Howdy Friends. Today I am kinda sorta in a grumpy mood. I’ve been on the dumb internet for hours trying to find a proper bed skirt. What a total waste of my day.
Do you have a bed skirt? Must I have a bed skirt? If so, why? We’ve had one and I’ve hated that thing for years. It was too long, always being pulled one way or the other, and always wrinkled. I even bought pins to shorten it. They lasted until I stepped on it and ripped the corner. Ugh.
Advertisements say bed skirts are supposed to hide anything you have stashed under the bed and keep away dust bunnies. What? Really? There are so many dust bunnies having baby dust bunnies under our bed that I think the iron bed frame is the only thing keeping our bed from floating away on a cloud of dust. (you know it’s coming… Uuuugh!)
Well No More! We’ve cleaned out the crap under the bed and I’ve given the dust bunnies a proper burial. Our runny noses will thank us.
What we are left with are the unsightly weird feet that hold up the frame. Not a good look and seeing them everyday is getting on my last decorator nerve. I suppose bed skirts hide ugly legs and bed frames too.
So the big question, is do we get a bed skirt or just get a box spring cover and continue looking at the ugly bed frame feet?
Issues with finding a proper bed skirt
Issue #1, Some websites say the standard height is 14 inches, others say 16. Well guess what? I need 15-1/2 inches. Do I go for the too short skirt and add some cute decorative trim along the bottom (yeah, that’s probably not going to happen) or do I get the longer one and hem it (probably with fabric glue or double sided tape – yep)?
Issue #2, I need one with split corners for the foot board. That puts a whole new kink in the search. Not many of those to choose from.
Issue #3, The nicer bed skirts with thicker fabric aren’t offered in the color I need. I could go with taupe or gray and so far the search has only offered those colors in cheaper fabrics. Ugh again! (Yes my throat hurts from all the moaning and groaning over here.)
All this griping got me to thinking. Maybe you, my sweet friends, need some tips on buying a bed skirt. Well here is what I’ve learned.
Tips to finding a proper bed skirt
Tip #1 – Size matters. Not every bed is the same size. If you have a full size (54″ x 75″), queen (60″ x 80″) or standard king (76″ x 80″) size, measure first! Each manufacturer is not exact.
Tip #2 – The Drop. I’m referring to the distance from the top of the foundation to the floor. Depending on who you ask, a standard measurement for ready-made bed skirts is 14″ or 16″. Now days with thicker mattresses, if your “drop” measurement is 16″, the standard bed skirt may not go all the way to the floor and if your “drop” measurement is 14″ the bed skirt may drag on the floor. Some people don’t mind it dragging but I feel if it drags, you can easily step on it and over time it will look more wrinkly and possibly tear putting you on the hunt again.
Tip #3 – Color. If your bedding doesn’t come with a matching bed skirt, you’ll need to decide what you like best. Solid colors are versatile but not for everyone. White or ivory are neutral but not all bedding works with white. My thought is that it’s like wearing slacks. You want your socks to match either the shoes or your slacks. Unless you’re a millennial and want either no socks or mismatched socks. :/
Tip #4 – Fabric. Some ready-made bed skirts are thin and made of a microfiber or polyester fabric. If you go with one of those, pay attention to the color too. The lighter fabrics will be see through if you have any light showing from under the bed. And in my opinion, will not hold up well after a few washings. The heavier fabrics will hang better and will require less ironing (for those that do that sort of thing, you know, iron your bed skirts). 😉 The heavier fabrics are more like velvet, matelasse, quilted cotton, even burlap.
Tip #5 – Choices. There are bed skirts that wrap around (you don’t have to lift the heavy mattress to get it on), Velcro on, ruffled, wrinkle resistant, pleated, gathered, etc.
Hint: If you have a bed with a foot board or other sort of foot frame, you’ll need the Split Cornered bed skirt so you can pull it down and around the legs or over the frame. Learned that the hard way.
So can you help a sister out? Do I get a bed skirt or box spring cover? Enquiring minds want to know!
I have had bedskirts for years on my beds and love the look. I have changed them over the years didderent colors but found a basic ivory works well in my house.
Author
Thank you Rhonda for the input! It means a lot.
Wow, and I thought I was the only one with this problem. I do not know how many hours I have spent on the internet looking for the “right skirt”. My girlfriend found the perfect skirt but it was for a king and I have a full size. Well, I wasn’t about to give up the perfect skirt that was free….enter duck tape. My hubby helped me and we used the tape until it was just right. I had purchased one from Walmart but it was like paper…so I am a happy camper. Love your site!!
Author
Duct tape – Sharon that’s genius! I’ve never thought of that. That changes things for sure! Thank you for sharing. ❤️
Ha! Good question! I bought one. Fabric way to thin. Wrestled the mattress off to get it on. Hated it and wrestled with mattress again! The Velcro idea really does sound like best idea. Or you could buy a king sized coverlets if you have a queen sized bed and put it on bed so the long way goes across the bed. Yep. My solution. Guessing you will do better and I will be waiting! Good luck.
