bedding Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Duvet Fillings: Which Material is Best for You?

May 11, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

When it comes to choosing the right duvet for your luxurious and cosy bed, you have many different options, not only in terms of design, but also in terms of filling. With several fillings to choose from on a 100 cotton duvet cover, it can become confusing and difficult to know which one is right for you, so continue reading for a short guide that will help you make the best choice.

A Word About the TOG Rating

The TOG rating on any duvet is basically how cool or warm it will make you feel throughout the night. It is actually a unit that refers to the amount of body heat that the duvet will end up retaining, so the more body heat it can retain, the warmer you will be. Bear in mind that the TOG rating does not represent the thickness or heaviness of the duvet, as lightweight options can really do a great job of insulating your body and keeping you warm in the colder seasons of the year.

A TOG of 13.5 means the duvet will be really warm and ideal for the winter. 10.5 or 9.0 means it will be warm, but ideal for autumn and spring. And 4.5 or 3 means the duvet is great for summer because it will keep you cooler.

Feather and Down Fillings

Duvet fillings that are considered natural include down and feathers. Down is the lightest option, while feathers contain quills and are firmer. These materials are breathable, and they can insulate you quite well when it is cold. However, it should be noted that these materials could contribute to allergies because of the dirt and dust that can collect in these duvets.

Silk Filling

A silk duvet is constructed from fibres that have been layered on top of one another. Therefore, silk filled duvets tend to have a flatter appearance, particularly when compared to duvets that are filled with down or feathers. However, allergy sufferers can benefit from silk filled duvets because the material is naturally hypoallergenic, as well as resistant to dust mites that can lead to allergies. Look for silk duvets that contain A Grade Mulberry silk or wild silk.

Synthetic Filling

Many duvets are considered cruelty free because they do not consist of any materials that are derived from animals. These duvets use synthetic fibres instead, making them less expensive but just as effective as duvets using natural fillings. Also, these materials are best for people who suffer with allergies. And another perk to synthetic filling is the fact that it is easier to care for and maintain than natural fibres, and you can wash these duvets more often. Again, opt for the right TOG rating to determine how warm you want the duvet to keep your body at night.

Now that you have a better idea of the different types of duvet fillings that are available, and the drawbacks and benefits of each, you can choose the one that is right for your particular needs.

#ThatsSewGeorge – Crafty Project

September 30, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

As you know I’ve been busy sewing all sort of things recently but one of my most fun project was given to me by Asda. George – who make a wide range of clothes, bedding etc. for Asda, offered bloggers the chance to make something from some of their bedding. They have a beautiful range which you can find on their website. It was hard to pick to be honest, but it was especially hard knowing I was going to chop it up!

As you can see, there are some lovely choices and at really great prices too. I have plans for bunting, cushions and more clothes. However today I wanted to share one of my projects with you, and that was the Foxy dress I made for Megan yesterday.

Since I knew I was making a dress, I picked a king size cover, to make sure there was plenty of material. I used the main design as my outside print, but the back of the cover (which was a paw print design) as my lining. I also used the paw print pattern as a contrasting material. Both the sleeves and the waist band of made from this.

I was really pleased with how it turned out, though due to the large print I think I could have been more careful where I placed my front pattern piece – just to make the design look a bit more balanced. However that’s maybe just me as I’m a bit of a perfectionist!

Megan seems really pleased with the dress and that’s the main thing as far as I’m concerned. I also have more than enough fabric to make another dress from, so perhaps Lily will get one too. Or maybe I’ll make an adult skirt from it! Either way I’m looking forward to trying out some projects with my other duvet covers too!

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Week 25 – Monday Round-up

June 22, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last week I was late with this particular post and this week is no different either! Where Monday and Tuesday of last week were spent catching up on the decorating from over the weekend, this week has been spent catching up on catching up!

Monday I spent pretty much the whole day with Nat, after dropping the kids off at school. It was her youngest son Harry’s 2nd birthday and my gift to him was a mattress (a bed, a stairgate and a bedside…). Strange gift I know but basically Nat was wanting to move him into a big bed so I headed over there with a divan bed for Josh (her oldest son), which after we took the cot apart and put in the loft (oh I took a ladder too but that wasn’t for them to keep!) we moved Josh’s bed to Harry’s room, put the new mattress on it and then put the divan in Josh’s room. We put new bedding on Harry’s bed, added the bedside and also put up a stairgate. Afterwards Nat and I went to the tip and then Asda Living for a fitted sheet, all before I headed back to get the kids from school. The evening was spent trying to relax, even though there was still decorating to do. We did watch the Game of Thrones finale however *sob sob*.

On Tuesday Chris was off work so we made an effort to get our bedroom a bit straighter. We hoovered and tidied, moved furniture and most importantly put up a curtain rail so we could hang curtains and sleep back in there that night. We also wandered into town for a few hours to buy shelves and new curtains. We spent the afternoon finishing everything off and finally moving back into our room. It isn’t finished sadly (even now as I write this a week on) but it’s getting there slowly. I have had a lot to do since last Tuesday though so I haven’t done anything further on it.

