Bedding: tapping into the HPC hive mind

[StainlessSteelCat]

Was thinking about getting some new bedding eg duvet cover, pillows, sheets the other day. After an hour or so of fruitless browsing, I am no clearer on the best price to performance bedding out there as the search engines seem to have been utterly captured by the bedding companies' best SEO geeks, and Amazon is full of "This is ace, but I got it for free" reviews. 

The other requirement is that I want something plain coloured, preferably black or dark green - and it's for a single bed.  No superheros, no new york skylines, no patterns or other fripperies. 

Given this is likely to be an infrequent purchase, I have no interest in becoming a bedding expert - so I thought I'd tap into the collective wisdom of HPC.  Any thoughts gang?

[Bossybabe]

Go for high thread count, pure cotton, especially if you sleep nude. Try Northern Nights on QVC or eBay. 

[The Masked Tulip]

1 minute ago, Bossybabe said:

Go for high thread count, pure cotton, especially if you sleep nude. Try Northern Nights on QVC or eBay. 

Yep, I would recommend the Dunelm high thread count Egyptian cotton. Alas, that only comes in white. But they do a range of high thread count cotton sheets in various colours. They do black and dark green - the link below should show you some good options.

http://www.dunelm.com/search/black+sheet

(Amazon is shooting itself in the foot with all those 'I got this for free for a review' comments.).

[Frank Hovis]

Not wishing to "out" myself as an interior design expert but I buy my bedding from Dunelm Mill. You very much get what you pay for and you can feel the difference.  As per Bossybabe thread count is very important to the feel and quality and they arrange their products into thread count aisles which ramp up in quality and price.

If you want fancy they do that as well but there is a lot of plain.

You need to visit rather than go online, so if you haven't a store within a reasonable distance that'll be a no.

[winkie]

100% cotton......try looking in a few charity shops first before you buy.

[StainlessSteelCat]

Thank you all. That helps immensely!

[SarahBell]

1 hour ago, The Masked Tulip said:

Yep, I would recommend the Dunelm high thread count Egyptian cotton. Alas, that only comes in white. But they do a range of high thread count cotton sheets in various colours. They do black and dark green - the link below should show you some good options.

http://www.dunelm.com/search/black+sheet

(Amazon is shooting itself in the foot with all those 'I got this for free for a review' comments.).

My friend swears by the high thread count stuff. She also irons all her bedding. 

The review declaration is cos of the ASA not liking all the adverts from free stuff...

[MrPin]

100% nylon, and wear earthed conductive pyjamas.

[libspero]

I always use these guys..

https://www.soakandsleep.com/

Wide range of qualities and price points, but in my experience they are pretty good bang for buck.

Agree with what others said about cotton.  Couldn't really imagine ever not going down the feather / cotton route..

Edit to add:  they also do deep-cut sheets which are essential if you have a thick mattress.

[SpectrumFX]

Don't buy black bedding. 

Semen leaves a persistent stain.

 

 

[The Masked Tulip]

6 minutes ago, SpectrumFX said:

Don't buy black bedding. 

Semen leaves a persistent stain.

 

 

And it fades rapidly in a few washes.

[oracle]

5 hours ago, StainlessSteelCat said:

Was thinking about getting some new bedding eg duvet cover, pillows, sheets the other day. After an hour or so of fruitless browsing, I am no clearer on the best price to performance bedding out there as the search engines seem to have been utterly captured by the bedding companies' best SEO geeks, and Amazon is full of "This is ace, but I got it for free" reviews. 

The other requirement is that I want something plain coloured, preferably black or dark green - and it's for a single bed.  No superheros, no new york skylines, no patterns or other fripperies. 

Given this is likely to be an infrequent purchase, I have no interest in becoming a bedding expert - so I thought I'd tap into the collective wisdom of HPC.  Any thoughts gang?

yes:

1)memory foam mattress..absolute MUST

2)2* Lightweight tog quilt...one for summer, double up in winter.

