Sunday 31 January 2010

How to make a nest

This is my tutorial on how to make a nest. With the nights being very cold at the moment, and me not having a human hot water bottle, I thought I might redesign my bedmaking to make it more snug and cosy. My electric blanket was chucked a few months ago, before the house went up in flames, and has not been replaced, so I need an alternative method to keep warm.

The flat surface of a bed does not lend itself to the contours of the human body. I know you can get such things as a memory mattress or a memory topper to put over the existing mattress, but I cannot see how these can work if you are constantly changing your position while you sleep. They would not keep up with my tossing and turning, the memory bit would have to be re programmed every week.

So I need to introduce some lumps and bumps into my bed, this is a much cheaper alternative as long as you already have the necessary components.
Step 1, put a sheet on first, you could skip this if you don't have a sheet as it is not really necessary.

Step 2, you need a fluffed up feather duvet in a cover on next, any old cover would do.

Step 3, next put on another fluffed up duvet in a nice cover because you are going to sleep on top of that.

Step 4, Next add the pillows. You can have as many as you like. I have three under my head, (I might move one of these elsewhere during the night), and I put one half way down the bed because I lie mainly on my back and the slight elevation under my knees is more comfortable for my hips and back. When I turn on my side I put this pillow between my knees, supporting the upper leg slightly, a more natural position. Single people could have an extra pillow for hugging. You can experiment till you get it right.

Step 5, cover the whole thing with a big duvet in a nice cover because this is the one you are going to sleep underneath.
Step 6, then add another duvet in any old cover.


Step 7, finish off with a throw. If you don't have pets on the bed you could possibly manage without this, but put the top duvet in a pretty cover.


To sum up, this is the basic recipe, you can adjust it to use whatever ingredients you have to hand. Feather duvets are best, it makes a cosier nest, but fibre ones will also do the job. Don't think you will have to do a lot more washing, you only need to wash the covers which are next to your body, the others can be washed maybe once a month. I have been sleeping in my nest for a few weeks now, it is so lovely I don't want to get out in the morning. Think of the electricity I am saving by not having an electric blanket. Are you going to have a go at making your own nest? Of course you will be a lot warmer if you don't take all your clothes off at night, ha ha :-)

3 comments:

  1. What a great idea. I have a big and little bed radiator that often sneaks in with us during the night. My mum has lived alone since my Dad died and she always sleeps on top of a feather duvet, she says it's more comfy and it's also very cosy and doesn't snore !!!
    Twiggy x

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  2. I like it! I do have a human hot water bottle and two dog and one cat hot water bottles who both creep up onto our bed when we are asleep, and rightly so as our house is flippin' freezin' most of the time and we only have the heating on for a few hours in the evening and not at all in the morning. So we have an old duvet under our sheet and two duvets on top! We soft southerners can't do cold!

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  3. When I first left home, I rented a room in Whitefield, North Manchester. My landlady provided me with a shoe-box sized, wooden framework, with an electric light bulb inside it. This was placed inside the bed, an hour before retiring, to take the chill off the sheets.

    I'm sure it wouldn't get past the Electrical Portable Appliance Testing rules that we have now, but it was certainly very much appreciated at the time. After all, I was still a Soft Southern Jessie in those days.

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