How to choose luxury bed linen for your hotel or home

Did you know that we spend approximately one-third of our lives either sleeping – or attempting to do so? It’s also thought that around one-third of Brits experience difficulty sleeping and/or episodes of insomnia at some point. This doesn’t just leave us feeling a bit tired and grumpy. Trouble sleeping can seriously impact our physical and mental health. It can actively contribute to illness, stress, memory issues, and weight gain, as well as negatively affecting energy levels and mood.

Our Roma duvet cover features a button hem and 300TC Egyptian cotton sateen, which is a gorgeously smooth fabric for a sumptuous night’s sleep. With a decorative single row of satin stitch detail in the centre of the duvet cover, team this with our Brooklyn Plain Cotton Sateen Fitted Sheets and Roma pillowcases, as seen in the Brama Hotel. Photo: Brama Hotel

Choosing your bedding sets

Whether it’s in your home or a luxury hotel, the right bedroom environment is vital if you want to sleep really well. Investing in a good-quality mattress will be important and unsurprisingly, your bed linen has a key role to play. High-quality sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers and blankets and throws are one of the most critical factors if you want to sleep well. We know that it’s almost always the bed (which of course really means a luxury bed linen collection!) that guests enjoy the most about a hotel stay. Appearance matters, of course – but so do your bedding materials. After all, your bed linen is in direct and prolonged contact with your skin. So it needs to feel soft, smooth and luxurious at all times.

If you’re looking for a rejuvenating sleep experience, our Lexington 300Tc Sateen White Two Line duvet cover and matching pillowcases could be perfect. Embroidered with a white satin stitch, this bed linen features a lovely smooth fabric, which have been woven from a slightly thicker yarn than generally found on the high street. This collection is superior quality and so robust that we supply this to leading hotels all over the world. Photo: www.styleanddecor.co.uk

Fitted and flat sheets for a perfect night's sleep

Natural fibres are soft, silky and supremely comfortable to sleep beneath. The materials our sheets are made from include cotton percale, organic cotton and organic cotton percale. Bed sheets can be crisp and cool, or cosy or warm. In either scenario, Egyptian cotton is perennially popular. Grown in Egypt’s Nile Delta, these plants produce long, fine fibres which are carefully hand-picked to protect the yarns. Egyptian cotton is super soft yet durable, so sheets that are made with it really are an investment that lasts for years and years.

Our Lisbon Cotton Herringbone Blanket (which comes with a leather carry strap) is super-versatile - you can use it on a bed, for a picnic, to wrap around you outside when it’s cold or to layer your look on a sofa. Shown here in luxury wellness retreat, Shore Hall. Photo: styleanddecor.co.uk

Organic cotton is an increasingly popular choice for luxury bed linen, as sustainability continues to influence purchasing decisions. The organic cotton used to create our luxury bedding is manufactured without chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers, using fewer natural resources.

Thread counts and GSM

In addition to material, thread counts and GSM (grams per square metre) are other important considerations when choosing luxury bed linen for your home or hotel. The term thread count refers to the number of horizontal and vertical threads per square inch/centimetre of fabric. Generally speaking, the higher the thread count, the softer and more luxurious the luxury bedding. However, it’s vital to understand that the quality of the yarn used is equally important. Ultimately, the “best thread counts” depend on personal preferences. Our bed linen thread counts range form 200-600, so there really is something for everyone.

At luxury wellness retreat Shore Hall, they have chosen our luxurious Brooklyn sateen white sheets and duvet covers with a funnel hem and Roma pillowcases plus a selection of cotton and wool throws, among other products, for their guests. Their bed linen shows one such example of the collections we supply to leading luxury hotels all around the world. Photo: www.styleanddecor.co.uk

GSM stands for grams per square metre, and refers to the metric measurement of a fabric’s weight. So the higher the GSM, the denser the fabric. GSM information is more commonly seen on luxury towels but it’s sometimes included for bed linen too.

Picking the right covers for your pillows

Pillowcases are often an overlooked/underrated element of luxury bed linen. They shouldn’t be! Like sheets, they need to be soft, comfortable and breathable. We offer a wide range of colours and styles, in a choice of premium fabrics.

Don’t forget to complete the look in your hotel or home with our Portofino Cotton Waffle blankets and throws. With nine colours to choose from, here’s our mustard yellow design. Perfect for bedrooms, living rooms and outdoor spaces, this 100% cotton design is stonewashed and features a stitched edge design

Another element to consider when selecting luxury bedding is the weave of the fabrics in question. For example, how your sheet or pillowcase cotton is patterned or woven together is very important. Two of the most prevalent weave methods are percale and sateen. Sateen bed linen has a smooth, lustrous sheen. They are generally more dense, and can feel heavier, warmer and more luxurious. Sateen sheets tend to drape very well and are more resistant to wrinkling.

Percale weave bed linen has a crisper, matte finish that’s often likened to linen. It’s lightweight, airy and breathable, which makes it perfect for anyone who prefers to ‘sleep cool’.

