Pillow Talk
Who has two thumbs and scored a fun new crisscross pillow for $2.63? This girl.
A recent trip to Bed Bath & Beyond ended in one of my best scores to date. Digging through the discount pillow bin yielded this beauty that was marked down by 50% and then marked down again, this time by 75% off the sale price. Yup, for just $2.50 plus thirteen cents of tax, this crazy beautiful lattice pillow came home with me. Look how happy it is on the bed with its other pillow friends:
A lot of people ask us how to mix patterns and prints, and this new pillow conveniently demonstrates a few of our favorite pattern mixing tips. First of all, you want one of the prints or patterns to be a larger scale, more bold pattern (the pillow) while the other pattern is smaller in scale and a bit more subtle (the duvet cover). It’s usually a good idea for the smaller sized item to be the more bold piece (ex: a subtle small-scale patterned armchair paired with a graphic large-scale patterned pillow). Although we’ve seen some majorly dramatic rooms with large geometric or floral patterns in the curtains or even on the walls that knock our socks off, so it can go either way.
The other thing to keep in mind when you’re mixing and matching would be to try to keep the patterns or prints in the same color family. Thanks to the similar tone found in both the duvet cover and the pillow they don’t seem to be fighting each other and can peacefully coexist in our peaceful master bedroom. Here’s the close up. Isn’t she a beaut?
And here’s my receipt. Gotta love a cheap thrill every now and then.
Especially one that makes the cashier do a double take. She couldn’t believe the price. And I couldn’t believe my luck. Here’s to major markdowns and digging through those clearance bins! Happy hunting…
Leave a comment
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Wow! What a find!! Your bed looks so lovely and inviting… I have a question for you. Do you make your bed each day? I know everyone has their quirks, and this is one thing I often wonder about.
I personally make my bed probably 3 – 4 times a week, but I know that if I worked in my home, I wouldn’t be able to stand NOT making it daily.
Hey Bethany,
Yup, I make it every day. It was a hard habit to start because in my Manhattan studio I always flew out the door without a second thought (being on my own meant I didn’t have to make the bed!). So when we moved into our house and John suggested that maybe we should actually make the bed on a daily basis I admit that I thought he was crazy for a while. And since I slept a bit later than him, it meant that I was automatically the one who was nominated. But a few years later it has become something I do without a second thought (and it really doesn’t take more than two minutes). It’s amazing how much more obsessive I am about everything being in the proper place at all times than I was when I was a renter in the city that never sleeps.
xo,
Sherry
Gotta love a great deal! I recently scored two pale purple paisley bolster pillows for the guest bedroom at just $3 apiece at HomeGoods…how satisfying!
Great score!
I think the two minutes it takes to make a bed are so worth it. You may have some clothes to hang or a pile of books on the night stand, but if the bed is made the room looks much cleaner.
Imagine if you’d had one of their 20% off coupons with you! Still, an amazing find. It matches perfectly!
(I, too, am a daily bed maker.)
I especially am jealous of your sales tax rate. I would love to only pay 5%.
Great score!
The pillow looks great on your bed, I’m a big fan of mixing patterns but am always too scared to implement it. Thanks for the encouragement!
Is the pillow part of the original bedding collection? It coordinates perfectly! What an amazing find–especially at that price. Score!
Hey Bungalow-Bliss,
Actually the bedding is from West Elm (picked up eons ago on clearance) so the BB&B pillow wasn’t a part of the original bedding collection. Gotta love that you think it coordinates that well though! It’s all about going for similar tones and keeping one pattern subdued (the duvet) while the other one is more in-your-face-obvious!
Oh and Jill, I’m laughing at your picture-updating joke. It’s true that we’re frequent tweakers. We just can’t help ourselves. A house is never done I guess… it’s always a work in progress!
xo,
Sherry
Always check out the clearance racks, bins, shelves! Last night I got white chair covers at Target, originally $20.98 (I think) for $3.74 each! I picked up all eight they had left. Also got new window panels for my bedroom, two for less than half the original price of one.
