The other day I read a newspaper article about the tenth anniversary of Westin Hotels’ “Heavenly Bed.” The hotel incorporated (and trademarked) the plush white bed ten years ago, and if you’ve never slept in one . . . well, it IS heavenly. It’s a Beautyrest mattress (the one with the coils that are individually and tenderly wrapped in fabric), and the pristine white bedding is simply plush. The sheets are like satin, and there are so many of them . . .
Well, after reading the article and remembering my heavenly sleeping experience, I developed a hankering to have a heavenly bed of my own. After all, our mattress is so old I can’t remember when we bought it, but I know we weren’t living in this house when we did, so it’s definitely aging.
Anyway, the Heavenly Bed is available for sale from Westin Hotels or from Nordstrom. The price for the complete package starts at $2670, which sounds reasonable for the best bed in the world, until you begin to break it down. Seventy dollars for a pillow case? Ninety dollars for a skinny little decorative pillow?
So I decided to create my own heavenly bed, using the directions at this web site as my guide. I went down to Tuesday Morning, which always has really nice linens for a fraction of the retail price. I bought a plush mattress pad, a down blanket, two sheet sets of Egyptian cotton (had to get that second flat sheet), a throw, a decorative pillow, and a duvet. They weren’t cheap, but if I’d bought the exact same items from the heavenly bed store, I’d have spent $1455. At Tuesday Morning, I got the same quality of silky cotton sheets and spent less than a quarter of that amount.
Then I came home and started to assemble the bed according to the directions posted at Nordstrom. The tricky part is putting on the double sheets and figuring out how to make the three layers show, but I came close enough, I think. I went with seafoam and white instead of just white because I have big slobbery dogs, and nothing stays white for long in my house.
Anyway, I now have a happier version of a heavenly bed. It’s happier because I didn’t spend seventy bucks for a single pillowcase. 🙂
~~Angie
I want to come stay at your house!
What does having two top sheets do besides generate more laundry and take longer to change the sheets?
I have been debating the two top sheets thing myself. Why? And this is what I’ve come up with–having the down blanket covered by both a top and bottom sheet keeps it cleaner longer. I’m thinking that maybe the Westin down blanket has to be dry cleaned . . . mine is machine washable, or I wouldn’t have bought it. 🙂 In any case, that’s what I figure. Of course, it could be simple American excess.
Angie
Some hotels actually started using double sheets when the spread of bed bugs became prevalant. The blanket has a sheet on both sides in order to cut down on how many times the blanket needs to be washed thanks to that pesky little critter.
Did you also get a new mattress?
I have decided that the next time I buy sheets I am getting one fitted sheet and two twin flat sheets for our queen size bed.
My DH likes to wrap himself up with the sheets and blankets. I already keep my own blankets on my side of the bed so why not have my own sheets!
I love having the soft silky sheets rubbing against my arms instead of the blanket. I love the way hotels encase the blanket.
Your bed looks heavenly indeed.