Silk king size duvets – luxury bedding to experience & enjoy

As winter approaches, thoughts turn to hunkering down and snuggling in. So, it was timely for us to receive these luxury mulberry silk king size duvets to review.

Silk Bedding Direct specialises in supplying mulberry silk-filled bedding in a variety of prices to suit all budgets. Their affordable premium range is made using a silk/polyester mix. The luxury range is 100% mulberry silk filled with a hand stitched finish which, unlike machine-made versions, improves the insulation quality of the duvet.

Mulberry silk is hypo-allergenic and, unlike other bedding materials, it doesn’t support the growth of dust mites, bed bugs or other microscopic beasties. It’s also contains the amino acid, sericin, which has been proven to improve skin elasticity and has anti-wrinkle properties… it gives new meaning to beauty sleep!

All Silk Bedding Direct silk products (as well as duvets they produce mattress toppers, pillows and eye masks) are OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 Certified and have been awarded the ‘Confidence in Textiles’ OEKO label.

Each has a number of ‘Easy Clip’ clips around its edge that allow you to fasten together the summer and spring/autumn weight duvets to form a cosy winter version – 3 for the price of two!

Silk is a wonderful insulator and regulator of temperature. If you feel too warm in bed, it allows excess moisture and heat to escape, it also retains heat to keep you warm and snug if conditions get colder.

We’ve been testing the duvet for a week or so now – an unusual trial that involves lots of sleeping! We’ve certainly enjoyed the experience… and have been very impressed by the product. The duvets feel comfortable and luxurious – you can actually feel the smooth, silky nature of the product even through a duvet cover. They’re not too heavy, yet warm and cosy.

We think that our top floor bedroom is now ready for anything that winter can hurl at it! The luxury silk duvet, combined with our wood burning stove and ‘chinchilla’ bedspread, will provide all the warmth required during the chilly nights ahead.

[disclosure*]

Copper highlights and finishing touches

We’ve been adding some finishing touches to our top floor ‘bedroom-cum-lounge’ area. It’s a room that we spend lots of time in during the winter. Well, that’s an understatement really – we almost hibernate up there! It feels like our cosy den. There’s computer access, Sonos music system, big TV, comfy places to sit (or sleep) – and a wood-burning stove. We gravitate up there from September onwards as the days shorten and weather worsens.

Re-decoration of the space has been a gradual process over the last year or so. We wanted an enclosed, warm and cosy feel. Lots of dark grey and black, with natural wood shades and metallic highlights. This pair of copper coloured, glass bedside lamps was our most recent purchase. We thought they were just perfect, especially considering that they came complete with the ideal shades. They’re from Wayfair, £54.99 each.

We bought a box of LED Edison filament bulbs for them which we thought would be prettier than plain white ones. The lamps are quite magical when lit, lifting and transforming the room with their warm, copper glow.

This is no ‘minimalist look’ space and we add ornament quite freely – particularly antique mirrors, drawers, display cases, candle holders – and objects of interest. We love the ‘collectors’ look’ – so their are lots of fossils, feathers, skulls, pebbles and shells dotted around the room.

You might have noticed that expanse of furry loveliness across the bed – another recently purchased finishing touch.

It’s a very good quality, imitation chinchilla fur bedspread. The subtle colour tones of cream, brown and grey work wonderfully. It’s very tactile and super warm too.

We’d been looking for a large container for an equally large plant. This fabulous copper log bin arrived in our local antiques centre one day, so it was a ‘must buy’. We love the reflective surface and aged patina of the metal.

A bottom up blind for this room had also been on our shopping list for some time. We already have one fitted in the ground floor lounge. It lets daylight in whilst adding privacy at street level. Also, the view at the front of our house is much nicer at higher levels. Lower down it’s a bit grubby and industrial, further up is a lovely hillside with trees, shrubs and climbers clinging to the steep valley sides.

The blind downstairs is a sandy, cream colour. However, for this room we went for a charcoal grey to match the curtains and compliment the overall scheme. We’re very happy indeed with the results. The view from the bed is much improved now – and we get a glimpse of a passing fox or the occasional deer nibbling at the vegetation opposite. Bliss!

So, that’s the room re-decoration completed in the main. We have the option of picking up interesting objects and nature finds as we come across them. It can just evolve subtly over time. We hope you like the results so far!

Vintage beaten copper plaque

Last week, we published a post about our recent decorating exploits – specifically our top floor bedroom and its shades of grey and black. At that point, there was a large space above the bed waiting for a suitable piece of art. We’d mentioned that there are lots of things relating to nature in the room – and also copper highlights dotted about. Imagine our joy when we found this gorgeous vintage 1960s beaten copper plaque at a local flea market this week.

The first thing we saw peaking out were the feathers. “Oh, that looks interesting!”, we thought…

…and, as we pulled it towards us for a better look, the bird’s head was revealed.

We absolutely love it – the stylised bird, so typical of the era, the materials used, texture, patina and colours. We thought we’d be waiting quite a while to fill that long, narrow space with something suitable – but a few days after taking the initial photos, there it appeared. We very nearly missed the market that day too, but fortunately fate intervened!

A new look for our top floor bedroom

We’ve mentioned our top floor bedroom a few times in past posts. It’s been well over ten years since it was last decorated so a spruce up has been long overdue. We thought we’d share a few photos of progress to date.

We love this room. It’s our retreat of choice in the evening – particularly dark, cold winter evenings when we light the stove, watch TV, listen to music or work on the computer – all from the comfort of bed!

We like the structural ‘bones’ of the space with its exposed stone wall and original, wide floorboards.

It was a great opportunity to introduce some darker colours into our home décor which we’ve intended to do for many years! These shades have a real sense of atmosphere and drama – particularly on said dark winter evenings with fires, candles and fairy lights flickering away.

They look good by daylight too – contrasting very well with warm natural shades of wood and wicker – and providing a great backdrop for artwork.

The bed is a very important occupant of this space, so we decided on a complete re-vamp. We exchanged a very old, squeaky frame for a new powder-coated metal one; the fabulous people at Tweak supplied us with an amazingly comfortable luxury mattress that we recently reviewed. And last, but certainly not least, some lovely black cotton satin bedding – bought locally (at generous mates’ rates) from good friend, Shaun who owns Rochdale-based textile company FabTrad. They’re wholesale suppliers to some major retailers, but also sell on eBay.

It’s hard to put our finger on the exact look of our top floor bedroom. We wanted to furnish it with interesting objects and specimens from nature (in a Victorian gentleman’s study kind of way).

So you’ll find shells, coral, fossils, skulls and the like…

…favourite antique finds too – that form interesting little vignettes on tabletops and walls.

We also dotted the room with brass, gold, copper and pewter (desperately trying not to overdo it and ending up with a pub snug style). We do love these flashes of metallic though – they give the room a real lift and look fabulous when light catches them.

It’s still work in progress, but we’re getting there. We hope that you approve!

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: top floor bedroom

Silk king size duvets – luxury bedding to experience & enjoy

Copper highlights and finishing touches

Vintage beaten copper plaque

A new look for our top floor bedroom