[Diver Dan]

5 hours ago, StainlessSteelCat said:

Was thinking about getting some new bedding eg duvet cover, pillows, sheets the other day. After an hour or so of fruitless browsing, I am no clearer on the best price to performance bedding out there as the search engines seem to have been utterly captured by the bedding companies' best SEO geeks, and Amazon is full of "This is ace, but I got it for free" reviews. 

The other requirement is that I want something plain coloured, preferably black or dark green - and it's for a single bed.  No superheros, no new york skylines, no patterns or other fripperies. 

Given this is likely to be an infrequent purchase, I have no interest in becoming a bedding expert - so I thought I'd tap into the collective wisdom of HPC.  Any thoughts gang?

It's probably not the cheapest but go to John Lewis. Any of their 100% cotton bedding that I've had has been really high quality. Overnight guests have approved as well.

[The XYY Man]

29 minutes ago, oracle said:

yes:

1)memory foam mattress..absolute MUST

2)2* Lightweight tog quilt...one for summer, double up in winter.

Cack.

The memory-foam mattress has only existed for the last ten years or so.

I have enjoyed many a comfortable, refreshing night of blissful sleep long before that item was invented.

Ditto the quilt. I slept very well as a child with sheets, blankets and a bed-spread.

Oh, and my teddy-bear of course...!

 

XYY

                                                                                                               

The dog's kennel is not the place to keep a sausage - Danish proverb

[onlyme2]

Just had a new Dunelm duvet - never had such a thick heavy duvet before - brilliant for winter. Don't like memory foam or nylon. Cotton all the way for sheets, pocket spring bed with topper and duck feather pillows. The bed is cast iron / brass and would probably last 500 years, so I saved on that part.

 

[MrPin]

7 minutes ago, onlyme2 said:

Just had a new Dunelm duvet - never had such a thick heavy duvet before - brilliant for winter. Don't like memory foam or nylon. Cotton all the way for sheets, pocket spring bed with topper and duck feather pillows. The bed is cast iron / brass and would probably last 500 years, so I saved on that part.

 

I hope it's safely earthed, and has a current PAT certificate.

[onlyme2]

24 minutes ago, MrPin said:

I hope it's safely earthed, and has a current PAT certificate.

Err, yes, good point, should keep all my extraneous conductive parts suitable bonded. But I'm not putting one of those crappy little PAT stickers on it!

 

[MrPin]

Just now, onlyme2 said:

Err, yes, good point, should keep all my extraneous conductive parts suitable bonded. But I'm not putting one of those crappy little PAT stickers on it!

 

One who is jobsworthy one will.

[Battenberg]

Sheets and bedding to me is like handbags and shoes to other women. I've been told off before now for buying more pillows that he says we don't need. Oops.

I'd go for between 300-400 thread count. I wouldn't go heavier because it's harder to get them dry. I'm not a fan of ironing either. I had some Dorma ones from Dunelm and they're lovely to wash and dry but they haven't lasted as well as others I've had. I like Supima cotton too but Mr B complains the last lot I purchased were cold. 

Dont forget to check your mattress depth too if you want fitted sheets. Mattresses are just getting silly now in terms of the depth and getting sheets that don't pop off the corners every morning is something to think about. 

I like the Bedeck shop for sheets. Seems to be good quality bedding.

I've found Next duvet covers very good quality too.

[MrPin]

You people spend too much time sleeping.

[richc]

57 minutes ago, Battenberg said:

Sheets and bedding to me is like handbags and shoes to other women. I've been told off before now for buying more pillows that he says we don't need. Oops.

I'd go for between 300-400 thread count. I wouldn't go heavier because it's harder to get them dry. I'm not a fan of ironing either. I had some Dorma ones from Dunelm and they're lovely to wash and dry but they haven't lasted as well as others I've had. I like Supima cotton too but Mr B complains the last lot I purchased were cold. 

