hospital corners.

Hospital corners always looked nice, but I never really bothered to learn how to make them. Other than for appearances, it didn’t seem to matter that much, and how many people really see your bed regularly?

I’ve found out that they really are ideal, though. If you have wide enough sheets, you can tuck them in on the sides and have the sheet nice and tight across your feet (if you like that sort of thing). If you leave the sides untucked, you have a ton of foot space to toss and turn in, while still keeping it looking neat for days on end. For whatever reason, the sheet stays tucked in place a lot longer than it ever used to.

Plus, I no longer have to heft my mattress up to stuff the sheet underneath – I suppose this is why they tuck their corners like this in hospitals where a patient often remains on the bed throughout sheet changes. I know, I’m a genius.

Here’s how:

Lay your flat sheet centered on your bed, with the top as far up as you prefer it with the remaining edges hanging over.

Tuck in only the bottom end of the sheet, straight across with no bunching.

Lifting the side of the sheet up, wrap the corners of the sheet around the side of the bed.

Tuck the piece you lifted under the mattress. If you leave it untucked, you’ll have a lot of freedom for your feet and the edges will hang down smoothly and neatly.