Pillow obsessed? How much fluff is too much?

Posted to: At Home Home Improvement Spotlight Virginia Beach

How much fluff is enough? (Vicki Cronis | The Virginian-Pilot | Throw pillows and Euro shams on the cover are courtesy of Bed, Bath & Beyond on Constitution Avenue in Virginia Beach.)

PILLOW PROTOCOL

-Asymmetry is ideal in pillow placement. An odd number of pillows will help. An even number is not a fatal flaw, but it can look block-like and ho-hum.

-Arrange your pillows according to size. Big Euros in the back, standard pillows or shams mid-bunk and decorative pillows up front. Some people move their sleeping pillows to the back row. This props up the biggest pillows and gives a welcome sense of depth.

-For a switch, stand the pillows vertically on one side of the bed and stack them horizontally on the other.

-Mix patterns, textures and colors. Bold colors, pleated ruffles, beaded sequins, embroidered stitching and shiny pinstripes invite the hand and tease the eye.

-Play with the pillows at the store. Figure out how many you need.

Note: Designers say there's no such thing as too many pillows, but anyone who must see out the back window of a car to drive safely knows better.

FACED WITH A PILLOW HATER?

If faced with hard-line anti-pillow sentiments, here are some possible survival strategies:

-Realize that your mate may not have been blessed with the decor gene. Accept it, but insist that your partner tolerate your pillow fetish as well. Then go buy more.

-Celebrate even the feeblest effort by your loved one to plump the pillows per your design. Considerate it an expression of art, not ill manners.

-Don't freak if your significant other buries the pillows under the bedspread or duvet cover. Leverage the ego, instead, and seek change. Suggest that turning down the duvet and displaying your oh-so-comfy bedding cultivates the look of a four-star quality hotel and might make friends envious.

-Restrain the urge to scream should you find pillows on the floor. Play to your partner's mental checkbook and remind how swiftly the tally would top $100 should the pillows and covers need to be replaced.

-For a fun change of pace, remove all but the metal frame from your master suite and drop a sheet of plywood into place instead. Suggest that Americans are too soft. Insist that it's time to get tough. Let us know how it works.

By Jeanne Mooney
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 4, 2008

In the master suite of Ben and Grace Moskowitz's home, pillowing is a daily obsession.

Their ritual begins soon after waking. She leads, he follows. They plump, fluff and chase away wrinkles from the marital bed.

It's been that way for many of their 62 years together. The shared time has helped keep their bond strong.

"You just go with the flow," Ben Moskowitz says. "The ones who rebel will have problems."

Pillowing once was a matter handled in the privacy of the bedroom. Today, it is bared openly. Retail stores display pillowing in plain view. HGTV show hosts joke about it. And at a home and flower show at the Virginia Beach Convention Center recently, Ben Moskowitz was plucked from the audience and questioned about pillowing while more than 100 people looked on.

Moskowitz may have been better suited for the Q&A than others. He has mastered the morning task. In his home, it goes like this: the "backup" pillows lean against the headboard. Two sleeping pillows line up next. Then come two sham-covered pillows. Two toss pillows - one quilted, the other ornamented with the Tasmanian Devil - stand out front.

"He knows exactly how I want them put," Grace Moskowitz said.

For others who are new to pillowing or doubt its validity, Shari Hiller, co-host of HGTV's "Room by Room," offers this:

Pillowing is a form of nesting, Hiller says. The lady of the house puts a raft of goose down and polyfiber on the bed to make it more inviting. "It's definitely a gender thing," Hiller said.

"I think it's a quest for perfection," said Angie Keesee, bed department manager at Bed Bath & Beyond on Constitution Avenue in Virginia Beach. "It's (for) the person who wants the perfect bed."

And, Keesee said, women like to show off their stuff to girlfriends. "If they got a new bedroom set, they're going to want to do it all the way up," Keesee said.

How many pillows are enough?

"Eight pillows on a bed is plenty," Ben Moskowitz said.

"We might extend it to 10," countered Grace, his wife.

"I know it sounds crazy, but between eight and 12 is pretty normal," said Amy Page, operations manager of the bed and bath store.

"As long as you're into it, I don't think there is a limit," Hiller said during her visit to the Mid-Atlantic Home and Flower Show at the Virginia Beach Convention Center Feb. 17.

It was during one of her presentations with HGTV co-host Matt Fox that pillowing got pushed to the forefront of the Hampton Roads homeowner's consciousness.

It happened while Fox held a pink- and brown-striped pillow of Hiller's aloft. He turned it around, trying to find its "up" side.

And he called Ben Moskowitz to the stage.

"Sir, how many pillows do you need to sleep?" Fox asked.

"One," Moskowitz replied.

And how many pillows are on your bed? Fox asked.

"Four," Moskowitz replied. Make that eight, the Ocean Lakes townhome owner said correcting himself.

Fox seized the moment. Men, your wives have a disease called pillowing, he said. Twelve-step programs can help them. Just admit you have a problem, ladies, Fox advised.

A full-blown gender feud might have ensued, but Fox admitted his own foible. In the past, he has set down a pillow with the manufacturer's tag showing.

Hiller scolded him for it, he said.

"Please, give us a map," Fox begged those with pillow know-how. "Let us have a little clue of how we should put them back in order."

It might help others find the peace that the Moskowitzes already know.

Jeanne Mooney, (757) 446-2043, jeanne.mooney@pilotonline.com

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