Covering the guest room and the kids' beds

The beds that see the least routine see the most surprises. A guest arrives with a glass of wine, a kid arrives with a juice box and a firm belief in breakfast in bed. These beds should be covered on the assumption that something will land on them, because eventually something will.

Waterproof by default

On a bed you sleep in nightly, a waterproof protector is a judgment call. On a kids bed it is the floor of the plan: one silent membrane layer under the sheet, sized to the actual mattress, on the bed every night without exception. The night it earns its keep, you strip one layer, start the wash and remake the bed in five minutes.

The second set rule

The remake only takes five minutes if a spare is in the closet. This is where multipacks earn their place: two protectors per bed means one on the mattress and one folded next to the spare sheets, and 2 a.m. laundry stops being urgent. Zippered pillow covers in sets of four do the same for the pillow side of the house.

Between guests

A guest bed can sit made for a month, and fabric that sits collects dust and the stale smell of a closed room. The routine that works: wash the sheets after the visit, wash the pillow protectors with them, give the topper ten minutes of open window, and make the bed fresh so the room is ready instead of almost ready.

Sizing the hand-me-down bed

Guest rooms and kids rooms inherit mattresses, and inherited mattresses come in odd depths. Measure before ordering, top surface to bottom edge, and check the pocket range on the product page. A skirt that grips the corners survives a restless eight year old; a loose one is on the floor by morning.