What are bedding shams? A simple guide to styling your bed

Have you ever admired a beautifully made bed in a magazine or a luxury hotel and wondered what the secret is? A big part of that polished, inviting look comes down to one simple item: the bedding sham.

So, what exactly is a sham? Think of it as a decorative pillowcase. It’s designed purely for style, turning a functional sleeping pillow into a key part of your bedroom’s décor. It’s the finishing touch that pulls the whole look together.

The Secret to a Beautifully Styled Bed

A bedding sham is your best friend for achieving that plush, professionally styled feel at home. Unlike a standard pillowcase made for sleeping, a sham is all about appearance. It’s your chance to play with colour, add interesting textures, and give your bed a structured, layered look.

A sham’s main job is to hide your everyday sleeping pillows behind a more elegant cover during the day. This simple swap instantly elevates the room, making it feel more organised and thoughtfully designed. It elegantly bridges the gap between your duvet and smaller decorative cushions. If you want a refresher on other bedding essentials, our guide on what duvet covers are is a great place to start.

More Than Just a Pretty Cover

While their main role is to look good, shams offer practical benefits too. They provide an extra layer of protection for your pillows, shielding them from dust and sunlight.

They’re also brilliant for providing comfortable support when you’re propped up in bed reading or enjoying a morning coffee.

This mix of style and substance is why shams are such a staple in a well dressed bed. In the UK, the growing interest in creating beautiful, personalised home spaces has helped the bed linen market grow to an estimated value of USD 1.82 billion. It shows just how much we appreciate a well made bed.

Sham vs. Pillowcase: What’s the Real Difference?

At first glance, shams and pillowcases might look like they do the same job, but they have very different roles on your bed. Understanding what sets them apart is the secret to creating a beautifully styled bed that’s as inviting to sleep in as it is to look at.

Here’s a simple way to think about it: your pillowcase is for function, and your sham is all about fashion.

The biggest difference is their main purpose. A pillowcase is made for sleeping. Its job is to protect your pillow from dirt and oils while giving you a soft, clean surface to rest your head on at night. A bedding sham, on the other hand, is purely decorative. It’s designed to be shown off during the day, giving your bed that finished, boutique hotel look.

This difference in purpose naturally influences how they are designed and made.

Design and Construction

Pillowcases are typically quite simple, with an open end that makes it easy to slip them off for washing. Shams, however, are built to be a centrepiece.

They often have more sophisticated details, such as:

• A Wide Border or Flange: This is the smart fabric border you see framing the pillow, often with neat mitred corners. It adds structure and a real touch of elegance.
• Decorative Details: Shams are where you will find beautiful embroidery, quilting, or interesting textures that would be uncomfortable to sleep on.
• A Tidy Back Closure: Instead of a simple open end, a sham almost always has a neat overlapping slit or a hidden zip on the back. This ensures a clean, seamless look from the front, with no pillow peeking out.

Fabric and Feel

The choice of fabric is another clear giveaway. Pillowcases prioritise comfort, so they are usually made from soft, breathable materials like cotton or linen. If you're curious about different materials for sleeping, you can find great information on the best linen pillowcases available and see how they are chosen for comfort.

Shams can also be made from these materials to match your duvet cover, but they often come in more luxurious or textural fabrics. Think plush velvet, lustrous silk, or heavy, ornate weaves. Because you are not sleeping on them, how they look and contribute to the overall design is far more important than how they feel against your skin.

To explore this topic even further, our guide on what is a pillow sham looks at their specific decorative role in much more detail.

A Guide to Common Types of Bedding Shams

Getting to know bedding shams is much simpler once you know the main types. Here in the UK, you’ll mostly find three popular styles, and each one has its own part to play in creating that perfectly layered, well made bed.

Learning the difference between these styles is what takes your bed from simply having a matching duvet cover to having real dimension, texture, and a touch of professional polish. Let's take a closer look at the three you will see most often.

The Standard Sham

The Standard sham is your everyday hero. It's the most common type you will find, and it often comes included as part of a bedding set. Its job is straightforward, to perfectly match your duvet cover and create a seamless, unified look.

Think of it as the foundation of your pillow arrangement. It cleanly covers the pillows you actually sleep on, instantly pulling everything together for a tidy, coordinated feel. They’re designed to fit a standard UK pillow, typically measuring 50cm x 75cm.

The Oxford Sham

If you’re after a more tailored and formal finish, the Oxford sham is your go to. What really sets it apart is the distinctive fabric border, or 'flange', that runs around the edge, usually about 5cm wide.

This simple detail makes a huge impact. It frames the pillow beautifully, giving it a crisp, smart appearance that feels much more considered. That extra stitching adds structure, making the sham look plumper and more substantial than its standard counterpart. It's a fantastic choice for anyone aiming for a classic, elegant bedroom.

The Euro Sham

Often overlooked but essential for a high end look, the Euro sham is the large, square powerhouse of your pillow display. These are designed to sit right up against the headboard, forming the perfect backdrop for the rest of your arrangement.

Typically measuring 65cm x 65cm, stacking two or three Euro shams creates a wonderful sense of height and luxury. They’re not just for show, either. They offer brilliant support for propping yourself up with a good book or enjoying a lazy Sunday morning in bed. They are the stylist's secret to achieving that plush, hotel quality finish.

Choosing Fabrics for Your Bedding Shams

The material of your bedding shams does more than just cover a pillow, it sets the entire mood for your bedroom. It’s amazing how a simple fabric swap can transform your space from cool and crisp to cosy and inviting. It's all about finding that perfect material that not only looks the part but feels right for the atmosphere you want to create.

