MetaChat - Can we talk about bedding?

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12 April 2011

Can we talk about bedding? I have a question about sheets→[More:]Particularly, what color are the sheets on your bed? I have had white sheets for some time now, but I hate how after awhile, no matter how good you wash them, they get sort of dingy looking. Ours are now and I hate it- I know they aren't dirty, but it makes them feel dirty, somehow. I could do a darker color, but would that pick up all the animal fur of the evil pets who run this place? I have to figure something out, at least for our new place.

post by: ThePinkSuperhero at: 22:30 | 33 comments

Mine are a pale yellow/cream color. Hides the dinge and the cat hair.

posted by amro 12 April | 22:33

Black (not satin).

posted by dg 12 April | 23:01

I HAVE NEW PILLOWS!

My sheets are black, like my soul. With white squares. Like my soul.

posted by Eideteker 12 April | 23:18

I picked up some great sheets at Ikea a couple of years ago. Some people may call them beige, but I call them pale antique gold.

posted by maudlin 12 April | 23:21

Prints don't ever look as dingy as solids, and they're also better at camouflaging random pet hairs.

My pets don't generally get underneath the covers, but I have a leopard print blanket on top of the bed that would probably look really cool as a sheet.

posted by amyms 12 April | 23:47

I've got cream, sunflower yellow, and uh ... lime sherbet green I guess? All so comfy but does take a bit of delicate care when cats are shedding.

posted by WolfDaddy 12 April | 23:51

I don't know the trade name for the color I have, but I figure they're somewhere in the spectrum that amro described as pale yellow/cream. My dog's about 70/30 Black/White and sheds like a lab (year round), so it's almost certainly a losing battle regardless. My only saving grace is that she's never-no-never been allowed on my bed and gave up trying long ago (she has her own very comfy bed on the floor at the foot of my bed), so the fur is relatively minimized.

posted by ufez 13 April | 00:04

We've got kind of a bright straw yellow. Which I thought I'd dislike, but I really love. Cat's not allowed on the bed, so I don't know about pet hairs, but they definitely don't look dingy.

posted by occhiblu 13 April | 00:30

Mine are a dark wine-red colour, as are the pillowcases and the duvet cover and bedspread.

posted by Senyar 13 April | 01:02

I have three sets: blue-on-blue stripe, delicate red floral pattern on white, and blue pattern on white. I have never had solid white sheets, the thought of having to keep them clean freaks me out. I had a set of super high thread count red-on-red stripe that I loved so much they wore through.

posted by rhapsodie 13 April | 01:26

We have (pets are allowed on the bed but not in it):
Brown - human and pet hair shows
Beige - hides hair
White - not dingy (use bleach), tends to show darker hair

Prints in medium tones would easily hide/disguise hair.

posted by deborah 13 April | 02:17

I used to be a white sheet person but defected to the Dark And Colourful Side. I have some pretty summer sheets that are white with little pale lime flower prints dotted over them but the other sets are all colours. Bright lime green, hot pink, deep burgundy (with a super-high thread count - these are my favourites) and a nice wine red. I do have white sheets somewhere but I mostly use them as photo backdrops.

You white sheet people never used Blue-O (or similar blue rinse) to keep the white sheets bright and non-dingy? It's old fashioned but it sure does work.

posted by ninazer0 13 April | 02:33

I have white, ivory, and pale green and pale blue.

I use bleach on my white sheets.

posted by LoriFLA 13 April | 07:25

My winter sheets are flannel and patterned--one set polka dots, one stripes, one stars and comets. My summer sheets are cotton/jersey, one set is lavender and one set is a dark red/burgundy color. Everything is covered in cat hair but it doesn't show too much, especially on the patterned ones.

posted by leesh 13 April | 08:17

Patterned sheets, now that's a good idea.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 13 April | 08:26

White - flannel in the winter, cotton in the warmer months. I bleach the hell out of them and replace them more often that I probably need to, but there's a crispness to them that I just love.

posted by punchtothehead 13 April | 08:33

Burgundy is my favorite color. The first time I got burgundy sheets it managed to make my bedroom look like a brothel (but I just thought it was funny); those sheets have been gone for over 10 yrs now. I recently got another burgundy set and somehow this set doesn't look all brothel-y. I think it might be that the walls are light colored in this room, instead of the dark paneling in the previous one.

posted by galadriel 13 April | 08:58

Oh, I have a dark dog and a pale dog, and the dark burgundy doesn't show pet fur nearly as much as lighter color sheets.

posted by galadriel 13 April | 08:59

Pale sage green flannel. Very soothing :) Charcoal blanket. I have both black and orange pets, so the fur is noticeable no matter what I do.

Last year I got some of those modal jersey sheets that folks on ask.me recommended so highly, and they felt wonderful, but then my cats clawed them. Flannel holds up a lot better to puncture holes.

posted by wens 13 April | 10:23

The dogs are not allowed on my bed which is why it is just so mysterious that sometimes when I come home I hear a thumping noise as of three fifty pound bodies hitting the floor and there's a round, warm impression on the bed and the dogs look all guilty. This is why I make my bed every morning so there's no fur in the sheets - the duvet is pale green with a delightful duct tape corner as a sort of memorial to the puppy years and for whatever reason it doesn't really show fur too badly. As to colors, I have a kind of burnt orange sheet set and a sort of sage green set: I buy whatever has the highest thread count at the discount factory seconds linen place, so I take the colors I get. Actually I quite like the orange sheets; they feel kind of warm, somehow.

posted by mygothlaundry 13 April | 10:43

We have dark red, mostly. Also, flannel in winter, cotton in summer. Also have some yellow ones.

