Ikat Believe It
Call it jealousy. Call it envy. Call it pillow lust.
Whatever it was had us seriously wishing that one of Ballard Designs’ lovely Ankasa pillows would somehow find its way into our house. People often ask how we hunt down so many freebies without feeling a twinge of “but I want it.” And the answer is that we do get green with envy (that’s a good sign that we’ve found a great prize!) but it always feels so darn good to make someone so happy that it’s totally worth it. Seriously, it’s a high akin to an ice cream sundae or a day at the beach. Which is why we were so caught off guard when we found ourselves picturing this brown and white ikat beauty from Ballard in our living room (have we no self control?)…
Luckily the kind folks over at Ballard cut us a deal (you know we love a deal!) and she came to live with us at Casa Petersik. Insert my wild, flailing victory dance here. Isn’t that a happy ending? Katie D. won her choice of these Ankasa stunners, and we managed to take home the gorgeous brown and white ikat pillow (which is so belissimo it can pretty much live anywhere in the whole house).
Here she is living it up in the living room:
Doesn’t she just make you weak in the knees? Isn’t it great that a new pillow can give ya such a thrill?
And speaking of thrills… what’s making you guys giddy these days? Finishing the spring cleaning? Watching your daffodils bloom? Finally feeling the deep freeze recede? Eating Easter candy? Tell us alllllll about it!
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Comments
I recently scored some fabulous deals at Pier 1 and decorated my cubicle. It’s certainly nice to add some color and brighten up an otherwise drab, grey, lifeless, and depressing environment.
I scored a few wonderful things for my home too–one of them being a wall sconce inspired by one f your recent posts.
I’m currently unemployed, which is allowing for a lot of re-organizing time in our little abode. Yesterday, I took on the linen closet, and it makes so much more sense now. So that’s been my fun. I hope to have a job soon, but for now, I’m enjoying the chance to whip this place into shape!
This pillow is lovely in your house! Even the IKAT pattern mixed with the rug works. Do you have any tips when buying throw pillows for the living room? I like them to be comfortable so I can lay down on my couch, but also stylish and fun. Also, do you have any tips for mixing and matching patterns? Thanks!
Oh I meant to add that I have a retro lime green loveseat and beige/tan sofa. Do you have any suggestions on pulling this together with pillows? Thanks! I love your blog and you give great advice.
Hey Kiley,
Lime green and beige both look great with chocolate and white, so I’m inclined to suggest my ikat pillow (actually the other two square brown and white pillows pictured above would look lovely). On a sofa or loveseat we like bigger square pillows (usually 14×14 or 18×18) while slipper chairs look better with a smaller lumbar pillow like our little ikat one. Anything that works with both colors (and maybe something that has a pattern to add some fun should look great in your living area). Beyond chocolate and white, you might want to try a deep plum color or even a softer shade of yellowy green to tie in with the lime in the loveseat (and bring that color over to the couch). Hope it helps! A few of our favorite places to find pillows are: Target, Overstock, ZGallerie, and of course Ballard Designs. Happy hunting…
xo,
Sherry
im giddy about our traditional hmong wedding this weekend…as well as american reception in august. but surprisingly, im equally giddy about the home improvement projects we’ll be working on this summer as well! =D
by the way, what online sources do you guys turn to for your DIY home improvement projects? or is it all just natural talent? =D
I’m giddy about the fact that winter is coming! After the bush fires and drought here and the fact that I spent last winter in Europe (it’s been two years since I had a winter) I’m SO excited that winter’s almost upon us down under!! Rain! Cold! The only thing that could top it is if we had an open fire.
I’m also loving the cushion! It was made for that room.
Hey Priscilla,
We like to learn by doing, so a lot of the time we figure out how to do something the moment we start doing it. Sometimes we blindly do it ourselves and take note of what works along the way, and sometimes we ask an expert (like a paint specialist at our local Benjamin Moore). We’ve even googled things to hunt down an answer, which isn’t always as straightforward as you’d think (there are lots of conflicting opinions and sometimes there’s little to be found on a certain subject). Since it has occasionally been a bit hard for us to hunt down step by step tutorials, we love to share the DIY play-by-play on our how-to page as we take on various projects around the house. Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
Hmmm, what makes me giddy right now? I have to say it’s seeing the buds on the cherry and willow trees in our front yard and the green stuff poking up around the deck in the backyard. We bought our house in November so I really don’t know what the yard looks like this time of year. I can’t wait to see what Mother Nature has to offer!
Shopping at TJ Maxx, I pick up a pillow (only one left), put it back. Lady picks it up then puts it back. I go back and get it. Me and my cart w/ pillow go to food section and I browse around a while. Come back to cart and pillow is GONE! And lady is at checkout! What the ??? Employee comes by and I am like, someone took my pillow. Later I head up to checkout and pillow is there, put on hold by lady. “That is my pillow!” Employee agrees it is by rights mine. We all laugh about bad karma of pillow stealing. Repo pillow is now on my sofa. Stealing pillows never pays!