Think of it as the final, crucial touch that ties style and comfort together. Are you aiming for a light, airy feel for summer, or do you want something warm and welcoming for those colder months? Each fabric brings its own unique character to the bed, influencing everything from the visual texture to how it feels.

Matching Material to Your Style

The right fabric is your secret weapon for bringing a design vision to life. Some materials just naturally suit certain styles, which can make achieving the look you want much simpler.

Here’s a quick guide to how different fabrics can shape the feel of your room:

• For a Cool, Hotel Chic Vibe: You can't go wrong with crisp cotton percale. Its smooth, matte finish and cool to the touch feel deliver that sense of clean, understated luxury you find in a high end hotel.
• For a Touch of Luxe: If you love a subtle sheen and a silky soft feel, sateen is the perfect choice. It drapes beautifully, adding a hint of glamour without ever feeling too shiny or over the top.
• For Relaxed, Effortless Elegance: Nothing says casual sophistication quite like linen. With its natural texture and incredible breathability, it has a lived in charm that only gets better and softer over time. If you're weighing your options, our guide on the differences between linen and cotton can help you decide.

The UK home bedding market has seen a real shift towards both luxury and sustainable fabrics. This tells us that people are not just choosing shams for style anymore, they are looking for practical benefits too, like hypoallergenic properties and temperature regulation.

If you're exploring sustainable options, this detailed comparison of bamboo and Tencel fabrics is a great resource. Ultimately, taking the time to pick the right material ensures your shams are a perfect match for both your style and your lifestyle.

How to Style Your Bed with Shams

Right, this is the fun part. Styling your bed with shams is where you get to stamp your personality on the room. It’s that final touch that turns a bed from just a place to sleep into a properly thought out, beautiful centrepiece. Forget the guesswork, here are a few simple formulas that will help you create a perfectly layered bed every single time.

A well styled bed is all about creating balance, depth, and a real sense of welcome. Once you know where to place each pillow, from those big Euro shams at the back to your everyday sleeping pillows and a few decorative cushions, you can achieve a polished look without any fuss. It's a simple skill, but it makes a world of difference to how the entire room feels.

The approach you take can completely change the atmosphere. For a look of timeless elegance, you cannot go wrong with a classic, symmetrical arrangement. If you're after something a bit cosier and more inviting, a relaxed, layered style is the way to go. Even a minimalist setup can look incredibly chic with the right placement.

Simple Styling Recipes

Let's walk through three of the most popular looks. Each one uses a different mix of bedding shams to create a distinct feel, giving you a clear blueprint to follow.

• Timeless Symmetrical: Start by propping two Euro shams against the headboard. In front of those, place your two sleeping pillows in their standard pillowcases. Finish the look with two Standard or Oxford shams neatly arranged in front. This creates that classic, hotel inspired look that's always neat and perfectly balanced.

• Relaxed and Layered: For a plusher backdrop, begin with three Euro shams against the headboard. Next, layer your two sleeping pillows. Then, add two Standard shams, and finish it all off with a single decorative cushion or a long bolster pillow. The result is a casual, lived in feel that just begs you to jump in.

• Polished Minimalist: If you prefer a cleaner look, place your two sleeping pillows directly against the headboard. Then, simply stand two crisp Oxford shams in front of them. It's a clean, uncluttered arrangement that works beautifully in a modern bedroom.

This simple guide shows how fabric choices can define the style of your bed, whether you're aiming for cool, luxurious, or relaxed.

By picking fabrics that match the atmosphere you want to create, you can easily pull together a cohesive and stylish bedroom.

It's interesting to see that even decorative items like bedding shams are part of a surprisingly resilient market. UK imports of bed textiles actually grew from €598 million to €635 million in recent years, which just shows our consistent investment in home comfort. It really highlights how much we value those little touches that offer both style and a sense of wellbeing.

If you're keen to learn more, check out our guide on how to make your bed like a hotel for even more professional styling secrets.

Common Questions About Bedding Shams

Let's finish by tackling some of the most common questions about bedding shams. Think of this as your quick start guide, giving you the confidence to use and care for them beautifully for years to come.

Getting these final details right is what truly elevates the look. Knowing how to choose the right fillings and care for the fabric will keep your bed looking perfectly plump and inviting every single day.

Can You Sleep on Pillow Shams?

We generally advise against it. Shams are designed purely for decoration, and features like wide flanges, zips, or textured fabrics can be quite uncomfortable for sleeping. For the best possible night's rest, it's always better to slip them off and sleep on your regular, softer pillowcases.

A good way to think of it is that shams are the 'day clothes' for your pillows. You would not wear your best outfit to bed, and the same idea applies here.

What Size Pillow Insert Do I Need?

This is a classic interior designer trick for achieving that plush, full look you see in magazines: always choose a pillow insert that is slightly larger than your sham. This simple step prevents a flat, sad looking pillow by ensuring the insert properly fills out every corner, giving it a supportive and inviting shape.

A great rule of thumb is to go up one size. For example:

• For a 65cm x 65cm Euro sham, a 70cm x 70cm insert is perfect.
• For a standard 50cm x 75cm sham, a very plump pillow of the same size or one just a fraction larger will do the trick.

How Should I Care for My Bedding Shams?

Always start by checking the care label, as the material will determine the best way to wash it. Most cotton or linen shams are fine in a washing machine on a gentle cycle with similar colours. To protect any delicate embroidery or other details, it’s a smart move to turn the sham inside out before washing.

For more luxurious fabrics like velvet or silk, dry cleaning is often the safest bet to preserve their unique texture and vibrant colour. Proper care is the secret to enjoying your luxurious bed linens for a long, long time.

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Ready to create your dream bed? Explore the beautiful and comfortable bedding collections at Morgan and Reid and find the perfect pieces to bring your style to life. Shop now.