Pillow Talk

Since our family and many of our friends do not live near us, I expect them all to come and visit soon ;) So, I obviously need a great guest bedroom for when the time comes.

We are fortunate that when Landon's parents last moved, they ended up downsizing, which means we inherited some additional furniture. We are of so grateful for this, as it meant we didn't have to go out and buy additional bedroom furniture. We had this furniture in Nashville, and there, I used a red comforter, which had lots of pearls and embellishments, on the full-size bed.

Well, my dog, Bug, really liked to lay on this comforter.

Even more so than that, he really liked to eat off the pearls. It was clearly his mission to remove each one, and he didn't do so perfectly, so along the way, he put a few holes in the comforter, as well.  (Those of you who have met Bug, probably aren't shocked by this.) So, as a result of Bug's mission, that comforter no longer looks good enough for company. 

That's not a problem though, because I have a beautiful quilt made by Landon's mom. She gave it to us as a wedding gift.

She used amazing red, black and gold fabrics, including some that represented my love for music.

I definitely knew I wanted to display this in the guest room. In Nashville, I had it on a quilt stand, but I decided for my new guest room, to move it over to the bed. I thought I would use a layered look on the bed, so I placed the quilt folded up at the foot of the bed. With nothing to go with it, I decided to take a little shopping trip.

I'm still learning where everything is around our home, but stumbled upon a new T.J. Maxx not too far away. I had been going to a different one, but I'm pretty sure I'll start making this one my staple store. Perhaps I just knew what I was looking for, but this particular store seemed to have everything I needed and a few things I just wanted!

I could have bought a ton of items, but I restrained myself. Here's what I ended up with:

I found the perfect white quilt, with just the right amount of detail and two fabulous pillows. The black one is more satiny while the off-white rose pillow is cotton. The fabrics complement the quilt perfectly. You can kind of see it here ...

Here's a before picture of just white sheets and my quilt on the guest bed:

After:

I don't believe the pictures do it justice (I really need to invest in a new camera and read through my notes from my college photography class, so I can get better results!), but it really does make a difference. I even went as far as to pull this out, and anyone who knows me, knows that's a big deal. Even Landon couldn't believe it:

Here is a close up of the pillows, which allows you to see the textures of everything:

Now, on the "future" list is getting some additional pillows, including new red pillows or perhaps even making some, which would add another "to do" item to the list -- learning to sew. I really should have taken my mom up on those lessons she said she'd give me. Now I'm kicking myself for it! I can do some very limited sewing, though, so I'd like to try out this DIY ruffle pillow.

In addition, I want to make a headboard for the bed. I have a great DIY project for that, too. My list is getting a little long. I just hope I can keep the motivation to get all these projects done!

So, you ready to come visit yet?