THE POWER OF A SIMPLE TOSS PILLOW

The bedrooms at our beach cottage were coming along nicely.  They seemed to be complete (Bed Linens, Furniture, Lamps, Assessories), but I couldn't help but think something wasn't quite right.  The beds are the obvious focal points in the room and I loved the cottage style quilts I had acquired for each room.  I decided toss pillows would serve to enhance the beds as focal points.

THE BLUE BEDROOM



This was a fun toss pillow as I had a chance to try out the "ragging" technique I had seen on items in local shops.  The inspiration for the color for this room came from the quilt found at Kohl's - a faded blue that reminded me of faded denim. So...some old denim would be ideal for a toss pillow.

 BEFORE

 

 AFTER - with toss pillow

 See Post here on the making of this pillow and the ragging technique.

THE YELLOW BEDROOM

I was concerned about the yellow quilt in this bedroom, especially since all the walls in the home were painted this pale yellow by Sherwin Williams (Lemon Chiffon).  My strategy was to fill the room with neutrals to counteract the bright color of the quilt and provide a sense of calm in the room.  the furniture, bedding and curtains were all either beige or white.  I knew I wanted the toss pillow to be in the same color scheme and I pictured a beige/white cabana stripe.  Surprisingly I had a tough time finding the fabric I had pictured in my mind.  I ended up finding what I wanted on ebay, and I think it works perfectly.

BEFORE

 

AFTER - with toss pillow 

THE AQUA BEDROOM

The aqua color of the quilts in this room is so pretty and compliments the barn wood headboards nicely.  With the quilts being a solid color and the shams being neutral with a subtle stripe - a patterned toss pillow seemed like an obvious choice.  However, I didn't want the pattern to be overwhelming - to me, the headboards still needed to be the star of the show.  I love this linen-like fabric from Hobby Lobby with the raised stitching.  The large scale of the pattern contrasts well the small ticking stripe of the shams, but I don't think it takes anything away from the headboards.

I'm still stuck on whether I need any sort of wall décor over the beds.  I've tried a few different things but didn't like them.  In my mind I'm thinking of something in a weathered-white finish.

BEFORE

 AFTER - with toss pillow

 

BEFORE

 

 AFTER - with toss pillows

MASTER BEDROOM

The toss pillow on our bed in the master bedroom was always a part of the bedding plan.  I found the two fabrics for the shams and the toss pillow sitting right next to each other at Hancock Fabrics.  The fishnet look of the toss pillow fabric is really neat.  I had already purchased this vase for the room (photo below) and they compliment each other nicely. 



Vase with similar pattern to toss pillow fabric

I had not found a quilt for the bed yet.  I felt that the fabric I had chosen for pillow shams was neutral enough to go with any quit I would find.  Fortunately, it worked out well.  The quilt is from Pottery Barn, but by the time I had found it - they were out of stock.  Fortunately - I found this one on Ebay (a good deal because it was NWOT - "New Without Tags").  The seller had a good rating and it was reasonably priced, so I decided it was worth it and I was not disappointed.

TOSS PILLOW TIP - Pillow forms can be expensive, especially if you are looking for something that is down filled.  Here is my tip - purchase pillows from the clearance section of Marshall's and TJMaxx.  I often find pillows where the covers are either damaged (torn, missing embellishments, etc...) or they are just plain not so pretty.  No worries - you are going to recover them anyway.  Look for pillows that have zippered covers so you can easily remove the cover and utilize the form underneath.  I have acquired some really nice pillow forms for almost nothing with this strategy!

For more beach cottage posts see my Beach Cottage page.