Bedding Color Schemes: How to Choose the Accent Color for White Bedding

Most of the bedding color schemes you see in a well-styled room start on white sheets, and that's where we'd tell you to start too. Pick one accent color, let two layers of the bed carry it, and keep everything else white. Every sheet set we make is built that way. The fabric is always white, and the color comes from a band, a piped border, a line of embroidery, or a satin stitch along the edge. So the real decision is which color, and which pieces get it. Here are six bedding color schemes. The first is an all-white bed, and the other five each add one accent color.

Start With a White Bed

Hotels made the case for white sheets a long time ago. Jamie Cooperstein, a hospitality consultant and former Rittenhouse Hotel concierge, told Reader's Digest that hotels use white because it can't hide a stain, so guests know the bed was laundered, and because white sheets can still look new after a year of commercial washing while dyed sheets fade. An accent color also looks cleaner against white than against a dyed sheet.

If you want the whole bed white, our guide to White Bedding Set Design Tips covers that look, and 7 Reasons to Love White Bedding makes the longer case for it. For the five accent schemes below, we use one rule. The accent goes on two of the bed's three visible layers, which are the back row of shams, the duvet or coverlet, and the cuff where the top sheet folds over, and the third layer stays white.

Navy and White

Navy and white bedding is the classic scheme, and it's the one to pick when you want the bed to look tailored. Against white, navy looks crisp and a little nautical, and it works with almost any wall color.

The easiest way to carry it is at the edges. Our Montecito sheet set is a white 300 thread count Sateen framed with a yarn-dyed navy double border, so the color shows as a stripe where the top sheet folds back. Our Siena sheet set does the same job in Percale, a 500 thread count Egyptian cotton woven in Italy, with a thin navy piped satin border. Percale has a matte finish and feels crisp, and Sateen has a soft sheen and feels smoother. Our guide to Percale vs. Sateen covers the difference.

For the second layer, put the navy behind you. Our Montecito shams come in Standard, King, and Euro with the same navy band, so two or three of them across the headboard repeat the cuff while the duvet stays plain white. If you'd rather have the color at the foot of the bed, our quilted coverlets come in a navy called Atlantico. Fold one over a white duvet and use plain white shams, like our Saint Moritz shams.

Slate, Charcoal, and Gray on White

Gray on white is the quietest of the five accent schemes. Pick it when the room already has a lot going on, or when you want the bed to look modern but not cold. Slate is a soft mid-gray and charcoal is almost black.

Our Montecito band comes in slate for the soft version and charcoal for the graphic one, and Siena's piped border comes in smoke, a light gray, and anthracite, a charcoal. If you'd rather have the color as stitching, our Capri sheet set is a white Percale accented with a flowing graphite satin embroidery, and our Saint Tropez sheet set is a white 700 thread count Sateen with interlocking satin stitch embroidery in two tones, slate with platinum or anthracite with greystone.

A quilted coverlet works especially well in this scheme. Our quilted coverlets are solid color, crafted in Italy in a 300 thread count quilted cotton with a 3/4 inch square pattern, and two of the colorways, Square and Dolomia, are grays. Fold one across the foot of a white duvet and put shams with a slate band behind the pillows.

Sky and Sea Blues

Lighter blues do what navy does with about half the weight, and the bed looks coastal and airy. Pick one blue and stay on it. Two different light blues on one bed look like a laundry mix-up.

Among the Montecito bands, glacier is a light blue, harbor is a true blue, and lagoon is the third of the blues. Siena's piped border comes in sky blue, and the Saint Tropez embroidery comes in sky and mercury on the same 700 thread count Sateen. For the second layer, the quilted coverlets come in a light blue called Sion, and the Montecito shams come in the same blues as the sheets.

Warm Neutrals: Champagne, Espresso, Blush

Warm neutrals on white look the most like a good hotel room. This is the scheme for you if you like beige bedding or neutral bedding but don't want the whole bed to be beige.

The Montecito band comes in espresso, a dark brown, and blush, a soft pink. Siena's piped border comes in mocha, a dark brown. Capri's embroidery comes in pumice, a tan, and limestone, a cream that sits very close to white.

For gold, our Amalfi sheet set in Percale and our Tuscany sheet set in Sateen are both white with a champagne satin stitch, and both are Egyptian cotton woven in Italy. On the coverlet layer you have a tan called Beach and a gold called Caramel, and the Montecito shams come in espresso and blush.