Also a bed maker. Wonder if there is a link between bed making and creativeness or compulsiveness?
OMG………..fantastic deal, and it looks specially made for you. LOL, now add this pic to the house tour and update the master bathroom to show the cool soap dispenser.
Just kidding……….can you imagine if you have to update every time you tweak? You would have no time for sleep!!
I just picked up two pillows at Target for $3.74 each…they are bright pink and orange, but that’s just what my bland/annoyingly furnished graduate student housing living room needed.
Amen! :)
Speaking of those wonderful soap dispensers, the nearest Target (1.5 hrs away) had sold out of them last week. Maybe I’ll get lucky on my next shopping spree to Asheville.
Awesome! I love deals like that. It makes my day to get something for a great deal.
The soap dispenser rocks!!
I ended up going back and buying the tumbler……..but I put mini river rocks in it and some green/white artificial grass.
Oh yeah, Sherry—-I myself am looking for a “Tweakers Anonymous” meeting. Hi, my name is Jill and I am a tweaker.
Ok-how did you get John to allow you to have 9 pillows on the bed? My husband would not go for that at all.
Oh and too bad no coupon like the other poster mentioned. PS-They take expired ones, no questions asked. I have about 10 in my purse most of the time.
Hey SSM,
Well four of the nine pillows on the bed always stay there (they’re our sleeping pillows) so adding a few more (keeping in mind that I’m the one who makes the bed) was no skin off John’s back. In fact I think he likes that there are a few more to watch Burger bound through whenever he get’s a jolt of energy. That dog is wild about pillows (he thinks they’re his friends and he greets them excitedly).
As for the BB&B coupon, I searched high and low for one in my purse but alas… we keep a bunch of them in the car (since we only have one car we usually have it with us) but I was shopping with a friend (she drove) so I was separated from my stash!
xo,
Sherry
Dang! We don’t even see clearance bins in Germany. I keep hoping for great deals instead of everything costing twice as much as it does in the US. I’ll live through your success today! Beautiful find, beautiful price.
Katie
I was happy to score one of those great soap dispensers!
Also a bed-maker. If one of us has been sick and stayed in bed for at least part of the day, I will still make the bed before going to sleep at night. The sheets just feel different/better when they have been smoothed out and tucked in. Hubby disagrees-thinks they feel better rumpled. Oh, well…
I’m hitting up BB&B tonight for a new shower curtain and currently have four coupons in my purse in case anything else jumps out at me. Love the new pillow! My pillow score was a beautiful blue pillow from TJMaxx for $5 – down from $20. (actually I got three beautiful pillows in the same shade of blue each for $5)
Gorgeous pillow, and what a steal!!
What a great deal!
I am jealous of your low tax rate too!
That is a great score! I love how you find these amazing deals! I just scored a cute branch side table from Target, regularly priced at $89, found it on clearance for $44.98, but it rang up at $23.98!
I’m a daily bed maker too. Even if my house is a total mess, it’s nice knowing a nice, neat and comfy bed is always waiting for me at the end of the day.
Speaking of beds, I have a question about your Malm Bed. I am looking to get that for my guest room. Was is it easy to assemble? And how is the comfort level with only the mattress on top?
Hey Ellessu,
We’ve had our Ikea malm bed almost three years now and have really loved it. First, it still looks exactly like it did when we got it (no scratches, fading, sagging, splitting, etc) so you know it’s durable. Second, it’s super comfy even without a boxspring (although I always think a good mattress is the key to a comfy bed). Third, it makes any room look larger and taller thanks to the low profile (it’s not one of those huge overstuffed beds that you have to climb into, it’s sleek and low and clean). Forth, John assembled the whole thing with minimal help from me (I hate projects that require lots of “hold this” and “squeeze that” but the malm is no big deal. It only took about an hour or so and it’s very sturdy in the end- like a Crate & Barrel bed.
