One of the things we’ve desperately needed for a while is a duvet cover for our down comforter.  When we got married, we really could not find anything we liked and ended up registering for an entire bedding set at Macy’s.  But we never really liked it.  Plus, it was ridiculously over priced.  So, for the last 18 months, our comforter has been naked.  No duvet in sight.

Naked comforter

This, however, was not a good long term solution.  Apparently, the natural oils from your skin, sweat, and any left-over cosmetics begin to stain the fabric of your comforter and can break down the fibers in the comforter.  A quick Google search turned up this article, and several others about down comforters and the need for duvets.  We have a goose-down comforter -mmmmmm, it’s lovely! – and we’d love for it to last a long time, but you’re only supposed to have them cleaned ever 3 years or so.  So, in order to make it last a life-time, we needed to invest in a duvet.

One added bonus to having a down comforter is that you can easily change the style.  Duvet’s are like a pillowcase for your comforter – they are both protective and add some pretty decoration to your bed.  You can find inexpensive ones at many different stores, and I imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to make your own.

The hunt was on for our new duvet.   Our budget was around $150, including shipping.  I looked at all of my usual haunts: Amazon, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond.  There were some good contenders and  a good selection, but reviews for my favorites weren’t very positive and encouraging.  I knew I wanted something high quality, but not exorbitantly overpriced like the $400+ duvet we registered for at Macy’s back in the day.  I also wanted something that was fairly classic and could adapt to changing styles, yet would fit in our modern bedroom.

After a good deal of searching and considering several options, I finally found this at West Elm:

And I loooooooooved it.  Simple, clean lines, but also not too modern that I couldn’t completely change the style of our bedroom in 5 years and have to to replace it.  It’s an organic pleated voile duvet – what is voile? – and I ordered it in white.  Maybe that seems ridiculous since the comforter is already white, but it’s classic and can go with anything.

The best part?  It was within our budget AND on sale!!!

I placed my order and patiently waited, and yesterday it arrived in a box, neatly packaged in a little carrying pouch, which will be great for summer storage.

I decided it would be a perfect time to change our sheets (definitely overdue…) and make the bed up all nice with our pretty new duvet.  Here’s her debut:

Isn’t she pretty?  Ignore the wrinkles, apparently ironing would have been a good idea, but who has time for that?

I am, of course, no incredibly aware of the sparseness of our bedroom.  We have hand-me-down endtables as nightstands that are about a foot too short, and the bed is in sore need of either a bed skirt or a true bed frame.  Obviously, neither is necessary, but wouldn’t it look better than the exposed corners and seemingly “floating” bed?

It’s funny how one new thing leads to another, isn’t it? 

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