For some reason, we only have a fitted sheet, and then either one or two down comforters on top. No top sheet. Not sure how we got in that habit, but it works.

posted by danf 13 April | 11:13

My favorite sheets currently are grey jersey knit -- it's like curling up at night all wrapped up in the world's best soft old t-shirt. And in my experience with various cats, grey is the best solid color for concealing shed fur.

posted by kat allison 13 April | 11:58

Ooooo, grey. I love grey.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 13 April | 18:59

Like several others, I also have dark red/wine coloured sheets, and they resist looking dingy really well.

I also have two cats who shed a mixture of black, white, and striped grey fur. It shows up on everything, and I'm beginning to suspect they have the ability to selectively shed whichever colour contrasts the most with whatever they're sleeping on or rubbing against.

It took so much effort to get the shy one to warm up to me that there's no way I'll kick him off the bed, so I make do with frequent washings and lots of fabric softener. Higher thread counts also seem to help for some reason.

posted by FishBike 13 April | 19:45

I have white, gray, brown with a pattern, dark brown stripes, and dark gray.
I want more patterned sheets but they seem to often come in cotton sateen which I don't like or under 300 threadcount. I'm spoiled.

posted by rmless2 13 April | 21:46

Wow, you guys have so many sets of sheets. I feel embarrassed to even admit this, but we have one set of sheets that just get pulled off the bed and washed and put right back on. They are dark blue jersey. When I had a cat, I had red jersey and paisley-on-white, and I never noticed that much cat hair on either.

posted by Twiggy 13 April | 23:59

So do we, Twiggy!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 14 April | 07:06

I loooooove sheets and having fresh sheets each week and I am lazy about laundry so all of that adds up to buying more sheets. The rotation probably helps my white ones stay whiter too, since I don't have that dingy problem that everyone else is talking about yet.

posted by rmless2 14 April | 08:16

Wow, I feel weird now, I don't care what my sheets look like. Just what they feel like. High thread count is the thing. I just don't spend a lot of time looking at my sheets. They are under a comforter or it's dark. One thing though, they get those little balls or bumps or fuzz or whatever on them and they are garbage.

Luckily the wife cares about how things look and so I'm guessing they are matched and whatever. Put a gun to my head and I'd say I'm partial to navy blue. Any blue really.

posted by Splunge 14 April | 08:16

The thing about having only one set of bedding (which I did for years and years) is that you have to wash it and dry it, and re-make the bed, all in the same day, or you end up with nowhere to sleep. It's a lot of work and tends to get put off until there's an idle day to do it all.

I had one of those "well, duh!" moments recently and got a second set of everything, just so I can change all the bedding in a few minutes whenever it's needed, and then wash the other ones over a few evenings or whatever is convenient.

I'm thinking this will be especially nice next time I get the flu or something, and wake up wrapped in ice cold, soaking wet sheets from fever-induced sweating, since I can just change everything in a couple of minutes. If a cozy warm bed is one of the best things ever (and it is!), then that sensation is surely one of the worst.

posted by FishBike 14 April | 08:25

you have to wash it and dry it, and re-make the bed, all in the same day, or you end up with nowhere to sleep.

We have several sets of sheets, but I often end up doing this anyhow --- because it's easier than folding a fitted sheet and cramming it onto a crowded shelf, and because I love sleeping on sheets fresh from the wash. But it's true that when you're sick, a quick change of sheets can be a big help.

We have flannel sheets in French blue and a soft mdeium green, which I'm snuggled up in right now on the futon. (Spending a couple days dozing and lounging following a totally routine oral surgery.) We also have crisp cotton, nicer in warm weather, in pale colors (blue, white, and some hand-embroidered white sets from my mom), and in a dark eggplant.

We don't have pets, but we do have me: I shed white hairs everywhere, so they show up on all the darker sheets.

posted by Elsa 14 April | 08:55

Bleach and Hot Water every couple of washings. It makes them not last as long, but removes the dinge. Also, use less detergent; a lot less.

White sheets, preferably with some lace or eyelet. That way I can keep using the pillowcase after the other pillowcase vanished. and I can buy a new set of pillowcases or sheets, and still use the good parts of the old set.

I like the hotel-style sheets, kind of sturdy, all-cotton. Do not want satin, sateen, jersey, etc. Polyester sheets are an abomination. Flannel sheets are a requirement in Maine in winter.

I have a beautiful Amish-style quilt with lots of colors. It's getting faded, but I still love it.

Clean sheets are soooo wonderful, just a little slice of heaven.

My Mom used to suggest that I should use laundry blueing as a rinse on what used to be black hair. Never can find it in the store. Now that my hair is, shall we say, silver, I'd love to try it, for the lols.

posted by theora55 14 April | 10:40

Having that much opinion about sheets may be some sort of sign. ruh-roh

posted by theora55 14 April | 10:41

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