It’s a paradox of designing and outfitting a home that sometimes the bigger decisions—number of bedrooms, eat-in kitchen versus separate dining area—are easily made, while the details can generate endless rabbit-holing: What style drawer pulls? Paint or wallpaper in the powder room? Which bath towels, throw rugs, sheets?
Here to help with the latter is our list of things to consider before you decide on sheets, compiled with the help of California Design Den, an online-only bedding brand that counts 19 Good Housekeeping Seal holders among its offerings. The company is family-owned, with a mission to “create affordable, natural, high-quality linens that help people sleep better,” so it’s invested in being transparent about how its fabrics are sourced and its products are made—and exactly how to choose bedding you’ll be happy sleeping on.
Ready to sheet shop? Start by asking yourself these five questions.
1. What’s my sleep style?
That might sound like a question from a relationship compatibility quiz, but “sleep style” is actually a crucial consideration:
- If you’re a hot sleeper, you need breathable sheets that will keep you cool. Look for percale, which is lightweight and crisp, like these Signature Egyptian cotton percale sheets.
- If you sleep most deeply when you feel enveloped, almost swaddled, by your bedding, you should seek out heavier, drapier sheets. One example: California Design Den’s 1,000-thread-count Grand Indulgence sateen sheets, which feel smooth, soft, and sumptuous.
- Somewhere in between? California Design Den has a range of fabric weights, from airy to sumptuous or a balance of the two, and feels—silky soft, smooth, and crisp—so you can zero in on the ideal combination of attributes.
2. How much attention should I pay to thread count?
So now that we’ve mentioned thread count, let’s dig a little deeper. Because yes, those Grand Indulgence sheets are indisputably luxurious, but their high thread count isn’t the only reason.
Thread count is the number of threads woven into one square inch of fabric, so the more threads you’re trying to fit into that inch, the finer they need to be. But a sky-high number won’t matter much if the fabric doesn’t suit your physiology and sleep habits. California Design Den suggests thinking about thread count this way (NB: Thread count only relevant to 100% cotton sheets):
• A 400-500 thread count translates into lighter-weight, breathable sheets that help hot sleepers feel cooler.
• 600-thread-count sheets have a little more weight and might feel a bit smoother to the touch, so you feel cozy but not weighed down.
• 800-1,000 threads per square inch translates into heavier, luxurious feeling sheets that will cocoon you.
3. Does it matter what they’re made of?
Absolutely. There’s a reason all the Good Housekeeping Seal awardees from California Design Den are made of cotton—it’s the most popular choice for comfort and durability. But of course, not all cotton is equally desirable.
Look for sheets made with long-staple cotton, the fibers of which are finer and longer, so the resulting yarn is strong but still smooth. (Some California Design Den Seal-holders even use extra-long-staple cotton.) Short-staple cotton has more fiber ends poking out of the yarn, which can give sheets a stiff, scratchy feel—and also make them more prone to pilling, which happens when those loose ends tangle into little knots on the surface.
4. How are they manufactured?
California Design Den sources most of its cotton from small family farms in India, and once the cotton is harvested, every step of production from there on out takes place in one facility, owned and operated by the company’s founding family—which not only keeps manufacturing expenditures (and thus prices) low, but supports over 500 local families.
5. Will I have to do anything special to care for them?
Only if you were hoping they would wash and dry themselves. Even the most exclusive, expensive sheets should be able to be machine-laundered and -dried. Check care labels and think seriously about your tolerance for household chores if your chosen set suggests line-drying (a frequent recommendation for silk sheets, for instance) or if the sheets will require ironing, as linen often does.
Not only can you machine-wash and -dry all California Design Den sheets, you should. Their tightly woven long-staple cotton holds its structure even through frequent washing, and in fact, they’re designed to get softer with every wash. So you can rest assured that you won’t be shopping for sheets again any time soon.