Dont forget to check your mattress depth too if you want fitted sheets. Mattresses are just getting silly now in terms of the depth and getting sheets that don't pop off the corners every morning is something to think about. 

I like the Bedeck shop for sheets. Seems to be good quality bedding.

I've found Next duvet covers very good quality too.

If you find cotton sheets too cold, try linen ones.  When you get into bed on a cold night, they feel instantly warm but without getting too hot through the course of the night. 

[DEATH]

Buy the cheapest bedding possible and spend the money saved on cheap booze.

Good night sleep g'teed!

[MrPin]

What's the difference between cotton and linen? I can tell rubber from leather!

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

8 hours ago, SarahBell said:

My friend swears by the high thread count stuff. She also irons all her bedding. 

The review declaration is cos of the ASA not liking all the adverts from free stuff...

I'll say same the same about high thread count cotton, though not for bedding, but shirts. They cost a bomb, but  200 threads per inch high thread count shirts are brilliant. This is how cotton should be.

But as with all things, we have suffered crapification due to the demand for low consumer prices and offshoring.

My biggest stress in life is clutter, I have a karge house full of stuff that my wife has bought either as holiday souvenirs or for the kids and whilst I like technology, I am too much of a control freak on that to let anyone buy it for me. My backlash to this is to ask not to receive loads of small Christmas presents. So this year I asked my wife just buy me a 200 cotton Shirt from Turnbull and Asser. That's about £350 of shirt, but I'd rather have a decent  cotton shirt than £350 worth of plastic cr@p from China.

I've also found the same thing with Thomas Pink. If you buy a £50-100 shirt from them, they invariably come from Indonesia, and fall to bits and look cr@p after 3 washes. If you buy a 170 or 200 cotton shirt, it will last for ages.

I did read a great quote about higher quality shirts on a car forum I read, and to paraphrase "would you rather have you shirt slung together from cheap cotton from a sweat shop, or one carefully put together from the finest cotton by diligent old British men with half moon glasses?"

I am sure the same rules apply to bedding, though right now, costly bedding wouldn't work for us  as we have copious quantities of child or cat vomit to deal with.

Finally to quote the Fast Show, "Suits you Sir!"

 

[StainlessSteelCat]

16 minutes ago, Mikhail Liebenstein said:

I'll say same the same about high thread count cotton, though not for bedding, but shirts. They cost a bomb, but  200 threads per inch high thread count shirts are brilliant. This is how cotton should be.

But as with all things, we have suffered crapification due to the demand for low consumer prices and offshoring.

My biggest stress in life is clutter, I have a karge house full of stuff that my wife has bought either as holiday souvenirs or for the kids and whilst I like technology, I am too much of a control freak on that to let anyone buy it for me. My backlash to this is to ask not to receive loads of small Christmas presents. So this year I asked my wife just buy me a 200 cotton Shirt from Turnbull and Asser. That's about £350 of shirt, but I'd rather have a decent  cotton shirt than £350 worth of plastic cr@p from China.

I've also found the same thing with Thomas Pink. If you buy a £50-100 shirt from them, they invariably come from Indonesia, and fall to bits and look cr@p after 3 washes. If you buy a 170 or 200 cotton shirt, it will last for ages.

I did read a great quote about higher quality shirts on a car forum I read, and to paraphrase "would you rather have you shirt slung together from cheap cotton from a sweat shop, or one carefully put together from the finest cotton by diligent old British men with half moon glasses?"

I am sure the same rules apply to bedding, though right now, costly bedding wouldn't work for us  as we have copious quantities of child or cat vomit to deal with.

Finally to quote the Fast Show, "Suits you Sir!"

 

 

Good insights, Mikhail. I'm afraid my missus' idea of an expensive present is one costing a tenner so little chance of receiving a quality bed sheet from her. I now steer her towards food as gifts - although that wasn't entirely successful this year either. It is the depressing nature of the current huge quantities of bedding on offer in the house (but usually garish colour patterns in hideously textured polycotton)  that has encouraged me to seek out my own.