In the evening we moved the wardrobe forward (which is so heavy we had to empty it all out first) so I could paint the last wall. Since it was so heavy and all the stuff out of it made such a mess (and I didn’t want to put it back in, only to take it out again), I spent the whole evening giving the wall five coats of paint, one every half an hour. Chris and I then moved the wardrobe back, had a sort through our clothes and then crawled into bed!

On Wednesday I had a catch up blog day. I was so behind on posts I was supposed to write that it took me all day to catch up and I still wasn’t done. However I did manage to write about five for my own blog and two for TTM. Thursday started off with a breakfast from Morrisons as I offered to give Chris a lift to work and he treated me. When I got back home though I properly cracked on with a murder mystery I’ve been writing – a sort of gift for my friend’s birthday at the end of this current week. I made some progress but it all seemed very slow. I also accidentally loaded $100 into my Fiverr account which was a slap on the forehead moment. I worked all day and into the evening on the Murder Mystery but didn’t get all that far.

Friday was another day working on the Murder Mystery but it ended up more of a blog/internet day. I still felt so behind on everything I needed to do so I spent most of my time getting organised, but the evening spent on the murder mystery again. After that, my whole weekend was swallowed by the murder mystery and I’m not even kidding. I spent all day Saturday and all day Sunday, breaking only briefly to make tea, feed the kids, put some washing on etc. It genuinely felt like I was getting somewhere the whole time but in the same token it seemed like I had loads left to do.

In the end I could feel myself getting annoyed and snappy so I took Sunday evening off. I watched some TV and then decided to turn that off even and read a book. I read two short stories and then started on the second book in a series I’ve been reading and enjoying. I will write a review shortly of the first book – Sanctum (Guards of the Shadowlands, #1).

Other than that, I won’t get into my Monday and Tuesday so far but needless to say they’ve been busy again. Right now I have emails to go through and some housey bits to get done, but I’m hoping to actually see my sewing machine this evening – fingers crossed!

Guest Post: Top Tips on Buying a Cheap Bed Frame Online

June 16, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

The following tips have been provided to me by the mattress bloggers at www.cutpricemattresses.co.uk for helping you buy beds online. They will help you to get it right the first time!

If you are in the market for a new bed frame, don’t make some of the silly mistakes that I made. Not only did I choose the wrong bed size, it was not a good fit for the room and I wound up having to pay to ship it back and reorder the right one. When you are ordering a bed frame online, you want to be certain you get it right the first time so that you don’t have to deal with the hassle and cost of returning it.

What Room is Your Bed Frame Going?

Consider the room that the bed frame will be placed. If your bedroom, you want a piece that will become the focal point of the room. If for a guest room, you can opt for a less fancy style. For my master bedroom I chose a bed frame that created a calming environment. Keep in mind the room the bed frame will be so you can price accordingly.

Do You Have Enough Space?

Maybe you are like me, and you just bought a new mattress and need to get the bed frame to match. Problem for me was I purchased a frame for a queen mattress when we had just upgraded to a king. Slipped my mind, but this was a costly mistake. Be sure that you know exactly the size mattress you have that you need the frame for before pressing that order button.

Have a Budget in Mind?

The bed frames can range from cheap and inexpensive to extremely costly. The fancier design you fall in love with, the more expensive this purchase is going to be. Be sure to have a solid budget in mind, then shop within that budget to avoid going overboard and spending more than you had anticipated.

Is the Bed Frame Movable?

One thing that I completely overlooked when I bought my bed frame was how movable is the piece. Many of the larger bed frames will not disassemble into small pieces, so you had better be sure to measure doors and hallways to ensure it can make it to the room without incident. If your home is on the small size, consider a bed frame that has the ability to be taken apart. Consider a bed frame that has casters, this will make it much more easier to roll it around the room if you ever have to make decorative changes.

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As you know we have recently decorated our bedroom. Though we haven’t bought a new bed, we have needed to purchase a variety of other items. Living in Gainsborough and needing the items quicker than buying them online, we were fairly limited. However we sourced curtains from Argos, shelves from B&Q and new bedding from B&M Home. I can’t wait to share my new look bedroom with you soon!

How Frozen (and Disney in general) have taken over our lives!

November 29, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

In September I posted about the Girls’ bedroom and how it was coming along nicely. It’s currently still pink but as I mentioned before, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they want it painting blue before long. This week saw the one year anniversary of Disney’s Frozen release and honestly I can’t quite believe just how crazy the kids still are about Frozen. Last year for Megan’s birthday we went to the cinema to see the movie and this just kicked off a whole Frozen theme in our lives. Megan’s cake was Frozen, as her birthday is in December, but even in March, Lily’s cake of choice was Frozen themed too.

