In a previous post I wondered out loud about things we can do to prepare for the long winter ahead. Well, I am pleased to report that did one of the things on that list: I bought a new duvet from Ikea. But first, some backstory.
I don’t rightly know how old our old feather duvet was but I figure that if I can’t remember, it must have been OLD. I spent the every night last winter with a hot water bottle, wearing head-to-toe fleece pyjamas, and sometimes even socks. A second blanket thrown over the duvet helped a bit, as did any residual body warmth that I stole from Mark. I chalked up all this body temperature to my advancing age. Maybe my body simply wasn’t retaining heat anymore? Who knows.
Anyway, fast forward to present time. I chose this duvet because it was the warmest one in the store. Friends, it is a gamechanger, a CHANGER OF GAMES. It’s warm, but it’s also heavy. It’s like sleeping in a big hug, or a nest. My gods, have I slept well. I’m not waking up during the night nearly as much. There’s no need for heavy jammies. Hot water bottles and cold feet are ancient history. It is an absolute treat to slide into bed with my book every night.
That being said, our new duvet is definitely not an all-season affair. It’s winter weight, for sure, so we’ll need to buy a second one** when the time comes. In the meantime I am enjoying every moment under the covers.
**Why buy a second duvet when you can just revert back to your old duvet in the summer? Fishies, that is an excellent question. I will confess, after I read the laundering instructions for the NEW duvet (did I mention it is WASHABLE??) I felt inspired to launder our old one. After all, WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Well, I’ll tell you. It ripped open and exploded inside the washing machine. Once we realized what had happened (imagine, dear readers, Mark and I watching the clear front of the washing machine with layers of feathers sticking to it, with an increasing amount with each rotation of the drum), it went directly into the garbage, but not before shedding feathery bits all over the laundry room. I couldn’t help but laugh. Poor Mark had to scoop handfuls of wet feathers out of the washing machine, and ran it on a clean cycle a few times to flush everything out. I should also mention that the duvet wasn’t the only thing in the wash at the time. Friends, I had had the notion to wash our black fleece car blanket. I tried shaking it out but the white bits were embedded so deeply into the fabric they couldn’t even be dislodged by one of those sticky lint brushes.
So I think our new duvet is the FJÄLLHAVRE but I’m not 100% sure because for some reason every duvet in their inventory is FJÄLLsomething. I also looked for a new pillow for myself (feather, for a side sleeper) but they were sold out. So if you’re looking to upgrade your bed linens, you might want to act fast.
I would like to note that I also picked up this rechargeable decoration for our mantle:
Operation Hygge con’t pic.twitter.com/SFOzkC9q7K
— andrea tomkins (@missfish) November 12, 2020
I’ve also been burning all our candles and have enjoyed a bubble bath or two. I know it’s early days, but so far so good.
