Solving the big issues: A study in cushioning

Last week I was listening to a very funny segment on 702 Sydney with James Valentine whereby mostly men were calling him up to complain about various things about the house that they get in trouble for. Things like wetting the bathroom, not being able to light candles and the ever controversial topic of cushioning. I think it’s time we tackled this, don’t you?

The queen of cushioning in my humble opinion is none other than Faux Fuchsiaย who cushions like it’s nobodies business. She is of the belief that she would never knowingly under cushion and for that, I will love and respect her for all the rest of my days. I have to agree with her when it comes to the humble cushion in my own home.ย Let’s take a look around shall we?

I give you: the boudoir.

Here we are looking at a 7 cushion scenario. That’s right. 7. There are two pillows on each side and then 3 decorating cushions. They are no matching, a mixture of patterns and colours that could give someone a headache, but I love the look.

No matter how hard Rob tries, he can never get the cushioning just right on the bed. I applaud his attempts though, however the OCD in me will ALWAYS redo them. It’s a wonder he even tries anymore isn’t it?

Let’s move out to the lounge room. We have a large L shaped couch that houses 5 cushions. Again the patterns and colours are no matching, but DEAR GOD there is a strict placement rule in place. One side has these two:

And the other these 3. They must be placed thusly and you KNOW that before I go to bed at night that they are placed, just so, so when the children wake up and jump on the couch the ruin them from a place of just so. Crazy? You bet!

A single chair in my house will have just the one cushion. Well DER.

And then the couch down near the kids play area has just 3. And of course they do not match. Some match, but not all.

There are some key points here that are consistent: Odd numbers. Non matching. Different sizes. Different textures. And the fact that clearly I am a little mental. One man that called up the radio show said that he has taken a picture of the cushions on the couch on his iPhone so he can put them back EXACTLY as his wife would like. I think this man is a GENIUS.

How many cushions do you have on your couch?
Do you believe in cushioning?
Do you make them just right before going to bed?

Comments

  1. The cushions on the couch have to go back into place before bed. HAVE TO. In much the same way I can’t leave the washing up until the morning. Calm and order to start the day please ๐Ÿ™‚ I am more of an even number kind of girl though…

  2. LOL! I was listening to the same segment last week while driving and I had tears in my eyes from laughing. So funny. I could relate to nearly every call and the men were talking on behalf of my hubby and many others who just don’t get it. Not to mention throw rugs and table runners ๐Ÿ™‚ I loved the way the guy with the iphone obviously did not want to face the wrath of his wife if the cushions weren’t placed just so. I hate the cushions being squashed and sat on….aaaggghhh!

  3. Bah never was a cushion person. Maybe I would be if my kids wouldn’t touch them.

  4. That is so funny – I have cushions EVERYWHERE in our house. My lovely man said that he needs to head to bed a good 10 minutes earlier these days so he has time to “wade” through all the cushions to get to his pillow.

  5. Too funny … I am the extreme control freak when it comes to placement of cushions! I heard that segment on James Valentine and laughed so hard at the guy who said he’d taken a photo of the cushion placement on his i-phone so he had a reference when restoring cushion order – hilarious!

  6. I love a cushion! In fact I whipped up 4 new ones on the weekend – nothing fancy just cosy .
    Let me tell you about the cushion colony in my home.
    My bed has 6 pillows & 4 cushions. Tim never gets it right but that’s ok I just change them.
    Front lounge room has a GIANT lounge & it has 10 cushions ( 2 the same as the one on your blue chair). The other lounge is a 3 sweater & 2 singles. The 3 sweater has 2 long cushions & 1 square . The singles have 2 cushions each.
    My boys beds have 2 pillows & 3 cushions of different sizes that I made for them.
    The lounge in the study has 5 cushions.
    All cushions spend more time on the floor thanks to the boys. It drives me nuts but I won’t give them up!!!
    Just writing out my comment makes me think I have a cushion problem. The number seems excessive doesn’t it???

