A Fun Fact About Me...

     ...I am never, ever content. Well, when it comes to my decor, anyway. I always have to be adding, changing, rearranging something. I don't know why. I'd blame it on astrology but I'm a Cancer, the crab, and all that says about me is that I'm a sensitive recluse (accurate) who tastes delicious in butter (?). Anyway, so remember how juuuust the other day I talked about switching out my bedding? Yeah, I bought another new set.

     See, it turns out I really missed my old sheets, but I couldn't just put them back on because they were legitimately overdue for replacement -- just too worn and dingy to carry on. I had kind of taken them for granted until I bought the microfiber ones, which were soft, but not oh-my-god-I-will-rub-my-feet-on-this-for-ten-minutes-before-going-to-sleep-each-night soft. 

     The other thing that was driving me nuts was that since the microfiber fitted sheet didn't have elastic all the way around, it came off CONSTANTLY. I have a stupidly deep mattress (because I insist on keeping a 3-inch memory foam topper on it -- no regrets, it's amazing), so maybe on a normal sized mattress it would be fine, but with all the tossing and turning I do when I'm having a random night terror about neon pink and yellow scarabs crawling up the wall (I don't know man, I don't even know) it popped off every single night and bunched up everywhere. 

     So I bought a set of the kind I used to have, in a pretty blue color. These sheets are elasticized all the way around, and they're also a lot stretchier, so the annoying bunching problem is solved. 

     And I know you can't tell from looking at them, because they just look like any old sheets, but HOLY FREAKING GOD THEY ARE SO SOFT. And I don't bestow that caps-lock-iness lightly, because I have the sensitive skin of a Victorian noblewoman and I'm really persnickety about my tactile sensations. I'm that person that goes through stores touching every single pillow and blanket and sweater and either "ooooh!"ing or recoiling in horror. Fear me, germophobes, for I have touched textiles all up and down the eastern seaboard. I'm really good about washing my hands though, so there's that. 

     Um. Right, back to the point! These sheets that I'm so in love with are the Pure Beech Jersey Knit Sheets. I got mine from Bed Bath & Beyond, where queen size in light blue ran $69.99 at first, but came down to around $55 with a coupon. That's pretty spendy for me, but I haven't even had the slightest anxiety about spending money on these, because getting into bed every night since I got them has been a serious treat, and I wake up in the morning feeling like a freaking butterfly emerging out of my silky-ass cocoon. I wanted to give everyone a heads up  that I believe they are discontinuing a sort of artichoke green color and a deep pink grapefruit-y color, since they aren't listed on the website anymore and in store they had those colors marked down to $9.99! NINE NINETY NINE. Amanda bought a set of the dark pink ones just because she didn't want to lose money on that deal. Point being if either of those colors tickle your fancy and you want the nicest sheets your face could possibly drool on, go check out your BB&B and see if you can find them, cause that's a hell of a deal. 

     Actually, my searching their website for that link up there led me to discover they also have something called the "Ultimate Luxury" sheet set from the same brand, so that's probably the nicest sheets your face could possibly drool on, but they're considerably more expensive. Not gonna lie though, I actually winced and groaned aloud at the thought of how amazing they probably are. I think I might have a real problem with sheets. My Gatsby would just throw a bunch of breathable organic-fiber sheets around and I would sob and say "They're such beautiful sheets. It makes me sad because I've never seen such beautiful sheets." 

Quick Fixes: Bedding Swap!

     I don't know what's come over me, but I'm definitely in a mood for quick fixes these days (spoiler alert: Monday's post is another one). It's like that need for instant gratification my generation is so known for finally caught up to me. 

     Today's quick fix is probably the number one easiest way to update a room and give it a new feel without having to actually...you know, work or anything. Switching out the bedding! I decided I wanted new sheets because my bamboo sheets, though super soft, were looking really grody and worn through, and the cream color looked especially off-putting against the white of practically everything else in my room. I also decided I wanted a new comforter, because I do this thing every once in a while where I convince myself I am a quilt person, and I do want to be, because quilts are lovely and have a lot of personality, but when you get right down to it I'm a comforter person. I always end up missing the plushness of a comforter. I find it...comforting. Go figure. And as someone who has the shaky, easily rattled disposition of a chihuahua, I need all the comforting I can get. But enough chit-chat! Let's look at pictures! 

Oooh, somebody got her grubby little paws on the Orton filter to make it look extra dreamy...

     The comforter set was actually a pretty easy choice, because I'd just convinced Jen to get this style, so I knew exactly where to find one. I guess I thought it was a really really great idea, so I copped it for myself too. I got it at Stein-Mart for a cool sixty bucks, which I thought was pretty reasonable since it's queen sized and came with two shams and a bedskirt (that I did not use because it was kind of tragic-looking, but still, it counts for something). 

     Then I picked out these navy blue and white polka-dotted sheets. I went with that pattern partly because I wanted to bring back some of the blue that I used to have in my room, which kind of got phased out a bit over time as I added more white and pink, and partly because there weren't too many options that would have matched and I figured "hey, I've never said no to navy and white polka dots before, why start now?" They're microfiber, so they're reeeeeeeeeally soft, and they were only twenty dollars. Since they were so cheap they do have that annoying thing on the fitted sheet where there's only elastic at each corner, not all the way around, but for the price I won't complain too much. 

