Cleaning Duvet Covers

It's typical: You buy a discount duvet comforter cover because you want to keep your luxury comforter clean--but what happens when you spill that red wine on your duvet comforter cover?

Our advice:

• Don't drink red wine in the bedroom!
• If the stain is extensive, have your down comforter duvet cover professionally cleaned.
• If the stain has seeped through, launder your duvet comforter with mild detergent and front-loading washers and dryers.
• If it's just one stain, spot-clean the red wine with table salt and cold water or with club soda.

If the cover is part of a duvet comforter set and it's stained beyond repair, toss it and see if you can find a replacement down comforter duvet cover, or one of similar quality, from the manufacturer. After all, your goal is to protect your duvet comforter. Keep your duvet comforter cover covered too. Save the red wine for the dining room.

Different Duvet Comforter and Cover Material

Your sister insists that, like a box spring mattress set, a duvet comforter set is the only way to go. You can only buy a duvet comforter cover in the same material as your duvet comforter. With apologies to your sister, you think that while a mattress fits best with the box spring it's designed for, you can choose your own down comforter duvet cover. Besides, your sister has questionable taste when it comes to picking friends and movies. But she is the shopping expert. Who's right? Try not to gloat too much, but you can buy an Indika organic cotton discount duvet comforter cover for your Alexandra Jordan down comforter.

If you choose a silk comforter, you'll need a duvet comforter cover made of a heavy material to protect the delicate silk. On the other hand, an organic Egyptian cotton duvet comforter set will be durable and luxurious. But if you want to change the appearance of your bedding, you can try out different varieties of that duvet comforter cover/down comforter combo. After all, your sister may watch depressing subtitled films with that poet friend who dresses in black, but she is the mistress of mixiing and matching style. Politely educate her about the down comforter duvet cover possibilities before her friend launches into his rant on the meaninglessness of material goods.

Cover It Up

You're not ashamed of your duvet comforter--you just want to protect it. But as any CEO with an accounting scandal will tell you, a cover-up isn't easy. Actually, putting on a duvet comforter cover is as easy as retrieving incriminating e-mails.

Your duvet comforter set usually contains instructions--guilty CEOs should be so lucky. Whether you buy a luxury down comforter duvet cover or a discount duvet comforter cover, you can snap, zip, or button the cover. Pull the corners of the duvet comforter tight against the edges of the duvet comforter cover. Just make sure to shake the down duvet comforter to distribute the fill so that the down has its loft once you seal the duvet comforter cover or when you take it off.

You don't want the down duvet comforter to look more lopsided than Worldcom's accounting books. In the end, you'll be able to put on and remove your down comforter duvet cover, and you won't sweat a bit...unlike corrupt corporate accounting firms.

The Naked Comforter

While you wouldn't dream of sleeping in the buff, you think a duvet comforter set is just too fussy. Even a discount duvet comforter cover doesn't appeal to you. Can you avoid buying a duvet comforter set and just buy the comforter? A down comforter duvet cover protects the duvet. Most bedding experts recommend a duvet comforter set if you want to keep your duvet comforter lofty and clean.

If you choose to do without the duvet comforter cover, keep dust, pets, and moisture away from your duvet comforter. Be gentle when turning your duvet comforter or replacing it after making the bed. Store it in a mesh bag if you go on vacation or have a second residence. You feel unprotected sleeping naked. It's not surprising that your duvet comforter does too. Spare your duvet comforter the discomfort and buy a down comforter duvet cover.

Duvet Cover Fabrics

You're known as the Martha Stewart of sewing, so you scorn a duvet comforter set and decide to make your own discount duvet comforter cover. How do you choose material for a down comforter duvet cover? Here are some sew simple hints.

• Use two equal-length home decorator fabric lengths to cover the front of the duvet and two more for the underside.
• Don't run out to that fabric shop where they know you by name! If you have fancy embroidered sheets, use them for the top and solid plain sheets for the down side.
• Rub the fabric against your skin. If you'd sleep underneath the fabric as a top sheet, use it.
• Make sure patterns and prints line up.
• Use washable fabrics, but be aware that 100 percent cotton is prone to shrinkage.
• Buy inexpensive sheets to make an autumn- or Christmas-themed duvet comforter cover.

Keep your existing down comforter duvet cover in a mesh bag. Hmmm, you've created a beautiful duvet comforter set on your own. Perhaps Martha needs a new sewing expert!

Customizing Comforters

You love your white down bed comforter, but you've never been inclined towards plain white. In fact, you have a rustic, homey sensibility, or a romantic poetic inclination. You're not inclined, however, to give away your beautiful down comforter. Some bedding comforter decorating ideas:

• For a plain comforter cover, try some romantic stencils such as fleur-de-lis. Pair your comforter with silk or satin sheets.
• That rustic look always needs plaids or checks. Choose a checked or tartan duvet cover for your bed comforter. Or opt for a blanket in that pattern.
• If you have a bed spread and comforter, don't overdo the decor.

Choose a silky romantic bedspread or a tartan bedspread with a plain white down bed comforter. You can offset your not-so-plain comforter with white or light-colored wallpaper or paint. Now you can keep your white down comforter and decorate it too!