One of the great “luxuries” of my life is that I get to spend lots of time in one of my favourite places – my bed. Yes, I’ve been known to enjoy a long lie in on the weekends. Once my friends started to have families, some of them took to calling me at 8am on Saturdays. Umm, hello – you might be up at that time, or even hours earlier, but I sure ain’t! I made my bed, and I intend to lie in it, undisturbed.
Now some of you may have already thrown your iPad on the floor or rolled your bleary eyes at all this talk about luxuriating in bed – you miss your beds, I know. Maybe you are in parenting the babies and toddlers land, where sleep seems long forgotten, or maybe you are away from your bed on a work trip, or you miss the person who you share that intimate space with.
Bed is my recharging station, somewhere I go to read, relax, play Solitaire and sleep and dream. Sometimes I toss and turn, and my brain won’t power down, but usually I find rest and slumber – even if I do wake up with the bed covers at a 90 degree turn to where they started!
Bed is a mystical, healing place. When we’re little, we may not want to go there, or we worry about monsters under the bed… we need just one more story before the light goes out, and the door must be left open a crack. Bed can be the place where fits are thrown, burying your face in a pillow and wailing about not being able to go to grandma’s – or having to go – we kick and carry on there.
As we grow up, our bedrooms are our sanctuaries, especially if we grow up in bustling houses. I never has to share a room, though my brothers did, and my younger sisters did too. Luck of the draw! My room was all mine, so I’d hang out on the floor, reading, playing music, daydreaming, churning through homework or doing nothing at all. It was my private haven. You need that with brothers making noise, new babies crying and parents nagging you about eating your beans or some other outrageous demand.
My mother was crazy for matching bed linen, and as our family grew, we all had matching doona covers – I remember Sesame Street characters, the huge Vegemite jars and the VFL covers with all the team logos – yes, I said VFL, I’m that old!! Then there were the Ken Done years and the move from single bed sized doonas to doubles – more snuggly for sure. Good memories.
I love bed linen still, I love Boxing Day sales and the June stocktake sales and a 50% off sheet set is a thing of beauty.
I like geometric patterns and bold colours, and have never had a Laura Ashley moment. If that’s your wheelhouse, more power to you – we’ll never be fighting over European pillowcases in David Jones on December 27th!
My love of freshly line-dried sheets knows no bounds. Is there a better smell than that? Fresh sheets always make you sleep better, I’m sure that’s a scientific fact.
All this talk about bed… I should be getting sleepy, but it is energising me!
Something about a cold, long weekend makes me think about my bed – it’s probably the prospect of an extra morning to laze in bed, thinking about what the day will bring.
What does your bed mean to you? I’d love to know.
Try and spend some quality, and quantity time there this weekend.
Drafted this post from my bed, but I’m up now! Happy Queen’s Birthday weekend everybody.
Annette
I Give You The Verbs 
I totally get the bed thing. I’ve even made liberty fabric pillow cases too lay my head on of an evening so it feels just that much more special. I screen print sheets, I’m saving to pure linen sheets and doona that I can fancy up. We spend so much time there, it really ought to be a wonderful place to hang. Love the post Annette! Pips. x
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Fancy bed lady! I like it. Thanks Pips.
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Oh I HEAR you. I love my bed too. We have one of those Tempur mattresses and when I climb onto my bed there is always a ‘ohmygoodnessthatistoogoodtodescribe’ kind of moment. Ahhhhh. I spent heaps of time in my bed. My bedroom is upstairs with windows overlooking the junction of two streets. I can live quite vicariously from this bed! For me a bit of flannel sheet goodness is really adding to the joy. But I wish I could have huge flowers. Sharing with a blokey bloke means neutrals all the way, compromise and sharing. I am just a little green over your own personal bold geometric slumber space! Hmmmm. Time for me to go get in mine now….
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Hope you slept well Rachel. Maybe a floral cushion for the bed? Husbands need to compromise too!!
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I always end up writing my blog posts in bed Annette. I remember VFL even though we were from Queensland my family were mad for it-although my Nan, may she rest in peace, was the worst-she was a Carlton fan and we would have to tip-toe around her on a Saturday so we wouldn’t disturb her yelling at the TV set. I still have moments when I say VFL. But then I also still say Kentucky Fried Chicken and Oil of Ulan.
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Me too! Kentucky Fried Chicken ads in the 70s were awesome – that rather cuddly *cough* family driving around scoffing chicken…. innocent times!
Bed’s a great place for all kinds of things.
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This is such a gorgeous post Annette. Unfortunately bed has come to mean something altogether different for me now. It is no longer a place for recovering from hangovers or come downs or for languidly enjoying post coital cigarettes and coffee, nor even for lazy mornings reading the paper. Nope, bed now is something to hop into, knowing that at any time a disturbance of some sort will drag me from it, be it kids who are dreaming, wee-ing, or waking up at 5am. If I am not pulled from it I am often joined in it by tiny cold wriggling toes who snuggle and sleep, twist, turn and kick. Yes bed for me now is a place of major activity! This doesn’t stop me from loving climbing into a bed with freshly washed, line dried sheets – the best thing ever, even if only for a few short hours.
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All the more reason to head to bed early on fresh sheet night Kate!
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God.I.love.bed.
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Me too!
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I love my bed too. I just wish I got to spend more time in it. I’m with you on fresh bed linen, clean sheet day is definitely my favourite day of the week. I love the freshly laundered scent and the crisp feeling of clean sheets, there’s nothing better!
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I knew I was t the only one. Ahhh bed – such a good place!
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I love my bed too! It is a plush memory foam monstrosity which I sink into and instantly feel calm, loved, comforted. It’s my retreat when everything gets too much and my preferred reading venue. ps I must admit I do have gorgeous David Jones linen (but quite a few years old).
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Definitely a retreat from the world. Nice one Karen!
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Oh I love my bed too. It is my most favourite place to go.
Many years of early mornings make me crave it even more. The only way I can get more “bed” is to get into my pjs and jump in after I’ve put the kids down for the night and read away happily for a couple of hours before turning out. That’s my idea of a good time!
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That sounds like a great way to pass an evening, especially on chilly nights like tonight. Seems bed is a pretty popular spot!
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Oh Annette, my all-time favourite smell in the entire world is sunshine-dried sheets! If I were OCD, I would most definitely change my linens every single day, just for the sunshine smell.
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It’s a winner isn’t it? And no matter how clever those scientific smell makers get, they’ll never replicate it. Sunshine is the best!
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I HEAR YOU SISTA!
we have a 4 poster massive king sized custom made out of recycled Oregon bed. I love it more than words can say. Could spend all day in there.Shits me that others make me feel guilty that time spent in bed is time wasting and lazy. I have great ideas and debriefing just lying there. Awesome.
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Don’t let anyone tell you how to live Shani! That sounds like a delicious way to spend time.
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Oh I laughed! I’ve never had a Laura Ashley moment either. See you at the sales; bring on the tussle.
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Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!
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