I feel like I am celebrating a momentous occasion, but really all I did was clean out Cost Plus World Market and Target of pillows. Actually, for as indecisive as I am about pillows, it really is a momentous occasion. For a split second I debated buying more expensive pillows, but I couldn’t justify the cost in our busy family room. Plus, I’m fickle and adore change. You know this.
I did consider searching etsy for some original pillows, but that is the sort of thing you need to plan and I’m more of a “I just decided I won’t rest today until I buy many pillows” kind of woman. Besides, there are too many options on etsy. It’s like walking into 5 Guys and asking for “a burger.” I need to buy pillows at the In n Out of pillow places: cheese or no cheese. Done. Maybe ask me if I want grilled onions. Please with the “special top-secret” menu. Not interested.
I knew I wanted the pillows to be bright, happy, and full of color. I felt the room needed that to balance the dark bookshelves and the paint on the wall which, thanks to trees and west-facing windows, looks muddy and olive mid-afternoon. I bought enough to toss in each corner of the sectional without rhyme or reason. I figured as long as the colors had the same vibe, it would all work out in the end.
The yellow striped pillow is from Target. The floral behind it is from Cost Plus World Market, as are the rest of the pillows. My favorite (this week) is the pink and orange pillow Mikey is leaning against. I like the rough texture and that it’s a bit flat, like a pancake. Fluffy pillows are great until they make it impossible to sit on your sofa. Nico’s favorite is the skinny blue velvet one. He keeps asking me if he can bring it to bed. The answer is always no.
The roses are from my garden and our there only to make things look pretty for pictures. Sometimes I have a plant, but usually the top looks much like the bottom does. Disastrous, in other words.
This is a post about buying pillows and placing them on a sectional, so really this is all I have. I’ll wing it from here and say that I took the picture of Mikey reading because that is classic Mikey. He curls up on his right side when he reads and rests his head in his right hand. He usually holds a pencil or has one tucked behind his ear. (Behind his ear is his favorite.) He furrows his brow when he reads and turns his mouth down at the corners in concentration, even when he is reading Nico’s Ninjago book. The walls could crumble around him and he would not notice.
I love this about him because I curl up on my left side when I read and rest my head in my left hand. If I’m reading something for book club or a book that requires concentration and focus, I hold a pencil but prefer to keep it behind my ear. I furrow my brow and have done so since I can remember. In law school it was really bad. So bad that I would hold the first two fingers of my left hand between my eyebrows to keep from developing a permanent scowl.
I curl up on my left because I’m right handed. He curls up on his right because he’s left handed. It makes reading together on the sectional convenient. Nature/nuture is a trip.
Then there’s this guy. Accident prone, just like his dad. On Monday he took a terrible tumble at Mikey’s baseball game. He skinned and bruised his chin, and both arms and knees. On Wednesday I picked him up from school with a bruised nose and arms/knees that looked like ground beef. The school no longer bothers to call me when Nico gets hurt. I think they’re saving the phone call for when he starts breaking bones. (Please God, no.) He said a 2nd grader tripped him on accident. If I had a dollar for every time he tripped over another student, his tuition would be covered through college.
His left elbow was so bad Tuesday night that we didn’t have band-aids large enough to cover all his scrapes. He couldn’t sleep from his pajamas and all the blankets rubbing him. I found a sock of mine without a mate and cut two holes to make a fingerless opera glove/compression bandage. Between that and his black nose and scraped chin, Nico went to bed thinking he was the awesomest looking 6 year old in all the land. Mikey begged to differ, though I did get Cool Mom points for intentionally cutting holes in socks.
This post was part of The William Morris Project, a weekly series that details the steps I am taking to create an intentional home. You can see more of my goals and completed projects here. To learn more about this project, start here.
Now it�s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, �Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.� Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I�m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let�s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job. I know I will.
