Bed-making

An unmade hotel bed.

Bed-making is the act of arranging the bedsheets and other bedding on a bed, to prepare it for use. It is a household chore, but is also performed in establishments including hospitals, hotels, and military or educational residences. Bed-making is also a common childhood chore.

History

Beds must sometimes be made to exacting standards, demanded of nurses or military personnel. In a hospital or other health-care environment, beds must sometimes be made while occupied by a patient. Specialised techniques are taught to healthcare staff to enable beds to be made efficiently with due care for the patient.

There are different bed-making techniques, such as "hospital corners" and "mitred corners". Military recruits are often taught how to make a neat and tidy bed with hospital corners. Military personnel are expected to fold the bed very tightly, in some cases so that a coin can bounce off of it.

Since 2012, many self-making beds which automatically rearrange the bedding are in development and in use. New innovations in bedding have arisen in recent years (beginning in 2014) that have further simplified bed-making—some claiming that zipper beds can be made in under 10 seconds.

Record

Guinness World Records reports that the record time for two people to make a bed "with one blanket, two sheets, an undersheet, an uncased pillow, one pillowcase, one counterpane and hospital corners" is 14.0 seconds. This feat was achieved by two nurses from the Royal Masonic Hospital in London in 1993.