I hate extra bedding/pillows and my kids are fairly crazy sleepers so they have just a quilt in the winter and just a sheet in the summer. I don't care what their beds look like as long as the bedding is ON the bed. I did not have to make my bed growing up, but I did most days. Mom kept it simple so it was easy to do.

Growing up, yes. The two of us, now. Depends on how I feel. He does a nice job once a week when he puts on the fresh sheets. I strip the bed and do the wash/drying part.

Growing up, did not. As an adult I do just to keep cat's from shedding on my sheets.

The inhabitants of a house are their own B and B staff. If you like walking into a bedroom with a rumpled up unmade bed or even a bed with clean linens all askew, then you don't have to have anyone in charge of seeing that the bed is picture perfect from the threshold of the room. Admit it: isn't it a downer to go to breakfast during a hotel stay and walk back into your room to find the bed in disarray? Do the right thing and spend a few minutes to make your future self happy.

Having military parents, the beds were made daily. Being contrary, I started to fold or roll my sheets because my failed to define "made" and I am quite obsessed with the Japanese lifestyle. I now sleep on a futon. The other reason for rolling my sheets was spiders....

Absolutely! It taught my brother and I to be neat, clean and responsible. Any parent that doesn't require kids to make their bed, keep their room clean, pick-up toys is doing their children a disservice, not to mention themselves.

When you make your bed (whether adult or child) it sends a message to your brain about your sleeping space--a positive one--which makes a difference in your day.

Yes, I made not only my own bed but that of my brother's. Mother felt that any type of housework was not suitable for boys. Thankfully, times have changed!

Yes, either I, or my husband makes the bed everyday. (The last one up makes the bed!!) For some reason if the bed is made, the whole house seems more tidy. It is so relaxing to go into your room and have order. I shared a room with my sister growing up, and we had to make our bed everyday. After I was an adult I kind of rebelled and did not do it, but I hated to crawl into rumpled sheets at night. It makes such a difference in my attitude about the house, by just doing that one little task!

Yes, BUT I paid my little sister a nickel a day to do it! NB

Before taking off to either ride horses with one sister every day during the summer; or ride our bikes, before we left the house, our room had to be clean and our beds made.

So we figured that out real quick. You have your room clean, make your bed, then grab a blanket to use and sleep ON TOP OF YOUR BED! So in the morning all you've got to do is grab the blanket, throw it in your closet and off you go! LOL

hey, I'm "neat, clean and responsible" -- and while I was taught to make a bed, I don't do it anymore and I don't impose it on kids. Also, my husband has terrible dust mite allergies, and is much better off with unmade beds. A bedroom is just about THE definition of a private space, so to each his or her own. Kids have so much less privacy than I did growing up, giving them a space they understand is truly their own is more important to me than controlling their bedroom behavior.

Pick your battles with your kids. Now that my kids are grown, and have kids of their own I give them the same advice. I would rather visit over breakfast then nag them about making their beds. Weekends allow time to clean and change the sheets.

My mother was a cross between Mother Theresa and the toughest DI on Paris Island. Of course we made our beds. Thank God she spared us the quarter bounce.

Growing up we were not required to make our beds but my sister was a neatnik from birth so we had alterations about my side of the room. Interestingly, after my sister went off to college and I had my own room for the first time, I became a neatnik and remain that way. Growing up we also had very little privacy in our house. With my kids, I didn't require them to make their beds and I knocked before entering their room. My kids are grown now and my son is a neatnik (from birth); my daughter, not so much.

Nope. And I still don't like to. When I first got married, my husband would make the bed, not in the morning, but when we went to bed at night. How silly is that? Sometimes he wakes in the middle of the night and straightens out the bedding.

Dear cda1028, "Do the right thing and make your bed"? It's not a MORAL issue, it's a preference! Making your bed is NOT the key to your future happiness.

Like Houzz says, if the biggest thing in the room is neat and tidy, the whole room looks better. I don't specifically remember Mom "forcing" us to make our beds, we just did. Likewise, our children grew up with the same expectation, but were not bullwhipped to do so. It was just part of getting up in the morning. Teach them "habits" (not chores) when they're little, and it will carry through.