Author
I have a king sized bed but the coverlet idea sounds fantastic! Hmmm. I just might try that! Thank you Gwen for the advice. 😀
I just like the cleaner look of no bed skirt and took ours off several years ago. It also forced me to find places….proper ones…..for the stuff that so easily got stashed under the bed. It felt soooo good to know that space was empty! Well, unless you count some dust bunnies here, too. BUT I fight with the mattress showing, too, and love our bedding, so hate to invest in something new. I am losing my own battle here. I have looked at pics online and wonder if some just use another sheet or something like that, but for now I hide the side I see the most and call it good, but it still bothers me. I am following this discussion……that is for sure!
Author
Haha. I pull our comforter over to the side I see the most too! And you are right – it feels so good knowing the bed is clear underneath! 😀. Thanks for commenting Patty!
Put a fitted sheet on the box spring.
When I finally find the time, I have ordered the fabric to redecorate my bedroom. The bed-skirt issue for me is that my husband ordered a bed with an electric base to raise the head of the bed (queen size). He’s on oxygen and needs to sit up higher to sleep. The base is covered with an ugly gray fabric. There is no actual bed frame or legs, but that may change. At very least I will make or buy a headboard. Also, the mattress is HUGE! So I need to make the duvet cover wider and longer than a queen comforter in order to cove the mattress. The main fabric is a upholstery weight Toile, Garden Toile, the rose color way. The colors are white, rose, and tan. So, I found a tan and white ticking stripe (print not the real thing) to use as trim as well as lining for the curtain, a bed-skirt, and a tan for more trim and pillows. I’m thinking Velcro to hold up the bed-skirt so it can be removed easily for washing (we have dogs, big hairy dogs). I will most likely line the bed-skirt to add weight. So I if you haven’t guess, sew. I can tell that you don’t care for sewing or hemming or adding trim to your bed-skirt wouldn’t be an issue. You can purchase a good hem tape at any fabric or craft store. The work well, you can also find a good dressmaker that could do the job for you, if you ask around.
Author
Sounds like you have quite the sewing job ahead of you and with such beautiful fabric! I’d love to see pictures. One quick thought. Instead of making the queen duvet cover longer and wider, why couldn’t you use a king size? I don’t know much about sewing so you’ve probably thought of this dilemma and the best solution. Anyway, thanks so much for spending the time to comment and for your suggestions! It’s greatly appreciated.
I always use a fitted sheet so you don’t see the box spring.It doesn’t hang down but it can stretch to cover the side rails. The legs would still show though but that doesn’t really bother me but it might bother you! Good luck! It is a dilemma. 😊
Author
I’ve done that on the twin beds in Navasota. It looks pretty good. Might end up doing that here. Thanks for the input Laura! 😀
Oh yes, a frustrating problem! I hear you on this one! One of my beds is a high 4-poster & there was no bedskirt to be had when I was looking way back when. So I ended up going with the too long version & I agree it’s frustrating, and never looks right. On our guest bed, which is also antique, but much lower, I went with the too short version & hated it, but solved the problem by having 2 bedskirts…one on top of the other, so it looks like it’s supposed to be that way. One is a bit too short, and the other is way too short. On our master bed, we have a too short version that was eyelet, which I liked at the time, but pets over the years have torn it, so it needs to be replaced, but I turn a blind eye. Not going there again. I’ll never forget…over 20 years ago, I paid for a custom comforter, and custom drapes to match it, and my decorator at the time, was taken aback that I wasn’t spending big bucks to have a custom bedskirt too. You’re not having it lined, she asked incredulously? No thank you. I was tired of big bucks flying out the window.
Author
And I thought I had it bad? Looks like we are two peas in a terrible pod. I am hating the idea of a bed skirt more and more. Thanks for sharing!
Well, that question certainly invited thoughtful input. I’m rooting for the dust bunnies! Come home Boingo!
Author
Boingo is dinner for some coyote and will never be coming back. And if he was, he’d not be invited under the bed. I’m seriously dreading the thought of having another bed skirt. Ugh.
I saw someone’s blog some time ago with instructions on a simple and inexpensive solution. She took an old sheet, cut it to the size of the mattress, and then bought drop cloths from Lowe’s, laundered first, of course, so that they were nice and soft, and then cut into 3 long strips and hot glued, yes, hot glued to the sheet…. gathering as she went along. I believe she doubled the length of each side and pinned beginning middle and end, and at least once in between those three points, which made the manual gathers much easier to keep fairly even. How she addressed the split was to glue the three sides separately, so there was an opening for the legs. And yes she even hot glued the side seams, too! She used the hem on the drop cloth but if you needed to hem you could also hot glue that as well…. although sewing straight seams is pretty simple. I hope this gives you an idea even if you use something other than drop cloths! If I stumble across the blog I’ll let you know.
Love your home… by the way!
Author
Wow, that is a fantastic idea. Seems like a lot of work but I bet once you get started it goes fairly quick. It would also fit my dilemma of the corner rails. Thank you for the great idea and thanks for the sweet comment. Hope you have a great week.