Last year, when I remodeled the living room, I chose two silk, feather filled pillows from Pier 1 for the couch. The silk material the covers are made out of is the same raw silk the curtains hanging in the room are made out of. Those are the only blue items in the room, and I like that they coordinate. After living with them for a year and half, I’ve come to the conclusion that I won’t buy these particular pillows again. The reason has to do with the material used to make the inserts. Apparently, all inserts are not equal and I hadn’t bothered to pay attention before.
The insert on the top is the $6.99 FJADRAR inner cushion from Ikea. (You gotta love Ikea pricing! I was just at the Ballards Outlet store and saw similar inserts for $12.) The insert on the bottom is the insert that came with the pillow from Pier 1. Both are filled with feathers but you can see the Pier 1 insert is made of a thinner material. You can actually see the feathers inside. This material allows the feathers to pass through easily and we ended up with free floating feathers on the couch and floor whenever the pillows were fluffed or moved. Not only that, but when I took the covers off to wash them, I saw one pillow insert had ripped causing an even greater abundance of feathers that had been set free.
The pillow inserts from IKEA are made from cotton and I definitely can’t see the feathers inside so I am hoping they will work better than the original inserts did. Have you used the IKEA inserts? Any problems with feather explosion? Or do you have other inserts you’d recommend?
-J
Pillows are a never ending source of exasperation for me, as I can never decide on a pattern that works just right in my space, or coordinate colors to my satisfaction (so I generally wind up in a state of frozen pillow decor for far too long). I did, however, learn the lesson of making careful selections of filling and casing quality years ago with bedding choices (pillows and comforters…these items are possibly the only ones that are updated without fail annually, sometimes more often). That floating feather feature is more than a little bothersome. BTW…..I love that couch…can’t believe you’re considering replacing it!!
That’s funny – I loooove pillows and want too many of them. They are such a great way to change a space for minimal cost or hassle. I was going to just buy new pillows altogether but decided I like the coordination with the curtains enough to keep them for awhile longer.