I have always made my bed in the morning, but only after I have been up, dressed and eaten breakfast, allowing the bed to cool down and air out. I cannot get into an unmade bed, even when ill. It must at least be straightened and pillows fluffed before I can get back in.

yes we were.

I agree with ddolora. Just a normal habit every morning. My kids in their 30s have the same habit. It makes the bed look more inviting at bed time. Another habit for our family is no electronics in the bed room. Make your bed room a " sleep spot". It shouldn't be an extension of the business day.

I was made to when I was a child. I think it makes the room look way better.

I got out of bed, turned around, and made it up immediately. It took 2-3 minutes at most. I made up my bed through much of my adulthood. Now, I only make it up when someone is going to come over. I'd rather it be dried out from overnight perspiration and reduce dust mites.

I don't remember being required to make my bed, Mom & Dad seldom came downstairs to check our rooms anyway. But I do remember making it, before I got out. I still make it that way. Allergist confirmed that dust mites aren't a problem in our dry climate so no need to let it air out. As long as my husband is up, or at least awake, I pull everything up, slip out the side, and straighten the pillows. Husband is a bit more picky about how tight his side is, probably because if it wasn't made right his father would tear everything off and make him redo it. So he makes his side after he's gotten up and dressed. Lest anyone think his father was too hard nosed, he was just following how he'd been raised, for the most part. When he was a kid and left any clothes on the floor he'd come home to find that his mother had nailed them to the floor. She'd use the small finishing nails so the holes weren't too damaging.

Of course bed making is a preference and not a moral failure, as designpolice points out. Lots of the topics in Houzz fall into this same category of discussion: clutterbusting, lawn mowing, furniture arrangement, to name a few. But I'll be more inclined to accept an unmade bed when Houzz photos of an ideal room routinely show an unmade bed. I suppose we readers can look forward to being asked, "Were you required to set the table before dinner each night?"

I love all the comments from many perspectives. I was a clean freak from young, but I attribute that to having come from a family that was miserable and abusive. The only control I had to my world was my corner of a shared bedroom. I decided that when I had children I would teach them useful skills that would help them to have self-esteem. At the same time not get all out of joint if they decided to keep their room different from the rest of the house. The teen years especially are for figuring out who you really are and what you want to accomplish in the future. I agree with the comment to pick your battles, and making the bed is one of them you do not have to battle. So both my children ended up neat freaks anyway, and minimalists. because they saw their parents had neatness in their lives and liked the feeling of our whole house and property. As an interior decorator I have found that a cluttered home means a cluttered mind, or some deeper emotional issues just as ocd clean does. Let's find a happy balance!
p.s. maybe they should have a poll on what our vehicles look like inside!
Let's make happy homes! yellowbarninteriors.com

I grew up in a military family so yes I was required to make my bed every day and it had to be perfect. When I had my own child I decided to not worry about her making her bed or have lots of rules; I'm a neat freak but I made a decision to let my daughter's room be HER room she could keep it as neat (rarely) or messy (the norm) as she wanted, she just had to keep the door closed. About the only time her room was neat was on the day the housekeeper would come because the housekeeper was told she could throw anything away that wasn't put away, so at least once a week the room was clean.

Judy T, that's the case with my kitchen and bathroom counters. If I don't put things away before my sweet cleaning lady comes, she puts them away where she thinks they should go. It can take the full 2 weeks before she comes again for me to find it all.

military corners were taught and expected daily in my parents house, but nothing militaristic about their love. i love being able to make a very neat, tidy bed, but some days I do and some I don't! my own children were taught the same and then given the choice, and as adults both like tidy rooms but aren't compelled to make the bed every single day. definitely prefer to walk into my room after a long day at work to a picked up tucked in bedroom, but i pick my (energy) battles

Yellowbarn, your comment hit me where I live!

My son was taught to make his bed for the reason I was- it's SO much more comfy, to sleep in. We called them "hospital corners", instead of military corners, Even if the closet was messy, the bed was made for a more peaceful goodnight.

The best day of the week were Sundays for him. I made the beds- freshly laundered linens, tight like we all like. A spritz of lavender linen spray. A very small chocolate on the fresh pillowcase, for my son.

To this day, he tries to emulate the Sunday feel. At 25, busy working etc, I'm fairly sure he doesn't make his bed every day. But Sundays? I'm also fairly sure he still does this, if only to feel some "home".