The Dust Ruffle and Bed Skirt Controversy

Do you remember way back in blog time in 2008 when Joni from Cote de Texas did a post about skirted tables that started a huge debate that ultimately led to podcast she stars on called "The Skirted Roundtable."

Holy dust ruffle!
Charlotte Moss

Well clutch your pearls, there seems to be another great controversy brewing regarding dust ruffles and bed skirts.

Joni's lovely deep drop bedspread

It seems that not only are bed skirts (I hate the word dust ruffle - why would anyone want anything described as dust?) out of fashion with the Lonny-Rue-Apartment Therapy set, but they are unsanitary too with worries of attracting bed bugs.

A tailored bedspread with a deep drop skirt

Glam bed skirt - Temple St. Clair

Mmmm.. Personally I have no dust ruffle in the guest bedroom because the iron four poster bed did not require one visually. The bed in our master bedroom does have a dust ruffle. This bed has a headboard and a metal bed frame and box spring, and I don't think it would look very good without the bed skirt. I even tried the white bed spread with the huge skirted drop ala Joni, but found it too cumbersome. Damn I should have sold it on eBay sooner! Now who will want it?

Eddie Ross used a tailored bed skirt
in this pretty traditional bedroom

I came across the following article by Sara Ruffin Costello:

A headboard with a bed frame needs a bed skirt

"So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house for a TV party. Curled up in his seraglio-inspired space, I took in the visual splendor—the towering four-poster mirrored bed with striped silk taffeta upholstery, the wall-to-wall caramel cashmere underfoot, the yards of couture curtains across simple French windows and the endless originality—which all added up to a tailored, comfortable, no-grandmother-in-sight inner sanctum.

Fishing for free decorating, I submitted to my old friend, "How can I get a little piece of the Miles magic?"

Miles Redd's bed sans bed skirt
But what's up with the padding?

"Oh, please," he said. "This old shoebox?"

"Well, yes..."

And then, with the precision of a brain surgeon, he said, "An exposed box spring is like a fly in the soup...unsightly. Cover your box spring with a decadent fabric...touch of luxe darling...every room needs it, especially the bedroom."

I sat up and took note. By God, I realized, the filthy, pointless dust ruffle of '80s Shabby Chicdom is dead. Long live the tailored box-spring cover!

Ditching the dust ruffle diminishes your chances of bedding down with bugs. (A floor-grazing bed skirt is like a hospitable stairway for bed bugs.)"

Miles Redd - This Old Shoebox

Well! What do you all think of that???!!! First of all that tag line: So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house! Well smell her! In a good way of course.

Miles Redd four poster bed

Four poster beds look good without a bed skirt. The proportions of the bed suit this choice.

Miles Redd used a dust ruffle! Alert the media!

Bed with headboards and box springs seem to need the bed skirt to give it a finished look. Of course a platform bed with a mattress only, would look ridiculous with a bed skirt.

Miles Redd in Domino
The bedroom that launched the careers of blog decorators
Swoon! J'dore! Copy!

Modern interiors seem to fare better without a dust ruffle. Even the word is too granny for the hip decorating spawned by Domino.

But what about the majority of the world dwelling in suburban traditional homes with traditional bedrooms, or gasp, bedroom sets?

Can a dust ruffle or bed skirt be done right, just as Joni thinks doing a skirted table can be done right? You hardly see skirted tables anymore except at events and weddings. Will the bed skirt become as extinct as the table skirt?

Tom Scheerer's stainless-steel bed doesn't need much
besides crisp sheets and a white cotton slip cover for the box spring

Will they give up their bed-in-the-bag that includes the matching dust ruffle? Can they get behind a box spring slip cover?

No dust ruffle for Jonathan Adler and Liberace

Will there be bed skirt and dust ruffle burnings to alleviate the bed bug pandemic!!!! Will there be a new podcast show called "The Dusty Ruffle" or "The Skirted Bed"?????

Betsey Burnham doesn't use a bed skirt

Chime in! Bed skirts yes or no! Discuss! Dust ruffles over and out?

Martha Stewart don't need no stinking bed skirt or box spring slip cover

Kelly Wearstler doesn't have her slip showing


Even shabby chic can go skirtless

Apartment Therapy eschews the wrapped bed

Go HERE to see the whole article.

Posted in: Bedrooms, Does This Cherub Look Tacky - Design Issues, Round Up, Think