I have been planning this blog post…well more like the blog title…for nearly two years now. I always wanted to do a blog post about throw pillows and call it “Pillow Panache” ever since I was running to some rap tunes (weird…I know) and this song came on and rapped about “that girl’s got panache” and I’ve been addicted to the word “panache” ever since. And thought it went so well with pillows. Don’t mind me, I get inspiration from odd places. Anyway…I spent an evening playing pillows in our master bedroom and snapped some picks of all the different “looks”…kind of like Zoolander’s looks. Here is take one…which is our ordinary old bed without any fluffing.
Snooze. Then out came the pillow shams for look number two…Blue Steel by Zoolander.
I added the shams to the front pillows (both the shams and the duvet cover are new and were wedding gifts from our Pottery Barn registry). I liked that it hid our wrinkly, not so fluffy plain white pillows but I wasn’t digging how the ticking on the duvet blended right into the ticking on the pillow shams. Next…take number three…Zoolander’s Ferrari.
For Ferrari, I turned down the bed covers which helped break up the ticking in a HUGE way. And flopped the pillows on my side of the bed. How come when Pottery Barn does this it looks unique, pulled together, and visually interesting but my version just looks like a dud? Oh Pottery Barn, you’re so good at making it look easy. Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling it. Next up…take number four…otherwise known as Le Tigra.
Now we’re getting somewhere. I went back to the first noodling attempt and brought the shams out in front on the turned down bed covers, but this time added a Ralph Lauren throw pillow, that I picked up at the Home Goods section of TJ Maxx for $16. It’s a soft gray color that plays off the gray undertones in the wall color and the gray/blue ticking in the duvet cover and shams. But it was missing something…the bed is looking just a little too neutral for my liking.
A Grandma Gert quilt…that’s it! Excuse my juvenile night stand. I swear I’m painting it this weekend…I swear!
The quilt adds a little color and some pattern that was missing from our bed. Too bad we don’t leave the quilt on our bed all year round. It’s just too hot these days to justify a quilt and I’m just too lazy to keep moving it on and off our bed.
But even without the quilt, the pillows looked great together. There are two Pottery Barn euro shams (circa 2002) for the first layer, standard pillows with white pillow cases next, followed by standard pillows with shams, and then the throw pillow. It’s a nice mix with some great texture.
But then there was Magnum…I don’t know if the world is ready for Magnum?! Here she is! Isn’t she beautiful?! (Note…if you don’t get this “look” talk go watch Zoolander…I promise it will change your life).
I LOVE that coral pillow. And what do I love even more than coral pillows?! A great deal! That pillow was only $6.99 at Christmas Tree Shop. Score! I dig how the coral pillow brings in some much needed color and pattern and also plays off a bit of a nautical theme in the vintage stripe ticking material behind it, almost like a seersucker. Sadly…the quilt does not quite go with the coral pillow.
There’s a bit of a clash going on…a clash for attention that the pillow won.
But maybe the coral pillow without the quilt can be the bed’s summer look and the quilt and gray pillow combo can be the winter look. A girl needs options, right?!
So that’s my pillow playing story for the evening. I hope you enjoyed it! And if you haven’t been through Christmas Tree Shop recently, GO! They’re having big sales on all things summer like planters, gardening tools, and even summery pillows!
Pssst…Anyone else play pillows lately?! Isn’t it fun?!
