bedding on a budget {and a pillow tragedy}

Recently, Lance and I have been discussing purchasing a new comforter for our bed. I love the one we have... but let's be honest... after 7 years, it can get old. So, for the past few months, I have been keeping my eyes open for something that would fit our style... and our budget. Well, the style part I found... no problem. The budget part on the other hand... notsomuch.

Soooo... enter Bedding on a Budget.

When I decided we could take it no more, I set out to TJ Maxx (probably my favorite store of all time, ask anyone that knows me) in search of the perfect bedding. After discovering that all of the comforters and "bed in a bag" sets were out of our price range... I changed game plans (and departments).

I headed towards the decorative pillow section, and saw this...

From that moment... all of my brilliant ideas of a new comforter swiftly went out the door. I needed those pillows. My mind was set. There were 2 left on the shelves... and you know how TJ Maxx is... you snooze, you lose. I checked out and purchased my beautiful pillows (and a $30 mirror, but more on this later). I reveled in the compliments the woman at the register was giving me on my selection... "I know, they're amazing, aren't they?" I could not wait to bring my pillows home. So I threw these bad boys in the cart and made my way to the car...

Actually, let me rephrase... I threw one pillow in the cart... and I placed the other underneath the cart, you know... on that bottom shelf. {Anyone with a low tolerance of pain to pillows should stop reading now... what you are about to read is heartbreaking.} I was blissfully pushing my shopping cart through the parking lot, holding the $30 mirror to balance it in my cart, all while daydreaming about how stunning my bed would look with my new pillows. Then a woman rolled down her window to tell me something. I thought surely she was going to tell me how gorgeous my pillows were or ask me where I found such breathtaking treasures... but no. "Umm, ma'am... one of your pillows has fallen and is under your shopping cart."

I told you. Horrid. I tried to maintain my composure, thinking maybe the pillow had just fallen and didn't really get dirty. Wrong. I had been dragging my beautiful pillow along the nasty TJ Maxx parking lot the entire time. It took everything I had to not burst into tears right there in the parking lot.

Because, this is what I was dealing with...

Before I even left the parking lot, I started searching "how to clean your decorative pillows" on my phone. Anything. But I was pretty skeptical. Then, I remembered I had this cleaning cloth a good friend gave me once... a Cajun Clean All. It's this little green micro-fiber cloth, that according to their website is "guaranteed" to work on anything. Oh, we'll see about that.

It did. It worked. The website didn't lie. Every home in America should have one of these little green micro-fiber cloths. If you look close, you might be able to tell, but I bet if I did another round of Cajun Clean All, it would be pretty close to perfect. I can't complain.

So, now that you know the pillows lived happily ever after and survived the dreadful pillow tragedy... let's get back to Bedding on a Budget. You may remember our bed from the house tour {part II}, but just in case... here is what our bedding looked like...

Not too shabby. I actually really liked everything... just time for a change. So... with a simple switch of the coverlet (we went from blue to cream) and replacing a few pillows... we have this...

I LOVE IT. The new purple pillows are obviously the game-changers here... but a few other key switches were crucial to the final look...

1) Monogramed pillows added. We received the beautiful monogramed shams as a wedding gift almost 7 years ago. I need to add bigger/fuller pillows, but you get the idea.

2) Bedside table quick change. I simply removed the blue patterned fabric I had on the bedside table to reveal the brown tablecloth underneath.

3) Flowers on the bedside table. These were a last minute TJ find. I think they were $5/each and matched the pillows perfectly. I couldn't resist.

4) Lampshade switch-a-roo. These lampshades were in the living room (see below), but I LOVE them in the bedroom now. I think this little change made one of the biggest differences... (after the pillows, of course).

Overall... I feel like Bedding on a Budget was a huge success! With the simple purchase of a couple of pillows (and a horrible pillow tragedy) and a few switches from things around my house, I was able to change the entire look of our room.

Have you tried Bedding on a Budget? Let me know if you have... I'd love to see your results!