AmazonBasics Pleated Eco-Friendly Dust Ruffle, 16-Inch

You might spend more waking hours in your living room, and your kitchen is definitely where memories are made, but if there’s one room in your house that should really feel like home, it’s your bedroom. That means making your bed look as welcoming and restful as possible.

A nice thick comforter and some fluffy pillows can go a long way toward establishing that look, but a bed set isn’t really complete without a nice dust ruffle. Also known as a bed skirt, this largely decorative piece of sheeting is the fabric that hangs down around the periphery of your bed below the mattress, covering the box spring or foundation. It can match the color and fabric of the sheets above it or carefully contrast with the overall look, but a well-chosen dust ruffle can really tie the bed set together.

It can also serve a practical purpose. If you have a raised mattress frame, the bed skirt will effectively conceal the area under the bed, allowing you to store boxes or other gear underneath it.

In most cases, you should have an easy time finding a dust ruffle that fits. They’ll be marked as compatible with the size of your bed, whether that’s twin, full, queen or king size. In most cases, the dust ruffle will be one large sheet that lays between your mattress and box spring, with the actual fringe remaining visible. In some cases, the only fabric is the ruffle itself, and you may have to pin or clip it to the box spring.

There are also “one size fits most” bed skirts that simply stretch around the edges of your bed. These can be great if you don’t have the means to lift the mattress yourself.

You can find dust ruffles in a wide variety of fabrics, but do yourself a favor: Pick something durable that resists wrinkles. That goes double if you have cats or other pets that may be tempted to scratch or rub on the skirt.

Bed skirts will come in just about any color, but there are three basic styles. Tailored skirts will hang down relatively flat with perhaps a separation along the midpoint of each side. Pleated skirts hang down in tightly organized folds, while gathered skirts are bunched up at intervals near the top to create decorative frills. The choice between them is purely a stylistic choice: Tailored or pleated skirts will suit a minimal, quiet tone while gathered ones will match with a bolder, brighter room.

Buying a bed skirt to match the width of your bed is usually pretty easy. But what about the length?

The lower hem of your dust ruffle should ideally hang just low enough to touch the floor. In most cases, that will be 14 inches, which used to be the standard height for a box spring. Modern bed foundations might be raised a bit higher, though, so you’ll want to measure the length from the top of your foundation to the floor. Match that to the drop length of your bed skirt, which should be clearly labeled on the product.