Coastal Bedding – How to Layer Your Bed for a Perfect Coastal Retreat
One of my favorite things to create in my house is a bedroom retreat. You don’t need a beach house to create a coastal hideaway within your own home. A sanctuary to tuck away from the world for you and your guests is within reach. I especially love my bed to feel as luxurious as possible. Imagine a bed as cozy as a hotel’s all year round. Creating a coastal retreat in your bedroom is a great way to escape every day. A coastal retreat starts with coastal bedding. It can help transport you from suburbia to the sandy beaches in an instant. Things like crisp white linens, blue and white patterns, stripes, and textured comforters are all elements of coastal bedding that help create that calming space we all desire. Additionally, accessorizing the bed with throw blankets and pillows can set your look apart.
What Coastal Bedding Elements Make For a Luxurious Feel
White Duvet Covers
White linens, especially duvet covers are the staple to a luxurious feeling space. You can never go wrong with a white duvet. They are classic and always in style. They make changing your bedding seasonally very easy because you can swap out pillows, quilts, and throw blankets while maintaining the white duvet. They truly are also the perfect blank canvas for adding your personal coastal touch!
It’s important to also discuss the material you want for your white duvet covers. Unfortunately, not all duvet covers are created equal. You can find a quality duvet cover at all price points. To achieve the coastal space, you’ll want to look for a linen duvet. Linen is light and breathable and perfect for a beach-inspired space.
Quilts and Bedspreads
To layer up your coastal bedding, you can bring in quilts or bedspreads. This gives you an opportunity to bring in color, maybe a little nautical theme. You may find coastal quilts with seashells, starfish, or coral on them are just the right thing to layer on your bed for that coastal touch. Stripes are another great option to bring in color and pattern to your bedding decor.
Some colors to consider when looking at quilts and bedspreads are navy blue, really all shades of blue, coral, blue-green, and even white and off-white will give you a beautiful, soft tone-on-tone feel to the space.

Avoid Bedding Sets
This might be a hot take but when you buy a comforter set with multiple pieces (think bedding a bag), you end up with a very matchy coastal bedding situation. When you veer away from bedding sets and begin to collect pieces that you find complement each other, you end up with a lovely, layered, bed that looks and feels lush and inviting.
Sheets and Linens
I already discussed how great white duvet covers are but we also have to discuss how important good sheets are and what they give to us (ehm… quality night’s sleep). Sheets selection is so very personal but I like these. I tend to buy white sheets because I can use them in any room in my house. If you prefer another color, gray is a great underrated choice for a coastal home. Blues, are of course, acceptable and welcomed. Sheet sets are also a great opportunity to add a coastal pattern to your bed. Whether it’s sea life, neutral colors, stripes, or some other pattern, if you want to add a little bit of color, sheets are a perfect item for that!
Pillow Shams
Moving right along, pillow shams are an important element of a well-decorated bed. I have a preference for euro shams but any sham will do. Shams are another great opportunity to add color and pattern to your bed. My preference is to use stripes or some other pattern that gives a beach bedding feel.
Note: Some quilt sets come with shams so if you do opt for a bedding set or quilt set, maybe use the quilt or blanket for the end of the bed and the shams with the white duvet cover.
Throw Pillows
Throw pillows are not a must-have for coastal bedding. They are a personal preference of mine. I love to have two square throw pillows and then one longer lumbar or rectangular-shaped pillow on my bed.
Cozy Throw Blankets
The most important thing to remember when creating your bedroom retreat is that you want a nice layered bed. What that means is that you use multiple elements layered upon each other. So one layer is your sheets, then a blanket, then a duvet cover, and maybe a quilt folded at the bottom of the bed, and then a throw blanket as the last element draped nicely over top. Throw blankets are also optional so do what you feel is right. I like to add throw blankets with different textures. Something knit or really cozy is my favorite.

Where to Buy Coastal Bedding
It’s always helpful to see ideas and inspiration so here’s a collage of coastal bedding items that would make for a beautiful luxurious feeling bed.

Wrapping Up
Coastal decorating isn’t just for beach houses anymore. You can bring the beach home by creating a coastal bedroom retreat. Coastal bedding ideas include crisp white linens, blue and white patterns, grays, and corals. Additionally, accessorizing the bed with throw blankets and pillows really elevates your space.