  7. I like my cushions just so. And my kids are hell bent on destroying them! They just fling them everywhere! I think I must pick them up and reposition them at least 6 times a day. And yes I straighten before bed, and also I go round before I leave the house.

  8. haha, I am nodding my head in agreement! I don’t have kids of my own yet but somehow the cushions always get out of place during the day so before bed, they must be set right! My husband has given up on trying to make our bed because I am that anal about how the european pillows, pillows and cushions MUST BE positioned. Good to know I am not alone in my nutty cushion OCD. x

  9. I’m a fan of the FF cushioning also. How clever is that bloke with the iPhone? Brilliant, wish my hubby could meet him to learn a thing or two…

  10. I am a cushion person (der, look at my blog name). I never used to be. I never cared before, and now I am a cushion junkie of the worst kind.

    They have to be placed carefully – just so. And if the kids throw them on the floor one more time, I will do my block and be a shouty mum, with a bonus lecture about looking after my special things thrown in.

    My poor children just don’t understand!

  11. I would love to have more cushions, but I think I am too lazy to make sure they are in place all the time ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. Love this! I’m a definite cushion lover and all must be placed a certain way. What I can’t stand is when I buy some nice cushions – more decorative rather than under the bum type- and hubby half aids on them and they always end up totally out of shape. Behind the back is fine but not half sat on ๐Ÿ™‚ haha he thinks I’m crazy?? Am I…

  13. I just got home from work and walked into my bedroom and shook my head and thought how hard is it? You see my husband has a day off and made the bed today and the pillows looked like they had been thrown on the bed from the kitchen. Then I went to the lounge and saw he had been watching tv and had squashed all the pillows and then got up and left without refluffing them……crazy, I know. I then decided to sit and have a read of your blog to calm my nerves and I nearly fell off the chair when I saw what you were blogging about today. I am going to go and pull my husband off the tractor he is on and get him to read it and take photos with his iPhone. Thanks for the giggle. Sue N

  14. I am in awe of Faux Fuchsia’s cushioning. My Mr is not keen on them at all, it is a struggle to get one in place let alone 7, so I have to admit I’ve let the side down. Just one in each corner of the couch. That said they are hand woven from alpaca and I bought them in the middle of the Andes in Peru, so at least they have a story!

  15. I’m totally all about the odd numbers and the mismatched patterns. Doesn’t everybody love a bit of crazy.

  16. I love cushions. However living with the warlords (aka my parents) my cushion love has been put on hold. Shamefully only have 1 Winnie the Pooh cushion now that my 10 month old niece loves. First thing on the list as soon as I’m in my own home. Yep, you guessed it, cushions.

  17. I am a lover of cushions too.
    Five on the couch…two on one side and three on the other.
    Four normal pillows and two decorative pillows on our bed.
    Three on the guest bed.
    And one per chair.

    When I leave in the morning, the cushions on the bed MUST be just so.
    I am not as anal about the couch cushions…our couch is leather and the cushions slip. If anyone has a solution for this, I would love to hear it!

    • Oh GOD! So would I! I noticed the leather couch/cushion slip when staying at my Brother’s house recently…would love further investigation into this.

    • My husband’s Nonna drapes some of that non slip draw mat over her leather lounge to stop cushion/blanket slip but it’s not the best look! I have a leather lounge that we don’t use very much and the cushion slippage drives me MAD.

  18. Like you Beth, the cushions have to be put back into place before bed or else I feel slightly stressed looking at them when I get up – a bit like not cleaning up after a party and leaving the dishes everywhere for the morning (can’t do that…) I also get crazy at the kids who throw them off the couch onto the floor when they sit down because it’s easier than moving them to one side.

  19. This post is me all over.
    Ok. So I don’t have cushions (well, I lie, I actually just grabbed some off layby yesterday, but I haven’t had any since we moved out of home 5 years ago. It’s about time hey?) But the OCD having to walk around the house and place things just so before going to bed even though you know they will be moved/ruined before you get up in the morning? Yep. That’s me. I actually have several times of the day I have to walk around and do this, like before taking Bluey to school, before putting Greenie down for a nap, before starting dinner, after dinner and before going to bed at night. It’s bloody exhausting sometimes, but I find it’s easier to do a little tidying here and there as you walk past etc. rather than running around crazily trying to get it all done in one go. Or maybe I am just crazy.