“Cool mom points for cutting holes in socks” — love it! Smart thinking on the impromptu bandages. ;)
Like that you used different pillows all around and that no two are the same. We might be overdue for a pillow refresh…ours are kinda lame and what seems to be a million years old. ;)
Glad to WM back this week!
i’m also working on pillows. i’m so indecisive. love your picks!
Really like the pillows. Cost Plus is my favorite source for pillows, too–I need to be able to feel them, and I just can’t do that with Etsy. Pier 1 makes a really soft, squishy one with velvety fabric that my kids fight over. Or, used to fight over, until I went and bought more of them. And now I can see that I need a round coffee table for our sectional.
I have pillow issues also. :) Just got two new ones delivered yesterday from Joss and Main. Maybe if we didn’t have those white couches it would help, because then they wouldn’t all look great. I really like the one with the yellow stripe. My pillows have to feel good because I actually put my head on them for TV and reading so things like beads and sequins are cute but too scratchy. I do love how different your two boys are from each other – these pictures really show that. The seriousness of one and the “everything is awesome”-ness of the other. Thanks for sharing them with us.
The room is looking so inviting these days. It is a gray, wet day here. Mind if I swing by for a nap on your couch?!
Ah… I’m loving the striped pillow from Target and am thinking that it might be worth making a trip into town to see what my store has. Alas… things like new tires and car repair and filling propane tanks for heat and cooking have eaten up all of our disposable income. So, for now, I’ll look at your beautiful pictures and cozy home and imagine that my couch looks that comfortable with new pillows. :)
Happy Thursday.
I think my favorite pillow is the embroidered plant one and think you did a great job mixing and matching and popping color. But my favorite thing in your family room will always be your bookcases. And books. And the awesome horns on the top shelf. They will always steal the show.
I love the pillows. We put our first pillows on a couch just recently (after nearly 12 years of agreeing that pillows just took up more space on a couch) and love the difference it makes! I have the benefit of a Sweetie that sews, so she just found a fabric pattern she liked and sewed up some cases. We both love that when we get tired of that look, she can just whip up more cases with a different fabric instead of buying new/different pillows.
The pillows and the white sectional look so bright and fresh. I’m feeling the need to eliminate the tan/taupe/brown from my house and replace it with white. I did do a mini-makeover of my foyer to spring-ify it a little, but haven’t managed to write a post about it. One colorful pillow from Target really helped!
My family room coffee table is beyond disastrous, and I haven’t been able to come up with any system to keep it nice (for the kids to keep it nice, I mean). I want to refinish it, but not until people stop coloring on it.
That’s so sweet that you and Mikey read the same way. :-) Sorry to hear Nico is so beat up this week, but I guess as long as he thinks it looks badass…haha!
I would love to do pillows on the couch, but my husband just sits on them on the floor. Not sure I really want to buy nice pillows for him to fart on. ;-)
I love the pillows and the comparison to burger choices (although did you know Panera has a cool hidden breakfast and lunch menu? All low calorie but good stuff and no gluten. But, I digress)…what I love most about this post is that you really took the William Morris quote to heart. Sure the pillows are great, but how you all use them/love them etc. and also what binds you all together as a family (your reading styles, similarities between you and your husband and each boy) is what made me really smile. :)
More of a 5 Guys person myself these days, but I’m the same way as far as making a decision and wanting to buy it NOW. I can’t justify expensive pillows…my family uses them way too hard. Might need a trip to Cost Plus really soon for that pink & orange one. Love it!!
Every time I’m gone for awhile, I return to this deliciousness of a post. Sigh, I love reading your blog. The pillows are awesome, your boys so cute, and I just love all the talk about reading. Our oldest, Sophia, has really increased her fluency the last couple of months and I LOVE it when I hear nothing from her for an hour (or two!) ’cause she’s so engrossed in her books. And as of a week ago we no longer have a two year old in the house. “I’m still free!” Jonathan announces, just to remind us that he’s no longer two. ;) Have a great Thursday!
I am loving the orange pillow! Might need to scoop that one up, myself! :)
This is my first time go to see at here and i am actually pleassant to read all at single place.