11 Bedding Ideas, With the Sizes That Make Them Fit

Measure the mattress before you shop for bedding: its size, and its depth from the top edge to the bottom edge, with any pillow top or topper you sleep on. Then decide how far down the sides you’d like the bedding to hang. That distance, the drop, decides the size more than the name on the label does.

A comforter needs to be as wide as the mattress plus the drop on both sides, and as long as the mattress plus the drop at the foot. Every idea below starts from that.

1. Decide on the drop first

There are three looks to choose from. To just cover the mattress sides, the drop is the mattress depth. For a fuller look, let it hang 4 in past that. For a bed that looks dressed to the floor, plan on about 20 to 22 in.

On a queen mattress 12 in deep, hanging a little past the sides means a 16 in drop. That calls for a comforter about 92 × 96 in, and a Full/Queen size (92 × 92 in) covers it, as in the drawing.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

2. Compare the queen sizes before you buy

Queen bedding comes in three sizes that look alike in a store but hang differently. A queen comforter, about 88 × 92 in, hangs 14 in at each side of a queen mattress (60 × 80 in). A full/queen, about 92 × 92 in, hangs 16 in, and an oversized queen, about 98 × 98 in, hangs 19 in.

At the foot, a queen comforter hangs 12 in. On a mattress 10 to 12 in deep, the plain queen just covers the sides. The two larger sizes hang past the mattress for a fuller look.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

3. Check the drop on king bedding

A king mattress is 76 × 80 in, and a king comforter, about 106 × 92 in, hangs 15 in at each side and 12 in at the foot. That covers a standard mattress, but it leaves little extra for a deeper one.

Worked example

A king bed with a 12 in mattress

What we know

• Bed: king, 76 × 80 in
• Mattress depth: 12 in
• Look: a little past the mattress

How it works out

1. Drop: 12 in + 4 in to hang a little past the mattress = 16 in.
2. Width: 76 in + 2 × 16 in = 108 in. Length: 80 in + 16 in = 96 in.
3. King, 106 × 92 in: (106 in − 76 in) ÷ 2 = 15 in at the sides.

On a king mattress 12 in deep, a comforter that hangs 16 in at the sides (a little past the mattress) needs to be about 108 × 96 in. The largest standard size, King (106 × 92 in), hangs 15 in at the sides and 12 in at the foot, which covers the mattress but not the drop you want: look for an oversized comforter and check its dimensions.

For more drop on a king, look for an oversized king of at least the 108 × 96 in the worked example asks for, and larger still over a thick mattress or a pillow top.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

4. Don’t mix up king and California king

A California king isn’t a bigger king. Its mattress is 72 × 84 in, narrower and longer than a king’s 76 × 80 in. A California king comforter, about 108 × 96 in, hangs 18 in at each side and 12 in at the foot.

Comforters and duvet covers often come labeled King/California King, one size for both beds. Check the length. A comforter 106 × 92 in, long enough for a king, hangs only 8 in at the foot of a California king.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

5. Size up for a drape that reaches the floor

A bed that looks dressed to the floor needs a drop of about 20 to 22 in, on a bed about 25 in high from the floor to the top of the mattress. A standard size won’t reach that on its own bed, so size up.

Worked example

A queen bed with a comforter almost to the floor

What we know

• Bed: queen, 60 × 80 in
• Mattress depth: 12 in
• Look: almost to the floor

How it works out

1. Drop: at least 20 in to hang almost to the floor.
2. Width: 60 in + 2 × 20 in = 100 in. Length: 80 in + 20 in = 100 in.
3. King, 106 × 92 in: (106 in − 60 in) ÷ 2 = 23 in at the sides.

On a queen mattress 12 in deep, a comforter that hangs 20 in at the sides (almost to the floor) needs to be about 100 × 100 in. A King (106 × 92 in) hangs 23 in at the sides and 12 in at the foot.

Sizing up adds drop at the sides but not at the foot, since a king comforter is no longer than a queen. If an even edge matters to you, an oversized queen hangs 19 in at the sides and 18 in at the foot.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

6. Count the pillow top in the depth

A pillow top or a topper makes the mattress deeper, and every inch it adds is an inch less of comforter hanging below the mattress. A standard mattress is 10 to 12 in deep, a thick one 12 to 14 in, and an extra-thick one 14 in or more. Measure from the top of the topper, not the mattress under it.

Worked example

A queen bed with a 15 in pillow-top mattress

What we know

• Bed: queen, 60 × 80 in
• Mattress depth: 15 in
• Look: a little past the mattress

How it works out

1. Drop: 15 in + 4 in to hang a little past the mattress = 19 in.
2. Width: 60 in + 2 × 19 in = 98 in. Length: 80 in + 19 in = 99 in.
3. Oversized queen, 98 × 98 in: (98 in − 60 in) ÷ 2 = 19 in at the sides.

On a queen mattress 15 in deep, a comforter that hangs 19 in at the sides (a little past the mattress) needs to be about 98 × 99 in. An Oversized queen (98 × 98 in) hangs 19 in at the sides and 18 in at the foot.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

7. Layer a quilt under the comforter

Layered bedding starts with the sheets, then a light quilt or coverlet, then the comforter or duvet on top. The quilt only needs to cover the mattress sides, so its drop is the mattress depth. On a queen mattress 12 in deep, that’s a quilt at least 84 in wide, and a queen size, about 88 × 92 in, hangs 14 in at each side.

Lay the comforter over it, and in warm weather fold the comforter down to the foot of the bed. In winter, pull the comforter up and fold the quilt or a throw across the foot instead.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

8. Buy the duvet cover by its size, not its name

A duvet cover is sized like a comforter, so the drop works the same way. A queen cover about 88 × 92 in hangs 14 in at the sides of a queen, and a king cover about 106 × 92 in hangs 15 in at the sides of a king.

The insert goes inside the cover, so buy it the same size as the cover or a few inches larger, and compare the two labels rather than the size names.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

9. Keep the bedding neutral and add one accent color

Neutral bedding makes a calm base, and a little color keeps it from looking flat. To place that color, borrow the 60-30-10 rule: about 60% of the room’s color on the walls and floor, 30% on the larger textiles such as the bedding and curtains, and 10% in an accent color.

On a bed, the accent goes on the smaller pieces: a pair of pillows, a throw across the foot. When the season changes, swap those and keep the rest. The room color palette generator suggests an accent that suits your walls.

Try it with your room: Room Color Palette Generator

10. Get the twin and twin XL right

A twin mattress is 38 × 75 in and a twin XL is 38 × 80 in, the same width but longer. A twin comforter, about 68 × 88 in, hangs 15 in at each side of a twin and 13 in at the foot. A twin XL comforter, about 68 × 90 in, hangs as far at the sides but 10 in at the foot of the longer mattress.

Check whether a dorm or guest mattress is a twin or a twin XL before you buy the bedding. On a thin dorm mattress, a twin XL comforter already hangs well past the sides.

Try it with your room: Comforter Size Calculator

11. Read the label, not the size name

Sizes with the same name differ by a few inches from one label to the next, and the queen and full/queen labels sit side by side on the shelf. A queen at 88 × 92 in and a full/queen at 92 × 92 in are the difference between 14 in and 16 in of drop.

Before you order, measure from the top edge of your mattress to where you’d like the bedding to end. Compare that drop with the label’s width, less the mattress width, divided by two.

Still choosing the bed? The bed size calculator shows which mattress fits your room with space to walk around it, and the small bedroom ideas work through a smaller room.

Every bedroom calculator is on the Bedroom page, and the bed size you enter in one carries over to the others.