  20. I am definitely an odd number cushion girl. 7 on the bed, 5 on the lounge. No kids in this household but the dog does a fine job of tossing them off the lounge and making a mess of them. Last thing before bed I restore order and settle them – along with the 2 throw rugs – in their rightful place!

  21. You give good cushion Mac, you really do. Hello Owl and I are hatching a plot to steal that blue chair, with cushion of course, and squeeze it in the back of my tiny two door car. So you’ve been warned, up your security. Mad ladies coming your way. xo

  22. Hah so true. I have been embedded in a hospital room in Sydney for the past three months, I returned home for a night last week to find that the husband has ‘misplaced’ two of our seven bedroom cushions. WTF where have they gone? He does not see the point of a “display” cushion.

    The remaining five cushions have oily hair marks on them! I need to get home before he misplaces the lounge cushions (we will need to extend the loan to replace them)!

  23. It’s funny, just last week on Dubai radio there was a a whole segment on cushioning. Basically, the men on the show had said that men had finally got into the whole cushion thing and now ‘got it’, they were then crushed when the interiors woman spoke up and said: “Actually, cushions are out now, I no longer have any cushions in my house at all.” That was it, the goddess of interiors had spoken and the subject had to be changed. A little strange cause I still like the odd cushion.

  24. I love cushions. We have nine on the bed and lots on the lounges, I am forever repositioning them. I am ashamed to say some of them match, I am a cushioning failure…

  25. I most certainly believe in cushioning. And mis-matching.
    And I do tidy up my cushions before bed. It’d be rude not to! xx

  26. Ha! Thanks for the Shout Out.

    I have 2 cushions tales for you:

    1. One night I stood at the bedroom door watching Mr FF chucking and throwing my beautiful ‘pensive Black and Spiro cushions onto the floor so he could hop into bed. When I came into the room I said “Did you chuck or place those cushions on the floor?” and he said “I placed them”. It was a tense moment.

    2. I knew my 1st marriage was over when I saw my (now ex) husband sitting of the sofa and thought he just looked wrong on it and some cushions would suit me better.

    Everyone knows that Undercushioning is the Devil’s Work. I’d never knowingly participate in it. And neither should your readers.

  27. I do so want unmatched cushions on my couch, but I can not deal with the destruction of my 2 year old son, he will walk past and push anything on the couch to the floor and alas that is why my couch is ever so lonely.

  28. I have serious cushion envy. Serious.

  29. Oh yeah, the cushions have to go back just so before I go to bed. My husband has no concept and says “What, so they look all nice for the burglars who come in the middle of the night??”. And every morning me telling the kids to pick them up off the floor and put them back as they found before leaving for school. And don’t get me started on the bed cushions…husband tries but doesn’t seem to care if the zips aren’t the bottom! I mean, really!! ๐Ÿ™‚

  30. I have so many beautiful cushion covers that I have collected over the years, but they remain trapped in boxes in the garage.

    This post has me craving a place of my own so I can start cushioning with them.

    Your house is really beautiful

  31. Hi Beth…you may have answered this a million times..but can I ask where you got your bedroom linen from….am in LOVE with your sheets and quilt cover….;-)… P.s… Maj cushion fan here also!!!.xx

  32. Thanks Kelly – I got all linen from Beth Bath & Table. They are the BUSINESS.

  33. I freaking LOVE cushions x

  34. Hi Beth, can you please let us know where you purchased your beautiful doona set. Thank you.

  35. Late to the cushion party, but I arrive, I arrive!

    5 on the bed – no matchy
    5 on each couch ( there are two) – again, no matchy
    3 scatter cushions in the reading nook in the boys room – mixed textures and colours

    A beginner, sure – but learning fast.

    Shame the same cant be said for the boys in my house!

    Love,
    Gabs xx

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