     So my cloud-bed grows ever more literal in its design. I'm pleased with how fluffy and light it is, and it does brighten the room a good deal in comparison to my old quilt, which had gray and yellow in the design that kind of made it look like it was always dirty, even though it wasn't. The only weird thing is that since the air in the house is so dry the comforter makes a truly RIDICULOUS amount of static. I can run my hands along it at night and it lights up like it has actual bulbs in it. Naturally this means that the first night I slept under it I spent half an hour frantically googling "very staticky blanket fire hazard spontaneous combustion," but apparently it'll be fine once it's not so dry and I'm only at risk for spontaneous combustion if I'm an extremely heavy drinker or live in coal-mining country and go to bed covered in coal dust. So unfortunately my dreams of being a coal-miner are now out of reach, but other than that, yes, pleased as punch! 


     

Night night, sleep tight.

     I'd been wanting to make myself a sleep mask for a while now, for a totally First World Problems-esque reason: I like to fall asleep with the tv on, because listening to it keeps my mind just occupied enough to stave off my nighttime anxiety/racing thoughts, but not so occupied that I can't fall asleep. That's not the first world problem, though. It's that my tv is kind of too big and bright. Yeah, I'm sorry that I even made you read me saying that, because I realize what a jerk it makes me sound like. But it's true! It's a great tv for daytime, but when I'm trying to fall asleep, those bright white commercials can be a little jarring (somebody call the Waaaah-mbulance). So I decided I'd whip up a quick little eye mask to wear at night. Well, it would have been a quick project, were I not completely and utterly incompetent. But we'll get to that. First, let me get to the point and show you what I made. 

     As you can see, it's pretty simple. It's assembled from these pieces...

     I would have taken pictures of the assembly process, but as I mentioned, it was kind of a shit-show for me, so the documentation part slipped my mind. Basically I just cut out two pieces of a soft stretchy-ish fabric based on a template I made of paper, then cut out two layers of batting in the same shape, but smaller so they'd fit inside. For the straps, I made my life way more difficult than it had to be by making them out of fabric, sewing a long rectangle into a tube and turning it (the unfinished edge ended up inside the seam of the mask, so I didn't have to worry about that). In hindsight, I wish I'd just used ribbon. To assemble, I put the two pieces of the mask right sides together and sewed around everywhere except the sides, where I wanted the straps to attach inside. Then I turned it right side out, shoved the batting inside, lined up the straps, and sewed them in, closing the open spaces on the mask at the same time. To make the mask stay on and actually, you know, function, I sewed a bit of elastic at the back (you can see it in the top photo if you look closely; it's right underneath where the two straps overlap at the back). Finally, for the cheeky eyelashes and winged liner, I used some scrap lace and ribbon, attached with hot glue. 

     Did I make that sound simple? It really should have been. But nooo, I had to make it involve literal tears and blood. See, originally I was going to make the whole mask out of that blue fabric the straps are made from, but it turns out that fabric is a complete and utter bitch to sew on. It kept shredding and turning into this fine blue fuzzy dust in my hands. Absolute misery. Eventually my frustration got the better of me, and I decided to switch gears. The animal print fabric I chose instead was somewhat easier to work with, but since it's stretchy, it still gave me a few issues. I also somehow managed to gravely wound myself with a pin when placing the straps, which necessitated a ten minute break to hold a paper towel on my finger (I considered adding a picture of the bloodied paper towel for drama, but decided that was probably too gross and vaguely serial-killer-y). How do you hurt yourself so badly with a straight-pin that it bleeds for ten minutes? Hell if I know. Blind luck, I guess. So that's where the blood came in.  

     After that I figured I was in for a massively traumatic hot glue gun burn or something, but surprisingly I managed to traverse that minefield safely. Where it really all went to hell was when I was about two minutes from being done, as I was sewing in the elastic piece at the back. Remember those nice straps that I went to all the trouble of making out of that God-forsaken blue fabric composed of a heretofore unknown form of matter that is apparently only a solid mass until I touch it? Just after I finished sewing the first side of the elastic, I went to cut the thread using the little blade tucked away on the back side of my sewing machine. But somehow I managed to get the strap caught in the (seriously, freaking microscopic) blade instead, and in that one quick motion I'm used to doing to cut the thread, I SLICED RIGHT INTO MY BEAUTIFUL OVERLY COMPLICATED STRAPS LIKE GODDAMN SWEENEY TODD. It was at this point that I completely lost it. 

     I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh or cry, so I kind of did both? It was that fifty-fifty split of sobbing and hysterical laughter that's generally reserved for disturbed lighthouse keepers. I'm sure it was frightening to behold. Especially because I did it while sitting in the middle of this mess:

     Not exactly the kind of beautiful, clean, organized, naturally-lit workspace all the other DIY bloggers have, but I'm pretty sure they're just photoshopping out all the candy wrappers and fabric schnibbles and bloodied tissue scraps. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself. 

     Anyway, after taking a tiny project and somehow turning it into a massive ordeal, I'm gonna go take that sleep mask for a spin and hope my next project goes more smoothly!