How To Style A Twin Bed Like A Sofa or Daybed + Shop The Look

For Elliot’s room I found this amazing vintage bamboo twin bed, although I bought it online and I thought it was a daybed. I love that it is as deep as a twin bed, and man have I made use of it in her first year of life. But I still wanted the look of it to be a daybed/sofa instead of a twin bed during the day.

So we styled it out as such. At first I didn’t think anything of it, and then I thought, wait, why don’t we do this more for twin beds? Why let only daybeds get the full lounge-y sofa treatment? So, we went back and made a little video on how we did that – just some random Tuesday eye candy for you:

1. Get a mattress cover made. An astute commenter pointed out that we didn’t put this in the video (nor in the post at first) and it really is a HUGE reason why this works. We had ours made by Loom – I gave them the exact dimensions and told them I wanted welting and they made it and sent. I honestly don’t remember how much this particular project was because they did my curtains too (which are very, very good – I know I did a post yesterday about budget readymade curtains, but if you are interested in custom curtains I have really loved their work and service). I’ll try to find my receipt and update the cost but I would guess that it was between $200 – $300 (10 yards of quality white linen was used). It zips in the back. Now if you don’t want to go this route you could fold a quilt or of course use a fitted sheet. Once you throw a ton of pillows/blankets on it you might not notice, however if you want a truly high end look a fabric mattress cover is the way to go.

2.  Add a long bolster – this creates a custom look, and gives you something cozy to lean back against. We got ours, again, custom made from Loom Decor, but for a less fancy version you could just get a big body pillow. I wish that we had designed ours to be a bit taller – I think we chose 16″ but once it’s stuffed it came down to 12″ (I didn’t do well in physics as a 6th grader, clearly).

3. Add a throw to help break up the horizontal line of the daybed and bolster.

4. Use two large pillows on either end of your daybed to help ground the corners, and give the bed a more filled out appearance. I like that these two are huge and match, but yours don’t have to be.

5. Mix in an assortment of different sized, shaped, and textured throw pillows in a corresponding color palette. This is the fun part, so don’t be shy.

6. Grab an unsuspecting pet (or child) and force them to cuddle with you, while enjoying the comfort of your well styled daybed. Or lounge in the midday sun, reading a Jane Austin novel, in your vintage linen dress. OR take a nap, because styling is exhausting work. The possibilities are endless.

And if you’re into this look in particular, get it:

1. Mixed Stripe Pillow | 2. Macrame Pillow | 3. Linen Throw | 4. Forest Wallpaper | 5. Circular Linen Pillow | 6. Rattan Daybed | 7. Linen Pillow | 8. White Shag Rug | 9. Diagonal Stripe Pillow

***Photography by Tessa Neustadt