What Is a Bed Runner? Sizes, Uses and How to Style One

A bed runner is a band of decorative fabric laid across the foot of a bed. It is also known as a bed scarf, and sometimes as a bed throw. It adds colour and a finished, hotel style look to a made bed, and it helps protect the bedding at the end of the bed.

What is a bed runner used for?

A bed runner has three main uses:

• Decoration. It adds colour and pattern without changing your bedding.
• Protection. It covers the part of the bed most likely to pick up shoes, bags or pet hair during the day.
• Tying a room together. It can pick up a colour from your curtains, cushions or headboard.

Why do hotels use bed runners?

Hotels use them because they make a white bed look finished, and they are easy to change without replacing the bedding. The same idea works at home: plain white or neutral bedding with one rich fabric across the end of the bed.

What size bed runner do I need?

A bed runner should be long enough to hang evenly over both sides of the bed. These are the sizes we make:

A 65cm depth gives the classic hotel band. A 130cm depth covers more of the duvet and works almost like a light throw.

What is the difference between a bed runner and a throw?

A bed runner is a decorative band made to the width of the bed. A throw is a larger, softer blanket for warmth, which you can drape more loosely. Some people use the words interchangeably, and our 130cm runners sit somewhere between the two.

How do you style a bed runner?

1. Make the bed with plain or lightly patterned bedding.
2. Lay the runner across the lower third of the bed, so that it hangs evenly on both sides.
3. Repeat the fabric near the pillows, with a bolster cushion or a pair of square cushions.

All of our luxury bed runners are handmade to order in our studio in Blackburn, Lancashire.