I excitedly awaiting the arrival of my pillow! In the meantime, I’m thrilled over my seasonal achilles heal of pleasures, the cadbury egg. I love them, unfortunately the CVS near my house always runs out way early in the season. Oh well, my next big thrill is moving to a new office space in a week and half and getting a new desk to decorate and organize. Office organizing tips appreciated!
What thrills me these days is that I’m expecting and have just started to feel this new little one’s flutters and twists and turns. A week from tomorrow we are having an ultrasound, will hopefully find out the gender, and then I can also be thrilled by re-doing the guest room so that it can also be a nursery. Guess who may be needing a mood board?
Also, I heart pillows too.
That is so exciting Jbhat! Keep us posted…
And I laughed out loud at the pillow thief story Kristin Jo. Glad you got it back!
xo,
Sherry
I’m obsessed with throw pillows. I guess because they can change the look of your room instantly. I recently bought a beautiful pillow with a “spring” look at Target after eyeing it for a week, and paired it with an apple green throw on my brown leather couch, and it said “Spring has Sprung” immediately. My husband also noted, “Hey, is that another new pillow?”
For any other ikat addicts out there, check these out:
http://www.oriental-creations.com/cushion-covers/ikat-cushion-covers/ikat-pillows-12.html
I made some pillows (See link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/missyl/2305001921/ )… and hope to make more. It was fun and now that I know I can do it, I can experiment with crazy fabrics!
Cadbury mini eggs make me happy :) It’s too bad they are only around until Easter!
PS. Love your site – it’s too bad that we don’t have Target up here in Canada!
I’m pretty giddy about getting my yard all fixed up for this summer. We are still holding off a few more weeks before we do any planting though.
I am SO into spring cleaning EVERYTHING right now! I am also replacing the bedding in my guest rooms with comfy sateen sheets and new, fresh duvets. I get really sick of fabrics so I have to change them almost every year!
I need some advice. I have a 100 yr old wooden queen bedframe that my Dad found in a old barn and I slept on as a kid. It is in my garage right now, so I thought if I primed and repainted it an eggshell color I could use it in our guest room. Would it be tacky to attach JUST the headboard to the wall to make it look like a complete bed?? It seems very hotel-ish, but the rest of the bed isn’t in good shape!
Craiglist, baby. I’m selling like mad on craigslist – trying to come up with extra dough for paint, carpet, and a call to Sherry :)
I am giddy about finishing my kitchen. I am in the process of painting it Gentle Tide (just like yours). Half is complete, the other is primed and ready to be finished. I really like it a lot. Brightens it up. It was a kelly green, so big difference. Great for spring.
I.Love.It!
I plan on doing some spring cleaning this weekend and hope to rearrange for a spring time update…on a budget. :)
I’m giddy with the promise of spring break right around the corner! I teach, and the kids are getting pretty wild! I have a list of projects to work on during spring break that I cannot wait to tackle(painting our downstairs half bath and *hopefully* putting up a tile backsplash in the kitchen!)!!
LOVE the pillows!
Your new pillow looks fabulous on your equally fabulous chair.
We’re enjoying peach blossoms, a riot of yellow forsythia blooms and warm, sunny days. Thanks to mild weather, our cool weather crops are thriving. Our cats and our puppy are loving the great outdoors, too!
The pillow is beautiful!
Decorating/organizing/creating the nursery for our upcoming kiddo is making me giddy these days. Yep, serious nesting issues.
What’s making me giddy? Change! We just returned froma week in Mexico, and I was laid off the week before… but looking for a new job, while working on decorating ideas for the house we’re currently building, keeps me hopeful!!
I am giddy about moving off campus! No more dorm for me!
I have a relative who is living on her own for pretty much the first time in her life, having just lost her husband, who would like for me to fix up the apartment in her basement and live there. It’s a tiny studio, but it does have good windows and its own entrance (it’s so hilly here that “basement” rarely means “underground”) and it will be mine, all mine, to paint and fix and decorate. Whee!
Very nice ikat cushion covers. At the URL given by Heather above, I have found suzani cushion covers. They are not less beautiful than ikat cushion covers, I think. Here is the link – http://www.oriental-creations.com/cushion-covers/suzani-cushion-covers.html.
By the way, most of ikat cushion covers on the web may not feet the size of your pillows. In this case, the best way is to choose and order metered ikat fabric and make a cushion cover from it yourself. I use this method very often. The same store also has a lot of lovely ikat fabrics – http://www.oriental-creations.com/ikat-textiles/ikat-fabrics.html.
Good luck.
Honestly, I’m on a pillow kick too now, thanks to you guys. The pillows from inhabit are making me drool and I can’t decide which ones to get. Would it be wierd to have them in every room? Everyone needs a pretty pillow in the bathroom, right? Garage?
Anyway, that Ankasa looks great in your house!