Comforters are standard bedding in most households and can range in price from extraordinary inexpensive to ultra pricey. The right comforter can add elegance to your bed and enhance the decor in your bedroom. Choosing the right one, however has as much to do with quality as it does with aesthetics.

A bed comforter is a bag like covering used on your bed. The comforter can be filled with either natural or artificial material. Normally a comforter is not used to cover the pillows or box spring, but is more for a decorative top on the bed. Many Bed comforters do not provide much warmth and are used in conjunction with blankets and other bedding.

When shopping for comforters, you might run into the term ?fill power? quite a bit. This basically tells you how good the comforter is. A higher fill power indicates better quality and your comforter will probably last longer. The space occupied by one ounce of down in cubic inches is called fill power. If a comforters fill power is 800 then it is a good quality comforter. A comforter with a fill power of 700 to 600 is excellent to good quality and anything lower is poor quality. This gauge is tested by standard testing organizations.

Another method to measure quality of a comforter is thread count. This is the same term that is used in judging the quality of sheets and refers to the number of threads that are contained in one square inch of fabric. The higher the thread count, the better quality and softer the comforter is.

There are basically two types of comforters, down comforters and feather comforters. Down is the best insulation material. It is made up of down feathers in light fluffy clusters. In a down comforter, tiny air pockets expand when heat is generated from body. One ounce of down will provide more warmth than other synthetic fibers. Feather comforters are also very soft and confy and great soft at trapping heat. However, Some people are allergic to feather comforters so take this into consideration when choosing a comforter for your home.

Silk comforters are quite nice and won't elicit an allergic reaction. Silk comforters are manufactured from combination of hypo allergic material and silk. Mulberry silk is the best as it is heavier than other silks. Wool, cotton, and polyester can also be used as filler for comforters. Some comforters are a combination of down and feather. Due it's resilience, feather filling is better than down. A comforter filled with goose down is great for winter.

Properly caring for your comforter will help keep it looking and feeling great. Wash your comforter in cold water (or according to instructions on label). Dry on low heat or let it air dry on the clothesline in good weather. Keep your comforter out of the direct sun light. Remove small stains by washing with soap. Many manufacturers recommend washing comforters by professional dry cleaner so be sure to read the label before you buy your comforter. It is vital for comforters to always be kept completely dry and moisture free to ensure that it will always act as a good insulator.