Piecing Together New Bedding

Have you ever had a duvet or bedding you really loved, but it was falling apart? That was our situation with a Pottery Barn Outlet duvet we've had for nearly 10 years. (You can see the old bedding here if you'd like.) It was time for a new one, but I was totally happy with it! We occasionally looked for new bedding and even ordered a couple things here in Portugal that we ended up returning.

My husband and I happened to find a pinkish linen duvet cover we both liked at Zara Home for a good price. It felt nice to finally find the one!

For Christmas, we got a great wool blanket made in Portugal that was perfect for the end of our bed. 

These two items were great, but matching our headboard, painted furniture and rug to these things seemed to be tricky. It would be easier to just get a new rug that matched. Yet I couldn't NOT use the huge wool rug we had that is still in great shape, especially when there really isn't a budget for new everything.

Options are not as plentiful here as in America with Target or a good size fabric store in most towns. We made a trip to "fabric row" in Lisbon, and I took a leap of faith on fabrics from two separate stores in hopes that some pillow shams with these would pull things together. Here's what I came up with:

This was my first time to add navy in the room but wanted to match that in the rug. I only bought a meter of the toile fabric, so when I decided to use it for the Euro shams, I had to use some navy ticking stripe fabric I had for the backs. This meant the people in the toile were off-centered, but I decided they were not to be the focus anyway!

I would like to repair or replace the floral vintage bark cloth pillow, and I've thought about doing a little embroidery on the coral small pillow I bought on sale. 

We haven't changed much more of the decor than the curtains and the side table toppers.

I found a gingham table centerpiece at the flea market that had iconic Portuguese pictures on it. I cut the piece in two, hemmed them and made toppers for each side table. 

Curtains were an IKEA buy and some careful notions-store searches! I came up with this trio of trims to embellish the curtains on the upper portion of the curtain. Tiny tassels on the top, some large gingham, and then Portuguese handmade looking lace (I'm not sure about that, but it looks that way.). I haven't gotten any great photos of the curtains because of the sun coming in that window. Looks like I need to cut a thread too!

I am pleased with how everything has come together and seems to complement each other, but it did take some time and work!  I hope it continues to evolve as well. I'm currently painting some frames for a side wall. Maybe some new paint on the side tables along with new throw pillows next. 

Our little stinker, Lizzy, likes our room too! If you're in Portugal and are interested in a blanket like ours, we recommend the shop ours came from.