Serious duvet/pillow/throw matching dilemma

[PavlovtheCat]

Honestly, i cannot think, and its messing my head up!

I have a white egyptian cotton duvet cover about to go on the bed, with a white sheet underneath.

I have a brown coverlet which i will be throwing over the bed.

So, do I put the pillows in white covers to match the duvet cover, or in the brown cases which match the coverlett? (the two back pillows will be white). And if in white, should they then go under the coverlett?

I ask, as normally the coverlet will be at the end of the bed, so all the pillow cases would be white, but today I am putting the coverlet over the top. I would not normally stress about this, but given the amount of time i am spending attempting to sleep and feed in the bedroom with my 6wk old, i am trying to create a proper 'zen' environment. Its got to be perfect, that is my aim for the afternoon

(coverlett sounds gross just described as brown! it is soft brown with shimmery green & silver embroidered flower outlines [what are they called?] - japanese style, with silk trim, it is in fact ver ver lovely!

I'd go for white pillowcases to match the duvet cover. And put them under the coverlet. That would make me feel calm - as little colour variation and "stuff on the bed" feeling as possible.

I don't know what a coverlet is but will imagine

surely it is off the bed when you are in it innit?

I think the white pillowcases are fine

brown sounds a bit, dunno, brown

woowa thank you. So not, coverlett right up to the head end of the bed, and pillows puffed up lovely and on top? I do have some green cushions (to match the thread of the green flowers) to 'scatter' should i desire it.

its a quilt/throw type thingy. It is currently, while in the slight cold of winter, over the duvet. In the summer, we use just that and a sheet.

its like this pattern i guess, but reversed, with light being brown, and the grey being shimmery green and silver. I can't find the exact one there.

FOUND IT! in brown not orange, but this is the design. Did not realise it was called Zen! How coincidental i want my room Zen! I must have been inspired!

lol you mad thing

in that pic they have it with the matching pillows. I think that's the way most bed places make the beds look don't they but I think all white on a bed has a zen-ness of its own (don't mention the Priory)

BUT...with the matching pillows, is when it is also with the duvet. Well that is in the wash, after being puked up on by my DS, so that is the reason for the white...

I really need to get a different, pale coverlet, for the egyptian cotton set, but DH has said I am not allowed any more bedding. Ever ( have spent too much over the years apparantly ) I am mad, i am not normally so obsessed, but i want it perfect. For some reason

I have ivory duvet cover, two big back square cushions in same ivory and two standard pillows on each side again in ivory - throw is in duck egg blue and then I have 6 scatter cushions in front of the pillows! DH despairs! I dare anyone to mess up my bed - it is a death sentence!!! Pavlov, I feel your pain!

I always have my duvet right up to the headboard as well! Div aren't I?!

Fanny - that sounds lovely!

I love co-ordinating bedding. I don't have a hope of ever affording a co-ordinating colour scheme in an entire room, so having a co-ordinating bed is lovely. One of life's simple pleasures!

(PS - the secret is to buy everything in the same colour scheme and then if something is in the wash/gets puked on/etc you can replace it with anything else and it will still look good)

Bertie - yes, thats why i have spare pillow cases, never got any further as very expensive to do double of it! And our white was our wedding present to ourselves, to make us feel very grown up indeed. I do like plain white, and would do it if i had the coverlet to go!Mmm white padded throw with white silk...DH says i am obsessed with white. Probably correct. it is so clean looking

I would definitely have the white pillowcases to match the duvet cover (rather than the coverlet - which looks rather like an american style comforter - especially if you plan to use that instead of a duvet in winter).

I just prefer the look of the bed linen all matching, but with the 'throw' sort of matching, but being something in it's own right, eg like the grey bed throw and the stripe bed linen in this picture. Difficult to explain!!

sparky so, what you are saying, is that ideally i need to get a new throw for the white bedlinen, that is not dark. i like it i will need to advise DH of this, he won't be pleased, but if it must be, it must be .

I have opted for white pillows. I do like the feeling of egyptian cotton on the skin, even if it is a little cool to touch when you first get in

Oooh it sounds lovely AND very Zen like. I am similarly obsessed with beds -dont tell anyone but I even iron my duvets . I have 2 lovely throws, one for summer in choclate shades and 1 for winter in burgundys and pinks (hmm perhaps I should swap seasons reading that back ...)

I would go with all White and pillows under the throw. OR Just turn the top back so pillows can be seen ...

Anyway its lush!

dream I seriously considered ironing my white duvet, for the first time ever, today. My brown one, and my other spares do not seem to crease at all, but the white one creases badly if not folded correctly and DH 'folded' it last time, but i can't blame him, it would at the very least have fold marks anyway. But, i resisted the urge on the grounds it is a kingsize, has those oxford edges or whatever they are called, and i have many many other things to be wasting my time over, i decided i had wasted enough time on this, ironing was a step too far...but if i ever find myself with half hour to spare...

i have just totalled up how much i have spent on bedlinen over the last 3 years . A LOT. And some of it was in a sale. The figure without the sale would be horrifying. I think that means I should at least decorate the room to reach its full potential.

To PavlovtheCat - I knew I hadn't explained what I meant very well! I just meant that I prefer all the bedding that you actually sleep with to be all the same (white) with the throw being something different, ie the brown throw you are looking at, but linked somehow (matching).

Obviously, more difficult to match pure white with brown. But, for example, is there any white bed linen anywhere that has a chocolate coloured piping detail anywhere? I've just looked on the White Company Site as they used to do some - but don't know. What I mean is something like this white bed linen with black piping - but piping in brown rather than black. Then it links the throw with the bed linen a bit. I may be asking too much as have just had a bit of a look around a few sites and couldn't find any. But maybe there's another colour in the throw that you could go with?

Also, if you go for easy care bedding (we have some of this) - it really saves on ironing as doesn't crease nearly as much as the 100% cotton bedding that we have!! I'm not making life any easier am I? Sorry