Our Melrose pillowcases and duvet covers feature a waffle weave on top for a super-absorbent, breathable fabric. This is perfect for warmer weather, so you won’t get too hot and it feels tactile on top with a super-soft feel on the reverse

The beauty of bespoke bedding

Nothing denotes high-quality bed linen like a bespoke finish. If a more personalised approach is something that appeals, did you know that you can choose your own bespoke finish on duvet colours and pillowcases in our Roma collection?

Our Roma pillowcases match the duvet cover in 300TC Egyptian cotton sateen. You can commission TFCC to design bespoke decorative touches, such as colourful embroidered hem details with 500 colourways to choose from on TFCC’s Embroidery Thread Chart. Dark green embroidery is showcased here in the Brama Hotel, which ties in with this hotelier’s handpicked interior colour selection. Photo: Brama Hotel

For example you could choose one line of embroidered thread, from 500 available colours, to complement a corporate or domestic room scheme. Our client the Brama boutique hotel in Bromley customised our Roma 300TC Sateen Oxford Pillowcase to match its signature green/orange livery.

Duvet covers

Sheets and pillowcases have the most contact with your skin, but your covers are no less important. Nothing gives that upscale boutique hotel sleep experience like a luxury cotton duvet cover. Size matters of course – do measure your bed and duvet properly. We offer a full range of sizes from single right through to emperor. If you're looking for the ultimate sleep experience, you could try upsizing your cover and duvet. For example, if you have a double bed, opt for a king-size version for a cosier wraparound.  

 

With our Brooklyn 300TC Cotton Sateen bed linen collection, you’re practically guaranteed a good night’s sleep. The entire collection featuring our 300TC Cotton Sateen duvet cover with funnel hem, fitted sheet and pillowcases are showcased here at the 5 Star County Inn and Pub, The Queen’s Arms Hotel

White luxury bed linen is chic, timeless, and serves as a versatile neutral backdrop. But if you are keen to introduce a dash of colour, we offer both plain and patterned options, such as our Hudson Blue Grey Stripe Cotton Duvet Cover. Many homeowners and professional clients like to switch up their duvet covers according to the seasons, too. A popular option for spring/summer is our lighter, 200TC Vermont Organic Cotton Percale Duvet Cover with Button Hem.

We’ve also introduced a new collection called Melrose Waffle. This versatile duvet cover incorporates a woven cotton 200 thread count with a 200 thread count super soft sateen reverse. Waffle fabric is very easy to care for. This duvet cover and pillowcase collection pairs perfectly with our Vermont and Brooklyn sheet collections.

Newly launched, our Melrose Waffle 200TC bed linen collection comes in a duvet cover and matching pillowcases, in a woven cotton on the top and super-soft sateen on the reverse. This creates a more tactile, contemporary style for hotel-look bedrooms and you can use our Vermont organic cotton percale or Brooklyn Cotton Sateen sheet collections to complete the look

To really elevate your sateen luxury bed linen, we offer a monogrammed embroidery service. You can personalise your duvet covers and/or pillowcases with logos, names, dates and initials, with more than 500 colour options. This bespoke service is available to both hoteliers and homeowners – and it’s becoming a very popular wedding gift!

Blankets and throws

Cashmere and wool blankets and throws add the perfect finishing touches to a bedroom. A pop of pastel provide an ideal spring/summer update, and is a fast, effective way to refresh a room scheme.

Our Madison Soft Matelasse throw is made from 100% soft cotton and it’s so versatile, you can use it on your bed, sofa or even outdoors to keep off the chill. This stonewashed design features a tactile texture and is showcased here in Dusky Pink. Photo: www.styleanddecor.co.uk

Styling your duvet with a soft, colourful throw helps to recreate that high-end boutique hotel bedroom look. You can either drape it up to your pillows; layer on top and turn down; or fold and drape across the foot of the bed. Of course, a soft, stylish throw doesn’t just look good. It adds extra warmth, comfort and cosiness to the rest of your luxury bed linen.

For a luxury traditional hotel look, our new white Chelsea throw (90% cotton and 10% polyester) with a stitched edge design and cushion cover will instantly add a luxurious finish to any bedroom. Featuring a flowing chenille pattern, which is woven into the fabric, this has been designed for use in hospitality and these bedspreads have been designed to withstand commercial laundering

You can keep things muted with neutrals or go bold with an accent shade. If you’re a fan of texture/pattern, our new Chelsea Throw and Matching Cushion Cover has already proved super popular with our hotel clients and has been specially designed to withstand frequent commercial laundering requirements.

When it comes to luxury bedrooms, at The Fine Cotton Company we not only sell bed linen but we also sell mattress toppers, anti allergy duvets (made with recycled plastic bottles), pillows, pillow covers, embroidered bag accessories for hairdryers and laundry, and more. You can discover our entire bedroom collection here.