt or whatever was de riguer). I thought that was weird: overclothes without underclothes? I like to sleep naked, and have when I felt like no one would notice and/or make a big deal about it. Now I’m free to do so whenver, but damn, my place is too cold these days.
I love to buy new sheets. I love to theme my bed up with fun colors and a new duvet cover every once in a while. It’s a fun way to redo your room without having to bust out the paint brushes. I don’t even bother counting how many pillows I have, I sort of just nest in the middle of them. Having nice linens and no longer sleeping in a twin bed is probably one of my favorite simple pleasures of being an adult.
PhDork, it’s to air our your catbag.
I want to turn an entire bedroom into a bed, by like, putting two kings together with a twin on the end.
haha, I was also instructed to air out my catbag, more or less.
[...] Real Estate News Review added an interesting post on Retro Pleasures: My Linen N ThingsHere’s a small excerptHaving my own Bhome/B, and choosing its Bfurnishings/B is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. As a single woman, my house is the… [...]
Amen to airing out the catbag. My mom was very “Our Bodies, Ourselves” about vaginal health, and that meant no underwear in bed. It scandalized my very proper grandmother, though, who insisted on underwear even if you were wearing a floor-length nightgown with bathrobe belted on top of it.
@SarahMC: The whole “what do you do when you get up at night?” thing was the subject of ENDLESS inquiries from the nice Baptist girls in my freshman dorm. When I was a kid, the bathroom was right outside my bedroom door, so I wasn’t going to be parading past anyone in the hallway (and even if I had, we were a fairly open family when it came to nudity). In college I just grabbed a robe off the hook on the back of the door. Problem solved.
@HanaMaru: Bath sheets FTW! Don’t even talk to me about wussy little towels. Mine are also from Overstock.
What’s going on with cooters that they need “airing out”? My cunt is not a musty basement. I’ve read OBO, and I know not to wear nylon/wet/tight/made of food/someone else’s drawers, but I don’t remember anything about regular cotton knickers being problematic.
Maybe this is for a different post, though: Catbags 101. On the sheets topic, I got a set of fleece (like polartec) sheet for Xmas, and they are the best thing to happen to winter since hot chocolate.
@PhDork: Harpy Seminar! We can all do the ’70s feminist thing and check ourselves out with hand mirrors.
I don’t think regular cotton panties are going to give you crotch rot if you wear them 24-7, but I’ve always heard that’s it’s healthy to let the ol’ labia flap in the breeze when possible.
Add me to the naked sleeping party. Even if I go to sleep in pajamas I always shed during the night and wake up naked. I own 5 or 6 lovely sets of PJ’s but only wear them for lounging during the day.
And word on Overstock. All my bedding, including my fabulous down comforter(s) came from that site. The reviews are priceless when it comes to deciding which stuff is the best deal.
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I’ve come to this a bit late (sorry), but I felt I must admit to being among the naked sleeping fraternity although, unlike Emilyanne, I didn’t wear PJs as a child. My parents were of the belief that it was more healthy to wear as little as possible to bed, and in their case, this meant birthday suits all round So, once my sister and I were reliably dry at night, we were actively encouraged to sleep in the altogether – what more could any nudist-inclined kid wish for!