Lily wore and Anna costume to her 6th birthday party and Megan has been hunting for the perfect Elsa dress for months. Luckily we managed to find one and it actually arrived just last week. With Megan’s birthday coming up again (and a heavy Disney theme to our house), it will come as no surprise that Megan’s costume for her own birthday is also Frozen themed (Lily’s too). While the costume’s not completely finished yet, this time next week Megan will be staring as Young Elsa from the Frozen movie and Lily will be Young Anna.

Anyway, I digress from my original point and that is – the girls room is gradually becoming more and more Frozen. While the original theme was just Disney, Frozen is sneaking in and taking over. A few months back I treated them to new duvet covers, after their ceiling got redecorated and an Anna border was put up. These are really the second Frozen themed item in the room, after the original sticker decals we bought this time last year. Both girls have the exact same covers, as the only other kinds you can get are just Elsa. I always think its a bit of a shame that Elsa gets more air time and more products than Anna, because you often find one sibling likes one and the other likes the other.

As a special treat for Christmas, I’ve bought them some new curtains for their room. I don’t know why really as the ones they have are perfectly good but I know just how obsessed they both are (and maybe me a little too). Besides, I can always chop up their old curtains and make more dresses for Florida! The new curtains are of course Frozen and while I haven’t actually got them out of the packet yet, I do hope to as of Monday/Tuesday.

Of course, these thin curtains are fine this time of year but come Summer I might need to rethink it. Not because of the theme – though of course Frozen in Summer is perhaps a little weird (not for Olaf mind you) – but because of the material and the see-throughness of the curtains. This time of year it’s dark as the girls go to bed and dark as they get up so it doesn’t affect their sleeping at all as the Comfy Bamboo Sheets are kids friendly and breathable. It is softer than cotton which makes my kids not get out of their beds because of its coziness. Sadly the same can’t be said in the lighter months. When the sun comes up at 5am and doesn’t set till 10pm, I always have trouble getting the most sleep out of the girls. It will be at this point I look into getting some blackout blinds or curtains. VELUX has a Disney Dream Collection of blinds and it honestly makes me wish the girls had an attic bedroom with a sloped window. The Disney blinds from VELUX are so awesome (though there isn’t a Frozen one as yet!) that I would be hard pushed to know which one to choose! There is a wide range though so I imagine there is something for everyone.

While plans for new blinds are a long way off, especially given the fact I’ve just bought new curtains, I did hear mention that the girls are wanting new bunkbeds. With a trip to Florida on the horizon, I imagine that is unlikely. However with bunkbeds as “cool” as these, who wouldn’t want Frozen beds?

However I imagine a far more likely solution is some new pictures on the walls, a new toybox or perhaps more cuddly toys! With wanting to move still, its unlikely we’ll be investing in any large pieces of furniture or radical changes to the room. Not only that, but kids are so faddy and while this Frozen fad does seem to have lasted a lot longer than any other, it won’t last forever I’m sure!

The girls room and Megan’s new Dormeo Memory Mattress*

September 27, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Those of you who read my blog regularly will remember the day we decided to move from my lovely little village of Saxilby, to where we live now in Gainsborough. You’ll also know that top of my priority for that move, was making the transition for the girls as smooth as possible. Though we did up several of the rooms before moving in, it was important to me to make sure the girls were very happy in their new room – and this resulted in us painting it pink! Along with the pink, we also adorned the walls with various stickers, posters and canvases – mainly Disney, but with some Mario featuring in there too.

Over time I have added to the room – there were Frozen stickers when the movie came out last year and since then there has even been Frozen duvets. During April their room also suffered from some quite severe rain damage to the ceiling, but we were lucky enough to get it all done (and covered by the insurance) over the summer holidays and now their room looks even better than ever. Not only that, but they gained a new border which they love.

With so many alterations to the room, I’d begun to notice just how old and tatty their bunkbed was beginning to look. Every time we stripped covers, the mattresses looked so dirty and horrible – I was disappointed there wasn’t something I could do about it. However just recently, we received a single Dormeo Memory Mattress. It retails at £299.99* but right now it’s on offer for £149.99. I decided that since Megan was the oldest, she should be the one to get it. She was thrilled at the idea of getting a new mattress – let alone a memory foam one and we had no end of amusement, getting it out of the box and onto her bed (even more when the old mattress nearly hit us on the head!) You can visit many Retail store locations if you need a bed like such or of better quality, too! You can check out Comfy Bamboo Sheets if you need new mattresses.

Reportedly the mattress from is incredibly comfy and Megan is very pleased with it, to find one similar visit the Bamboo Detective website. I have to admit I’ve had a lay on it – one night when Megan got herself upset over something, I ended up climbing the ladder for a cuddle (and a joke of how she’d have a mummy shape in her bed to remember me by) and I thought it was a really good mattress too. Chris is incredibly jealous as he really wanted a memory foam mattress but I said tough – the girls come first ;) Now I just have one mattress to replace instead of two and I’ll be pretty much done with the girls room – until of course they decide they want it painting blue or something!!