Spring Decor and Some Pillow Talk - The Minimal-ish Mama

Remember when I said I’d started nesting already? Let’s talk about that.

You’ve seen how I transitioned my Valentine’s mantle to spring – I switched out the romantic location posters for birds and butterflies, added easter eggs to the branches, some greenery, a bird’s nest, and a couple birds. The cappuccino candle isn’t exactly spring-y, but it smells delicious, so it stayed.

The full effect. Here’s where the nesting instinct started kicking in. Sidenote: why is there a whiteboard in front of the fireplace? Funny story. Sirius discovered a new game, called the climb-in-the-fireplace-drag-chunks-of-burn-wood-all-over-the-house game. Let’s just say, I don’t like playing.

But you see how stark and bare that coffee table looks, with it’s lonely island of coasters and forlorn TV remotes? I decided it was time to change that.

At the same time, I decided I’d had enough of the wimpy flat Ikea pillows we’d had on the couch. Brian had had enough too, so he put a couple of extra bedroom pillows on the couch. Not tacky at all.

I decided it was time to get some good squishy throw pillows. I started my search at Pier 1.

Not intimidating or anything.

It totally was. So many color combinations, textures, and patterns – oh my! Suddenly I couldn’t remember what my living room looked like beyond the fact that I had a gray couch.

I bought one pillow at Pier 1, and a tray for the coffee table. Then I went to World Market, and couldn’t make any decisions there. Finally, I saw this at Target:

Everything started coming together. I could use navy, which is in the living room rug, coral, a nice springy accent color, and a light aqua/sea blue, which would also work with our bedroom colors. I consulted Pinterest for pins on how to arrange couch pillows, how to mix pillow patterns, etc., and then added and subtracted pillows from my cart accordingly.

So nesting. It’s real.

Here’s what’s in the bags. A navy and white striped rug from Target – a clearance score, it looked like it’d been returned, so it was marked down. Perfect for a nautical nursery!

The nursery is still very much under construction.

I bought this tray at Pier 1, also on sale. I love the French cottage touch it adds to the room.

And, pillows!

One for the bedroom – the gold, aqua, and gray ikat patterned one in the middle. This one is from Pier 1, on clearance. I love the gold and silver combination, and it adds pattern.

Many people I know don’t like having extra pillows for decor on their bed. It adds extra time to making it, and really, what’s the point? I, however, really love it. Yes, you have to take them all off and pile them on the floor every night, then put them back on in the morning. For some reason, it just makes me happy.

Now, the living room pillows. I stuffed the “C” pillow cover above with both of the previous ikea pillow inserts.

Couch pillows!

I fell in love with the coral and gold pillows. They also work well in the bedroom!

I thought the big gray pillows made a nice neutral base, and the navy velvet lumbar pillow added some texture and matched the rug.

I thought for sure the giant gray pillows would be a hit with Brian. But the day after, the couch looked like this:

Ultimately, the gray pillows are just too big. They’re uncomfortably big. And, I didn’t realize that I already had a gray neutral base – the couch. The gray pillows just blended in.

So now, the gray pillows are piled on a little used chair, and the coral and navy pillow are still in use. Should I return the gray pillows? Can you return pillows, if you tried them out for a day, and now there’s dog hair on them?

I could always put the money toward one of these:

Have you ever experienced nesting? Made any recent updates for spring? Let me know in the comments!

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