Hi Donna,

Thanks very much for your message! The 16" is the height of the bed skirt from bottom of the mattress to the floor.

To answer your questions about attachment and the decking border, please check my attached photo. The bed skirt does not need to be attached and is laid on top of a bed frame or box spring. On my image you will see a thin red line running around the side of the bed skirt. This is the 3" decking border and this will be in the same fabric as the fabric you see for our bed skirts. This is put in place in case your mattress shifts slightly but you still want to avoid having the lining of the bed skirt (outside of the 3" decking border) from being visible. This lining is often a solid white fabric and will remain invisible as it will be underneath the mattress.

Hope that helped with your inquiry,

Max