How to layer a bed + a full source list {Bedding Week}

Welcome to another installment of…

Today I’m going to share some quick tips about bedding.

Let’s start with making a bed.

I’m sure there are like 20 billion ways to layer a bed. This is just how *I* do it.

First I start off with my gear:

I bought sheets from Wal-Mart for both my kids’ beds. I altered my daughter’s to look like ones at PBTeen.

I also bought some of these vinyl mattress covers. These are an inexpensive way to protect your mattress from accidents
(bed wetting and barfing included).

Each kid also has a mattress pad on their bed for more protection and to make it more comfy to sleep on.

For my daughter’s bed (and her trundle bed) I start by adding the vinyl mattress cover.

Next I top the vinyl mattress cover with the waterproof mattress pad.

From there I add her sheets:

After that comes a microfleece blanket. I purchased the microfleece blanket from Target.

K actually threw such a huge fit about this GRAY blanket that I compromised with her and returned it for a hot pink one.

When decorating your kids’ rooms there’s a fine balance between making the room look cute and still allowing your child’s style to shine. If it were totally up to K her walls would be hot pink with huge purple polka-dots and every stitch of bedding and furniture would be hot pink. We compromise by me letting her pick out a few things she loves.

After the microfleece blanket I add the duvet.

I use to only use a comforter or duvet on top of the sheets, but have recently started adding the thin blanket in between to add texture and to give the kids an option of how warm or cool they are at night.

They usually sleep with the sheet and blanket, but on really cold nights they can reach down and grab the duvet that’s at the foot of their bed.

Plus, using a blanket instead of the duvet each night really saves the wear and tear on the duvet and helps it to last a whole lot longer.

Now, for my son’s bed I add a few more laters, if you can believe it!

He {unfortunately} has a pretty crappy mattress, but we just don’t have the funds to buy him a new one right now. So I improvised and {cheaply} layered his bed to make it much more comfortable to sleep on.

Here’s a breakdown of all the layers on his bed:

I start with the mattress and top it with a foam mattress topper (looks like an egg crate). I found it on clearance for about $5 at Target (shocker!).

Next I add a waterproof mattress pad. This one has a thick layer of plastic over the mattress pad part, so I invert the cover and put it on upside down, so the plastic is under the mattress pad part. Much more comfortable and less crinkly!

After that I add a down alternative mattress pad. This one was about $21 at Target. Usually I’m too cheap to spend that much on a mattress pad, but the down alternative one is more squishy and thick so I went with it.

From there we can finally add his sheets! I found his at Wal-Mart for $5 a piece ($15 total per set).

Orange Sheets Tip: I looked high and low for bright orange sheets. The ONLY place I found them was at PBTeen for $67.50.

I googled for at least an hour shopping for orange sheets online. You just can’t buy them anywhere! FINALLY it dawned on me to check Wal-Mart. (Honestly the last place I assumed would have such a color.) I was shocked to find out that of all places, Wal-Mart carries bright orange sheets. And for only $5 a piece (for twin sized).

Wal-Mart Sheets Tip: You’d think coming from Wal-Mart the sheets would be thin, see-thru, and crappy quality. But nope. I’m very impressed with these $5 sheets. They are 200-thread count but actually feel thicker than that. They are crisp yet soft and comfortable.

After the sheets comes the microfleece blanket. It’s $12 at target.

And then finally the duvet which I haven’t shown you yet. Another post, I promise! It’s super cute too. 🙂

One more thing to note, I also found these cotton blankets at Target for $10. They only came in white though. I bought them before I found the microfleece blankets, so I decided to put them on the trundle beds.

Here’s a source list of all their bedding and how much I spent:

Daughter’s bedding:

Daybed frame – posted about here
Plastic Mattreses Cover – Wal-Mart $7
Waterproof Mattress Pad – Target $16
Sheets Set – I made here ~$15
Microfleece hot pink blanket – Target $20
Duvet and Sham – I made here ~$10
Down comforter insert for Duvet – Target $30
Black King Sized pillowcases – Walmart $7
Hot pink Ruched Throw Pillow – I made (tut coming soon)
White cotton blanket on trundle – Target $10 (in stores only)
Pillows – Costco 2 for $10
King size pillows – Target $5 each
Travel size pillow inside Ruched Throw Pillow – Target $4

Grand Total for daughter’s PBTeen knock-off bedding (including all pillows, mattress pads, etc):
$139!!!

Son’s Bedding:

Daybed frame – posted about here
Foam mattress topper – Target clearance $5
Waterproof Mattress Pad – already had
Down alternative mattress pad – Target $21
Sheets Set – Wal-mart $15
Microfleece navy blanket – Target $12
Duvet and Sham – post coming soon! It was $20 though.
Down comforter insert for Duvet – Target $30
Navy King Sized pillowcases – Walmart $7
White cotton blanket on trundle – Target $10 (in stores only)
Pillows – Costco 2 for $10
King size pillows – Target $5 each

Grand Total for my son’s bedding (including all pillows, mattress pads, etc):
$120!!!

I was able to redo both kids’ bedding, from mattress pad to duvet, for $259.

Take a minute and think about that. I redid BOTH beds, top to bottom for LESS than what PBTeen is charging for a sheet set, duvet and sham, and throw pillow for ONE bed.

In fact, I did BOTH kid’s beds for a whopping $159 LESS than just the bedding for one bed at PBTeen.

And it’s not even apples to apples here because I’m adding in how much I spent on all the mattress pads, toppers, microfleece blankets, cotton blankets, etc.

My point? If you shop around, you can find good quality items at a fraction of the cost that you will spend at a name-brand designer store. And if you can’t find an exact copy, then make one! I made K’s sheet set and Duvet for a fraction of the cost.

Stay tuned for one more post where I show you how to make the Ruched throw pillow.

Check out all the other posts in this Bedding Week Series here: