Bed skirts can be thought of as optional, but they can definitely help make your bedroom look more cohesive and help dust and other things stop collecting under your bed! If you're interested in creating a classic look with a great bed skirt, let's talk about what your options are.
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The short answer is no - bed skirts aren't typically necessary. They don't add anything to the structural integrity of your bed, and you will certainly be safe without them. However, without a bed skirt, you'll find that there's often an inch or two of exposed hardware or frame beneath your mattress and box spring that doesn't exactly look beautiful. Bed skirts were made, in part, to help cover that gap and to make your room look less busy and more high-end.
The other consideration is cleanliness. If you have a bed skirt on your bed, you'll find that small contaminants like dust bunnies or even larger ones like shoes will be less likely to find their way under your bed - making your room easier to clean and reducing the number of times you need to crawl under your bed in search of lost objects.
There are two main types of bed skirts: gathered, and tailored. The first uses a sewing technique to create a bouncy, full look with lots of fabric; the other takes into account the specific measurements of your bed to bring a straight, flat edge of the fabric and wrap it around the exterior of your bed frame.
Gathered bed skirts are often cheaper because tailored bed skirts are much more specific and require exact dimensions, instead of simply the size of a mattress.
Which would work best for you? That depends on the look you're going for. If you're looking for a sleek, modern, minimalist appearance, then perhaps a tailored bed skirt will be your best bet.
For a more boho or romantic look, consider the gathered type of bed skirt. They can help a bed look fuller, more relaxed, and more comfortable - which is often exactly the type of feel you need in a bedroom anyway!
The size and length of your bed skirt will depend on two things: the type of bed you have (king, queen, twin, or full), and the height of your bed from the floor. The first is a quality that's relatively standard; the second can be more variable - for example, if you've put your bed on risers, or if you have a bed that has built-in storage underneath.
Fortunately, there's an easy way to find out exactly the length of the bed skirt required.
Bed skirts typically come in sizes that reflect the size of mattress used. Therefore, you can simply select a king, queen, twin or full bed skirt, depending on what kind of mattress you have, and move on to the consideration of length.
Measure the height of your bed, from the ground to the part of your bed that you'd like to be covered. For most, this will be the height of your box spring, and then the height from the bottom of the box spring and frame to the ground. Take that number in inches, and subtract about 0.3 of an inch from that total (as you'll want your bed-skirt to skim the ground, not pool onto it). The number you arrive at will be the length of the bed skirt you need!
There are three general frames of mind when it comes to the aesthetics of bed skirts. Whether you've chosen a fitted, tailored look or you're going for the looser, more casual gathered type, the color and pattern of your bed skirt can contribute a lot to your room!
Here are the ways you could go about doing this:
Select a true neutral bed skirt - in the same approximate shade and pattern as you might a neutral bed sheet. This way, no matter what decorative pillows or blankets you have on the bed, your bed will still have a cohesive look to it.
Select a bed skirt in the same pattern and color as your blankets or duvets. This is a little more of a permanent choice, as you likely won't want to change your bed skirt very often! However, if you like the look of your quilt, blanket, or duvet, selecting a bed skirt in that same color and pattern can help extend the look all the way to the floor.
