Your bedding won't be the biggest investment you make for your house, but it still requires careful selection. Some budget bedding, like the linen sheets sold at H&M Home, have our seal of approval, but in our experience, cheaper sheets often don't wash as well as the more luxury ones, with colours fading faster or the fabric wearing. Often, the real tell-tale sign of budget sheets is how they feel.
But what bedding has the interior designer stamp of approval? There's one independent British brand whose bedding we've noticed cropping up time and time again in the houses featured on our pages. Loved by interior designers and House & Garden editors alike, it's Rebecca Udall's bed linen that comes up trumps.
Frequently chosen due to the versatile nature of their crisp, white, hotel-like cotton sheets, the sets sit at a mid-range price point–more expensive than high street linen but far more affordable than the high end designer brands–and we think their cost to quality ratio hits a sweet spot.
Commerce editor Arabella Bowes has owned the ‘Annabelle Scalloped Bed Linen' for the past three years, and says that it has held up remarkably well, with no signs of wear or fraying despite going through the washing machine regularly. She also notes how the bedding ‘looks lovely straight out the dryer’, and doesn't require ironing to look smart on the bed. H&G's editor, Hatta Byng, has also highlighted the brand, selecting the hand-embroidered ‘Thea’ range in her round-up of joy sparking shopping picks for the home, and using the ‘Annabelle’ at her home in Yorkshire.
The brand credits the quality of the cotton they use with the greater longevity and soft feel of their bedding products. The cotton is expertly woven in historic textile regions of Northern Italy or Portugal, before being embroidered by artisans in Vietnam. Long staple fibres, which result in softer cotton, are prioritised over the thread count. Below, we showcase some of the ways in which interior designers and homeowners have used the Rebecca Udall range in real bedrooms from our archive.
Our favourite Rebecca Udall bedding sets to buy now
At our editor, Hatta Byng's home in Yorkshire, her chosen bedding in the main bedroom is Rebecca Udall's ‘Annabelle Scalloped Bed Linen’, with embroidered trim in white. The set also comes with the border in four other versatile colours, including ‘asparagus green’ and ‘powder blue’. The curved room is filled with warm, buttery, ochre tones, so the crisp white bedding, paired with a blue blanket, provide a refreshing contrast and a focal point in the centre of the room, along with the opulent 18th-century Italian tester above the bed. The Annabelle bedding set is made in Portugal with crisp yet soft cotton percale, a breathable and durable fabric.
Pairing a colourful or patterned blanket with some Rebecca Udall bedding offsets the bright whiteness of them, and adds a layer of cosiness to the room (for some our favourites to dress your bed with, head over to our dedicated guide to the best throws and blankets). In this 17th century Cotswolds house above, decorated by Nadine Finnegan, the bold, mustard yellow throw, headboard in Rapture & Wright’s ‘Moorish Maze’ in madder pink, and a checkered Tate & Darby rug, are given balance and breathing room through the simplicity of the Rebecca Udall bedding. The sage green trim of the 'Alexandra Wavy Scalloped Bed Linen' is picked out by the leafy design on the bolster cushion. The sateen cotton set, which is made in Italy, also comes with the hand-applied bias cotton border in plaster pink or white.
In Charlotte and Philip Colbert's surreal Spitalfields home, designed by Buchanan Studio, Rebecca Udall bedding provides a neutral backdrop for Charlotte's unusual ‘Marshmallow’ side table, and the Charlotte Colbert x Buchanan Studio ‘Uterus’ bed. The pink trim of the sheets picks up on the dusky pink tones throughout the space. The bed linen showcased here is from Rebecca Udall's bespoke, made to order atelier, where size, colour, fabric and design details can be completely customised according to preference and and requirements. For a similar look, opt for the ‘Alexandra’ in plaster pink, or the ‘Annabelle’ in dusty pink.
Looking for more bedding content? We've got a round up of the best beds here, as well a guide to the best mattress and best mattress toppers to go alongside it. On top of that, we have a thorough review of the best pillows, the best pillows for side sleepers, and the best weighted blankets to buy. If you want to go granular, we have compiled an edit of the best pillowcases and best silk pillowcases, too.