Greens

Green on white looks natural and a little traditional, and it suits a room with white walls and wood floors, where the green picks up the warmth in the wood. A Livingetc guide to green walls recommends white bedding against sage or forest green because the contrast deepens the green and keeps the attention on the wall. On a white wall, a green edge on the bed does the same job in reverse.

Siena's piped border comes in hunter green, the deep one, and olive, the softer one. Hunter green on white Percale next to a walnut headboard is a classic combination. For the second layer, the quilted coverlets come in a teal called Eucalipto, and the quilted collection includes Euro shams too, so you can put the teal at the back of the bed or at the foot.

How to Carry One Color Across the Bed

We work from a two-of-three rule. Put the accent on two of the three layers that show and leave the third white. With one layer the color looks like an afterthought, and with all three the bed looks like a matched set.

We came up with that rule ourselves, and it isn't an industry standard, but Domino's sandwich method gets to the same place. It matches the top of the bed to the throw at the foot and leaves the middle alone.

The easiest place for the first layer is the shams, and Euro shams do it best, because a 28-inch square standing at the back of the bed shows more of the color than any other piece. Our guides to Pillow Shams and Euro Shams cover the pieces, and our guide to King Bed Pillow Arrangement covers how many pillows a King takes.

The second layer is either the cuff or the coverlet. A band or piped border on the top sheet is a thin line of color, and a solid coverlet is a block of it. For a dark accent like navy or espresso, the cuff is usually enough. For a pale one like glacier or blush, the coverlet gives the color enough area to show. The fold itself is in our guide to Layering Tips for a White Duvet Cover.

Matching Bedding Color Schemes to Your Walls and Floors

The quickest way to choose the accent is to look at the walls and the floor and either match their temperature or cut against it on purpose. If you like a formula, there's an old designer rule called 60-30-10. Anam Clarke of The Designers' Studio told Gulf News it's one of the oldest rules in interior design. The room gets 60% of one dominant color, 30% of a secondary, and 10% of an accent. Nobody has traced where it came from, so treat it as a rule of thumb. On the bed, the white is the 60 and the accent is the 10.

Here are four common rooms and the scheme that suits each one.

• Gray walls: stay tonal with a slate or charcoal band, or warm the room up with blush.
• White walls: anything works, so let the bed add the contrast. Navy or hunter green adds one strong color to a white room.
• Wood floors and wood furniture: the warm neutrals and the greens pull the wood's tone up onto the bed. Try espresso or Caramel with oak, and hunter green or olive with walnut.
• Dark walls in navy or charcoal: keep the bed mostly white and the accent pale, like glacier, smoke, or limestone. House Digest lists navy and charcoal walls as pairings for white bedding when you want the room to look modern.

For the rest of the room, our guide to Bedroom Interior Design Tips has a section on neutral colors.

Bedding Color Scheme FAQs

What color bedding goes with gray walls?

White bedding with a gray or blush accent is the easy answer. Our Montecito sheets in slate keep the room tonal, a soft gray band on white sheets, and the blush band warms the gray up.

Should bedding match the curtains?

Bedding doesn't need to match the curtains, and the room usually looks stiffer when it does. Keep the curtains in the same temperature as the bedding accent, warm with warm and cool with cool, but at a different depth. A navy band with linen-colored curtains looks put together, and navy curtains with a navy band look too coordinated.

Is white bedding practical?

Yes, white bedding is more practical than colored bedding. Every white set matches every other one you own, a stain shows immediately so you deal with it before it sets, and hotels choose white for the same reasons.

What is the most timeless bedding color scheme?

The most timeless scheme we know is white sheets with a navy edge. It works against gray, white, green, or wood-paneled walls. White 300 thread count Sateen sheets with a navy band and two Euro shams in the same band are all you need.

Can you mix navy and gray bedding?

Yes, you can mix navy and gray as long as one is the accent and the other is the background. A charcoal band on the sheets with a navy quilted coverlet at the foot works because both sit on white and both are cool colors. Two navy shams next to two gray ones don't work, because then the bed has two accents and no background.

If you're building the scheme from scratch, buy the sheets first and choose the accent there, because the cuff is the layer you see every time you turn the bed down. Every sheet set we make starts you from the same place, white with the color at the edge, and our guide to Luxury Bedding walks through the lines side by side.