Fitted sheets are an invention of wondrous convenience when you’re making the bed, but not so much on laundry day! We’ve all got the one clever friend who really knows how to fold a fitted sheet — flip, tuck, fluff, fold, and hey-presto! Elastic corners are tucked out of sight, and the recalcitrant fitted sheet’s now a tidy little well-behaved rectangle, ready to put away in the linen closet with its neat little flat-sheet buddies…

I’ve poked around YouTube a good deal, looking for help, but most of the instructional videos for folding fitted sheets aren’t really all that clear, or the results aren’t as good as we’d really like, if you’re going to go to all that bother. Finally, however, my newlywed pal Katelynn discovered The Perfect Fitted Sheet Folding Video Tutorial:

Okay, now take a deep breath and just watch that first part again, where she’s putting the corners together. The whole trick is in getting all four corners of the sheet tucked inside each other, the way the video shows. Grab a fitted sheet to play along while you watch this, and you’ll find you quickly get the hang of it.

Also, yay for the beautiful white-haired calm and capable Granny-type lady who makes you feel like, hell yeah! — oops, sorry Gran — we can do this stupid chore. No fitted sheet is going to go unfolded around here from now on, gol’dang it!

Can we forgive a semi-tacky website, if it’s showcasing a very cool product? Yep, when it’s NeatSheets –  “as seen on TV,” as the saying goes. And what the heck are NeatSheets, you may well ask? 

Fitted bed sheets with a side pocket! 

Two pockets, actually, with elastic at the top… a bit like some models of recliners are made with a pocket on the outer side to hold your magazines and empty chip bags. Same concept. Except, of course, in a fitted sheet.

Now, this just makes such good sense to me – pockets to stash all that stuff your cat likes to knock off the nightstand, like tissues, phone, flashlight, iPod, all that kind of can’t-go-to-bed-without-it stuff. You can keep all your necessaries so conveniently close to hand, if you’re lounging in bed on the weekend or home sick with the sniffles. And for me, as for other writers, who doesn’t love the idea of a convenient place to stash your notebook and pen –  you know, for those middle of the night inspirations?

Prices start at $50 US for twin size, which is certainly not out of line for 200-plus thread count cotton bedding with French seams and all that sort of dainty detail. Your friendly neighbourhood  Domestik Goddess has no problem shelling out the clams for a lovely set of sheets – if sheets are actually needed.

But what if you’ve already got enough sheets, and you’re just craving those pockets?

Idea: DIY Bed Sheet Pockets

She who walks on the frugal side – and/or has limited space for linens storage – might think about just taking a fitted bed sheet already on hand and adding a handy pocket to the side. 

Even a beginner at sewing can hem a rectangle, fold it over at one long edge to make a casing for a piece of elastic, and sew the pocket onto the side of a fitted sheet. 

Truly.

And if our stitches aren’t perfectly even and tidy, hey – who’s going to notice in the dark?

I’m probably not the only dog owner who has spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort on making sure her spoiled dogs are comfy.

The best dog beds I’ve found yet – meaning the most practical and durable – are a couple I got about 8 years ago at the hardware store. Basically, they’re bags of chipped foam stuffing inside a zippered cover made of PVC-lined canvas.

There wasn’t enough of the original stuffing, of course, and it all balled up in one corner within a couple weeks – you’ve got to go to the really high end dog beds for adequate stuffing, don’t you find? – but those PVC/canvas covers were pure genius. You can just hose those beds down when they get dirty!

Eight years later, I’m still using those PVC-lined canvas dogs beds (well, the dogs are still using them, to be precise) although I’ve long since swapped out the old chipped-foam stuffing for a few layers of egg-crate foam I got secondhand on Kajiji.

And just today I noticed that there’s a 3 inch gap along one seam, so I’ll need to make a few repairs…

Really, there’s just one drawback:

They’re kind of more like crate pads than proper dog beds now.  While that’s actually perfect for my elderly Golden Retriever, who struggles to get to her feet if her bed is too soft, a flat canvas-covered pad is just not cosy enough to suit my two skinny pups on a winter night. The Greyhounds are more the fluff-up-the-bed-and-nest kind of dogs… and if you can’t fluff it, they don’t consider it an adequate dog bed. Sulking and fidgeting will occur. Also, loud sighing.

Now, I’ve got a friend who found a wonderful dog bed at one of those big department stores off in the Big City, and only about thirty dollars, too!  It’s an oval cushion with a sort of big fat bolster attached along one side and the ends. We call it “The Princesss Bed” – it’s sort of a rich girly brocade kind of fabric, very luxurious-looking. In fact, it looks comfortable enough to put in your own boudoir for lounging on. I’ve got my eye out to get one of those, but haven’t found it in local stores yet.

