How to Make Your Bed Perfectly Every Time

US Navy SEAL William H. McCraven once told university graduates that the best way to change the world was to start off by making your bed every morning.

“If you make your bed every morning,” he said. “You will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another.”

That’s not to mention that there’s something special about going to sleep each night in a beautifully made bed. So here are our step-by-step instructions to make a bed you’ll be proud of.

You may decide you use a mattress protector as your base layer to prevent spills, sweat and dirt damaging your mattress.

If that’s the case, simply pull your protector over your mattress until it’s taut and flatten it so there are no bumps or wrinkles.

Your bed sheet is the first thing that needs to go on your naked mattress. These days, it’s fairly easy to dress your bed if you have a fitted bed sheet. Simply slip the corners of the sheet over the mattress and smooth it out.

Flat bed sheets are a little trickier. You’ll need to tuck the sheet in at the top and bottom of the mattress and use hospital corners to fold around the corners.

Many people don’t even bother with a top sheet, but it does give a finished, professional look you’d expect to find in a luxury hotel room. Lay your sheet over the fitted sheet and fold it in with the hospital corners technique we outlined above.

If you prefer to have a bit of give in your sheets when you get into bed, leave the sides untucked. Pull your sheet up to the pillows and fold it over, either underneath the duvet or over the top for a more stylish contrast.

If you have a patterned sheet, lay it on the bed with the pattern facing down, so that when you fold it over the duvet, the pattern is showing.

Whether you’re using a duvet, a quilt, a blanket or a comforter as your top layer, this final step is easy. Simply flatten the layer over your bed, without tucking in the corners.

If your duvet has a contrasting pattern or colour on either side, fold it over at the top of your bed to show off the contrast.

A beautiful bedspread usually includes a few pillows, both functional and decorative. You should place the pillows you sleep on closest to the headboard, at the back of your pillow arrangement.

Then you can add the rest of your pillows. Layer them from largest (at the bottom) to smallest, with a few square ones thrown in to mix up the arrangement a little.

For the best look, leave a little gap between the pillows and the folded top layer of your bed so it doesn’t look too chaotic.

Et voila! You have a beautiful bed that looks so perfect you may never want to crawl into it and mess it up!