Linen

 I recently decided to refresh my bedding. For several years (a decade, maybe) I've had Better Homes And Gardens cotton sheets that I got at Walmart. I still love them -- they're soft and the fitted sheet has rougher material at the head and foot so that you never have to guess when putting it on if you're putting in on the correct way, ha. 

But I was inspired to pull the trigger on some linen bedding from Etsy that I came across while looking for a duvet cover. By the way, those of you have use duvets, are you Team Top Sheet or Team No Top Sheet? Let me know in the comments. I'm team top sheet because the top sheet is a barrier between your body and the duvet, and I don't want to have to wash and put on a duvet cover every week. Putting on a duvet cover is a pain, and I would prefer to only have to take it off and wash it about once a month.

I got a new linen dust ruffle/bed skirt in the color "Wet Sand" (the color of pure cinnamon), and a pair of linen bed sheets in the color "Antique White", which is basically ivory. I thought about doing Antique White for the dust ruffle too, but then considered that my little dachshund is brown, and that hair is going to show up really well against that color!

My bed with the new linen sheets in "Antique white" -- the pillow cases are envelope-style

My new dust ruffle in "Wet Sand." Took this before I added my new sheets, so these are the old ones.

I washed the items first and put on my dust ruffle on Tuesday night. I waited till yesterday (Friday is my normal weekly sheet change day) to put on my new bed sheets. They're heavier than cotton sheets, and feel super durable and are beautifully made. They do feel rough compared to the soft cotton sheets I am used to... but after sleeping in them last night, I can say that they also keep you wonderfully cool; living here in Florida, that's always a challenge! No night sweats with these. And I love the way they look... so luxurious and old-world European. 

I also have a duvet cover with ruffled shams (also in Antique White) on the way; until it gets here, I'm still using my microfiber (read: polyester) but very pretty duvet cover with no insert now because it's summer, with the matching decorative king shams on my back pillows. 

Although this Etsy store says that their products ship from Pennsylvania, they actually ship originally from Europe first. So between hand-making the items to order and the long shipping time, it's about a month before you get your order. That's fine, I knew I wasn't ordering from Amazon and expecting 2-day delivery -- I just wish they had been transparent on their site that their items originally ship from Europe before shipping from PA. 

This coming week, I will be decorating for fall, so there will be a post or two on that. I'm taking off this Thursday and Friday to do that and get a couple of annoying errands done that can't be done on the weekend -- one of which is getting my driver's license renewed, and that has to be done in person this time. Awesome.

Let me know in the comments if you use a top sheet or not, and if you have any early fall plans. Also, if you enjoy my blog, please consider following.