Basic Bedding Buying Guide

Choosing the right bed linen for your home is of great importance as a good night’s sleep is vital to your wellbeing. Choose your bed and bedding with care. The correct pillow and duvet can make a difference to the quality of your sleep, and our mattress, pillow and duvet protectors will ensure you have long-term use from your bedding.

Sizing
Single fits bed W90 x L190cm (3’ x 6’3”)
Double fits bed W135 x L190cm (4’6” x 6’3”)
Kingsize fits bed W150 x L200cm (5’ x 6’6”)
Super kingsize fits bed W180 x L200cm (6’ x 6’6”)

Duvet Types
The weight, softness and warmth of a duvet depend on its tog rating and filling. Our duvets come in a range of tog ratings and in natural and synthetic materials, to provide you with the ultimate in comfort.

Choose Your Tog Rating
Tog ratings are based on a duvet's ability to trap warm air. Natural filled duvets have better thermal properties than synthetic, and need less filling to achieve the same level of warmth, so their weight can be deceptive. You just need to remember that the higher the tog rating, the warmer the duvet.
Duvets containing feather and/or down are also given a "fill power". This is the volume occupied by the filling and it varies depending on the quality. It's about how well the filling recovers and relates to thermal efficiency. The higher the fill power, the better the duvet:
At Home Linen we have a selection of duvets with different tog ratings:
· 4.5 tog –ideal for summer
· 9.0 tog and 10.5 tog suitable for spring/autumn
· 12.0 tog and 13.5 tog ideal for winter
Our combination duvets offer great flexibility. They consist of two separate duvets – usually a lightweight 4.5 tog for summer and a warmer 9 or 10.5 tog for autumn and spring. During winter, you simply put the two duvets together for a really warm 13.5/15 tog duvet.
We also have a range of metric size duvets in the different tog ratings.

Duvet Fillings
Choose Your Filling
Duvets with natural fillings are durable and naturally breathable. They are also highly resilient and tend to last longer than those with synthetic fillings. However, synthetic duvets are ideal if you suffer from allergies or want to wash your duvet frequently.
Natural-filled duvets could last up to 30 years, whereas the average lifespan of a synthetic duvet is up to 10 years. The number of times a duvet is laundered will also have an impact on its lifespan.

Natural Fillings
Goose down duvets are lighter in weight than duck down, yet offer the same level of warmth. Down duvets in general are lighter then feather, as more filling is required to achieve the same tog rating.
The covers of our natural duvets are of cassette pocket construction, which keeps the filling evenly distributed and prevents cold spots.

Synthetic Fillings
Our polyester hollowfibre duvets are non-allergenic and a good choice if you know you'll need to wash your duvet frequently. Microfibre is the closest in feel and weight to a natural-filled duvet.

Pillows
Pillows have a shorter lifespan than duvets, (because of the weight of our heads and the fact that you lie on top of a pillow and flatten it) and over the years the level of support will deteriorate. Natural filled pillows will keep their shape and level of support for longer than synthetic, but plump all pillows up daily.

Different Shapes & Sizes
Large square or little boudoir pillows give an attractive and inviting layered effect when added to conventional rectangular ones on a bed, as do continental pillows. Choose from:
Boudoir pillows - 30 x 40cm
Square pillows - 66 x 66cm

Pillow Fillings
Natural Fillings
Down and feather pillows mould snugly round the head and shoulders. The more feather there is in a pillow, the firmer it tends to be, and the proportion of down adds softness. All our natural pillows come in downproof casings, but we would always recommend use of a pillow protector to prevent staining and help prolong the life of a pillow.

Synthetic Fillings
These provide the alternative for those allergic to feathers and down. As with duvets, we have a range of different hollowfibre types to choose from, including lightweight fine fibres which provide the closest in feel to a down pillow.

What’s Your Sleep Style?
If you’re not sure what kind of pillow will suit you best, consider how you sleep.
If you sleep on your back, a medium-firm pillow is recommended, while a firm pillow, supporting your neck, is best if you sleep on your side. If you sleep on your stomach, you should go for a soft pillow.

Protection
Protective covers not only help to prolong the life of mattresses and pillows by protecting against soiling and general wear and tear, but create an extra layer of softness and warmth. They can also keep your bedding fresh and revitalize tired mattresses and pillows. Mattress toppers are a means of softening the feel of your mattress and providing extra support.
If you are looking for basic, practical protection, we stock a range of cotton and poly/cotton mattress protectors that either completely enclose the mattress or work like a fitted sheet. We also have a selection of duvet protectors, to protect your quilt.
For anyone who suffers from asthma or other respiratory problems, our breathable anti-allergy protection can be helpful. Our zipped anti-allergy protector is made from a special barrier fabric that allergens cannot penetrate and completely encloses your mattress or pillow. Use our anti-allergy protectors to keep new bedding allergen-free, or as a safeguard against the allergens already present in old bedding.