Hope it helps! We recently had to take it apart when we were getting our floor refinished and disassembling it is even easier, but putting it back together was no biggie. Made me fall in love with the thing all over again. Lots of luck with your malm!
xo,
Sherry
Sherry, where do you guys put the extra pillows while you sleep? We’re big into lots of bed pillows, too (8 total), but I get all OCD when it comes to storing them through the night, since we each use only 2 to sleep. I can’t bring myself to put them on the ground because feet touch that!
Actually, while we’re on the subject of storing things, where do you guys put your bedside reading material? Alarm clocks? Glasses?
Hey Chantel,
When it’s time for bed I pile all the accent pillows on the leather chair across the room. It’s a great place to keep them off the floor, and it’s such an easy routine that John actually does it too (instead of throwing them on the floor man-style).
As for the side table question, we get that a lot. We actually both slip our hands behind the curtain, where we have a shelf for all of our stuff. Here’s a post with a picture of my bedside bowl (full of lip gloss, my contact case, face lotion and all the other things that are nice to have on hand) along with an egg crate that I use to store jewelry.
We’re also lucky that our platform bed has a wooden ledge that runs around the perimeter, so it’s wide enough for me to rest my Klean Kanteen on, since I’m such a thirsty sleeper. We also keep a book or two nearby (usually tucked under the bed since it’s so low that it’s easy to reach under while reclining and grab it) and our cell phones go on the floor (and act as our alarms).
xo,
Sherry
Wow, can’t beat a deal like that! I got a white ceramic horse from Target yesterday (not the same as the one you have) for $13, but that is not nearly as spectacular as your deal. (Its still cute though!)
OH MY! That is sooo cheap and such a great pattern! Great find. I’ve been itching to buy something besides gas & groceries.
ps. You could take it back and they will honor the 20%. We also forgot our coupons for a big purchase and we went back the next day for the difference. I know 50 cents is not much, but every penny counts.
I absolutely love all the bedding in your house! I was in Target last night where I saw these great plates that reminded me of your master bedroom bedding.
http://www.target.com/Solid-Grid-Dinnerware-Set-12/dp/B001PI49EY/ref=br_1_68?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=14005521&node=14005521&searchRank=salesrank&searchPage=3&searchSize=30&id=Solid%20Grid%20Dinnerware%20Set%2012
They DO look like our bedroom! Funny!
xo,
s
Hi guys, I am so lucky to come across your blog, its so awesome in every way! Love your writing, love your style/ideas and love how you guys seem so cool towards each other!
I am SO confused with quilts, duvets, converters, shams, euro sham, etc., etc…can you PLEASE explain the difference? I see that you have (what looks to me) three pillows and then the smaller ‘accent/decor” pillows. What is recommended? Also, why pillow material do you guys prefer?
Many thanks!!
Liliana
Our philosophy is: there are no rules- just do what you love. We’ve seen many many iterations of pillows and duvets and comforters and they all can look lovely! In our case our bed has a duvet (which is basically a big slipcover for a comforter) along with four standard pillows that we sleep on, two white shams (just for polish) and a few accent pillows that we love to switch and change out. We place the shams in front of our sleeping pillows since they look more polished and then we toss the accent pillows in front. It works for us but feel free to play around with things! We love to buy a ton of pillows, bring them home, play with different combinations, and just return the ones we don’t love. It’s error-proof shopping!
xo,
s
Your bed looks beautiful, I like to make my bed every day because it looks nice and feels nice at night, It doesn’t take much time. I got a bargain on some outdoor cushions the other day, half price and they look great on our brand new synthetic grass lawn, I can lie on the grass without getting bitten by ants although I will probably go to sleep and get sunburnt :>
I’ve been looking for a duvet exactly like this. Can you tell me where you found it????
It’s from West Elm a few months back. Hope it helps!
xo,
s