Meanwhile, Value Village and the Salvation Army Thrift Store to the rescue…

You can get a double or queen sized comforter for between ten and fifteen dollars at a secondhand store, if you don’t mind some truly eye-popping colours and patterns.  (I did end up making an envelope of a nice plain beige fabric, just like a big pillow slip, to cover up a comforter that had huge ugly purple cabbage-roses all over it. Yes, I bought such a monstrosity –  what can I say? It was cheap; and I was desperate for dog bedding, thanks to a foster dog with a yen to redecorate.

Throw a couple of those big of comforters around, on top of the foam pad dog beds, and voila! you’ve got oodles of sleeping space for the canine kids!

Okay, so it’s not tidy.  Or all that attractive, although the dogs don’t seem to mind.  But, hey, it’ll do for now, suitable for both the sleep-flat dog and the pair of nesters… and my quest for the Platonic Ideal of a dog bed shall go on.

The decadent rose-colored stonewash velvet quilt is at Graham and Green.

The Versailles bed with button-back raw-silk headboard is in my wildest decor dreams…

And just see how that fluffy white faux-fur rug keeps the whole room from taking itself too seriously.

Nice!

What are the odds that the next hot bedroom buzz comes ‘Out of Africa’?

Not the classic Isak Dinesen memoir, Out of Africa, nor the steamy 1985 film with prime Redford and wanna-be-her Meryl Streep — we’re talking West Nile virus, here.

And just as every other major world event affects the fashion world, it’s inevitable that the bed canopy and mosquito net make a reappearance.

Practical protection to meet a growing concern about the mosquito-spread virus… and at the same time, so romantic… you think so?

Just oogle that Black Toile bedroom ensemble, and the Waverly appeal becomes obvious…

When Waverly decided to discontinued their bedding lines in 2005, some home decorators and their clients had a real scramble to find a substitute for that luxurious genteel style.

Oh yes, you can still buy some Waverly home fashions — there’ll be a certain backlog of inventory for some time yet, but we’ve been finding that the choices are very limited and getting more so.

Also, of course, items from discontinued lines can’t usually be returned to the retailer if they don’t fit or don’t suit the room, once you get them home and try it out…

Fortunately, Waverley continues to offer their fabulous fabrics — and aj MOSS has used those fabrics to create their own signature line of comforters, bedskirts, pillows, pillowcases and shams, duvet covers, window treatments and shower curtains… with the coordinating fabrics also available by the yard.

So, lovers of that luscious French Country Black Toile (count me in!) can still do the bedroom happy dance.

Okay, it’s true that I just like saying Giraffe in a Bag!!

But seriously, anyone with an eye to home fashion can’t miss the fact that animal prints are hot this year, and just seem to be getting hotter!

And it seems like every shop’s got heaps of product in the zebra print, leopard, tiger, all that.

Looking for something just a bit different?

How about this giraffe print, one of the safari theme bedding selection at ImageBedding.com — not something you see every day, right?

The set (180 thread count) contains sheets, comforter, bedskirt, shams. Waterbed sheets, drapes and valance, reversible accent pillows, and even a matching shower curtain are also available, sold separately.

I think this giraffe would be a little easier to live with for a longer time than the stronger patterns like a bold zebra.

And it could be dressed up or down — funkified with bits of gold and lime green, or luxe and sophisticated with black velvet, or au naturel with layers of texture in soft neutral colors… changed up a bit for each season’s mood.

The plain fact is, some of us have dogs who need to have their plastic or wire kennels— for their own safety and comfort. And some dogs just loooooove their crates and refuse to give them up, no matter how much of our limited familyroom floor space that big wire kennel is taking up.

My greyhound cries to break your heart if the door to his crate is accidentally closed— he’s like a teenager, in that sometimes he wants nothing more than to hunker down in his very own “bedroom” and flip onto his back, rest his legs up against the wall, and get some serious sleep!

So, I’m thinking, why not make those dog crates really comfortable — and fit in a bit better with the room decor?

Big Dog Boutique used to carry some terrific “Dogcorum” padded bumper cushions that work just like the babycrib bumpers: they pad the lower part of the sides of the crate, so the dog can snuggle up without getting poked by wires or feeling like he’s sleeping on a dish-drainer rack! Nice choice of fabric color and prints, too.

Sadly, the Dogcorum line seems to have disappeared — which will teach me not to whip out the credit card the minute I see something so very cool! — keep an eye out for it, will you, and let me know?

But you can find some perfectly cute and slightly funky Designer Cratewear at Petexpressions.com, in the meantime.

Cratewear means covers, mattresses, bumper cushions, all your pup needs to lounge in luxury, all in coordinating fabrics… Because if a dog crate is going to be a main feature of your home decor, it might as well work with your room’s whole decorating theme, right? Bring it on — leopard print for Fido!