pillow history – Pillows.com Blog

Nothing is better than sliding into a cloud-like hotel bed and it is even better when it is your bed at home. One of the reasons we all love climbing into a hotel bed is by feeling all snuggly with the tightly fitted sheets. Making your bed with this step by step process will make this chore easy and will set a good tone for the rest of the day!

Step 1- Bottom Sheet

Make sure the bottom sheet is tucked tightly around the entire mattress. This is the base of the sheets!

Step 2- Top Sheet

Next, you will place your top sheet on the mattress. Lay this flat sheet 7-8 inches from the top of the mattress, so there is enough sheet to make and edges and to tuck in along the foot of the bed! Tuck in the sheet along the foot of the bed and leave out the corner sheets.

Step 3- Tackling on the Corners

The corners are probably the trickiest part of this entire process. But don’t be scared because once you do it once you will see how truly easy it is. To get the crisp, edges that hotel beds have is actually easier than it looks. Now let’s focus on the corners. Lift the sheet in half and tuck that “tail” part into the mattress, then take the other have and tuck that in to create a clean cut crease. Repeat this on the other side to matching corners!

Step 4- Comforter

Add your favorite comforter or duvet. Hotels usually use duvet covers over comforters to make the comforters nice and clean and have the comforter last longer. The duvet covers are typically 100% cotton to make it breathable.

Step 5- Fluffing your pillow

Next step is fluffing pillows! Hotel pillows are typically down and feather pillows, which require daily fluffing. To ensure your pillow stays full and lofty, squish the pillow in and out which pushes air into the down and feather clusters to make the pillow full! There is truly not a right or wrong trick to this however, daily fluffing is a big MUST do.

Step 6- Pillow protector

Next step is to put a pillow protector around your pillow. A pillow protector will help keep the pillow full and lofty! A secret tip to make this step a little easier is to fold the top two corners while using your arm in the middle of the pillow to flatten out the pillow. Slide the pillow into the pillow protector and release it once it is all the way in. Place the pillowcase over this using the same process. Fluff the pillow to have it sit nicely in the pillowcase. Next, by just grabbing the edge of the pillowcase, use a downward shaking motion to push the pillow to the bottom of the pillowcase. Next is a BIG housekeeping secret, do a fold and tuck with the extra pillowcase fabric to create a seal. Straighten out the edges to make a clean crease. This will method will tighten the pillowcase around the pillow and actually create a better feel and support of your pillows.

Step 7- Finishing Touches

Straighten out the pillows and make sure everything is wrinkle free! And that’s it! A hotel-quality bed in the comfort of your own home!

Bedding Expert Tips

What you need on your bed you ask?

4 pillows. 2 soft and 2 firm

Soft sheets

Comforter with a duvet cover

1 light weight blanket at the foot of the bed. THAT’S IT!

Our 5 top-selling hotel pillows are:

Pacific Coast Down Surround Pillow featured in Many Marriott Hotels– https://www.pillows.com/pacodosupife.html
Down Dreams Classic Firm Pillow featured in Many Hilton Properties– https://www.pillows.com/hilton-down-dreams.html
Down Dreams Classic Soft Pillow featured in Many Hilton Properties– https://www.pillows.com/down-dreams-pillow-hilton.html
Down Etc. 75% White Goose Feather/ 25% White Goose Down Pillow- Featured at St. Julien Hotel & Spa– https://www.pillows.com/st-julien-pillow-downetc.html
Pacific Coast Double Down Surround Pillow- Formerly Featured in Many Ritz-Carlton Hotels- https://www.pillows.com/pacododosupi2.html

Hotel Duvets and Comforters

Pacific Coast Down Comforters- retail version of the comforter used in many Marriott Properties – https://www.pillows.com/madoduc.html
Asheville Comforter- Similar to the Comforter Found in Many Hilton Hotels– https://www.pillows.com/asheville-comforter-hilton.html
Pillowtex ® Classic Weight Down Alternative Comforters / Duvets– https://www.pillows.com/piclwedoatco.html
Pillowtex ® Hotel Cotton Duvet Cover -Blend Wrinkle Resistant– https://www.pillows.com/pillowtexhotelduvetcotton.html

*** Sheets used in above photos are from Pillows.com website – Cariloha Bamboo- Classic White Sheet Set- Queen- https://www.pillows.com/cbcssq.html

With Sleep Awareness Month in full swing, everyone here at Pillows.com has sleep on the brain even more than usual. (And that’s saying something because, as you know, we’re pretty passionate about the subject!) It’s true though: being in the business of sleep, we’re constantly staying on top of the latest sleep research and hunting for the newest and best products to add to our store, and this month is no exception.

As pillow and bedding experts, we think it’s important to discover everything there is to know about the products we sell. And if you’ve ever talked to one of our customer service reps on the phone, you know how much we love sharing everything we learn! So in the spirit of pillow education, we thought it was only fitting to kick off this month’s series of blog posts with a little history lesson: the history of the pillow. So lay back, fluff up your favorite pillow, and dive in!

Think your pillows are rock hard? Think again!

Believe it or not, humans have been using pillows since around 7,000 BC, or about 9,000 years. However, you probably wouldn’t want to use one of these ancient pillows today, as they were made of solid stone! Instead of enveloping your head in a soft cushion like the modern pillows we know and love, these “pillows” featured chiseled grooves for the sleeper’s head and neck to rest in.

Sounds uncomfortable, right?! It gets better. Because without one of these pillows to keep your head off the ground, you would have had to worry about bugs crawling in your hair, mouth, nose, and ears as you slept. Talk about a rock and a hard place! The number of pillows a person owned was also symbolic of his or her social status. (So we like to think that much hasn’t changed!)

Ancient-Egyptian-Pillow — Ancient Mesopotamian pillow via hankeringforhistory.com

As it turns out, pillow technology didn’t improve much in the 5,000 years between 7,000 BC and 2,000 BC. Like the Mesopotamians, the ancient Egyptians also had a penchant for hard pillows, sticking with stone and wood as their construction materials. Unlike their Mesopotamian predecessors, however, they weren’t even intended for living people! Instead of using them for sleeping or bug protection at night, ancient Egyptians really only used these pillows to prop up the heads of the deceased after death, as they believed the head to be sacred.

Hard pillows were also all the rage in ancient China. (Like parachute pants and mullets, we’re seriously hoping this isn’t a trend that makes a comeback.) The ancient Chinese version of this torture comfort device consisted of a range of materials including bamboo, jade, porcelain, wood, and bronze. In addition to being hard and unforgiving, they were also highly decorative. But instead of using pillowcases like we do today to protect and adorn their pillows (microfiber, anyone?), they usually covered them in carefully painted designs.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the first soft pillow!

It wasn’t until the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations came along that humanity first discovered the pure joy that is resting your head on a nice, soft pillow. In addition to feathers, these ancient Greek and Roman pillows were also stuffed with reeds and straw. (While a vast improvement over stone and wood, we’d obviously recommend down or advanced synthetic fibers as filling instead of the reeds and straw, but who are we to judge?!) Like the Mesopotamians, ancient Greeks and Romans also saw pillows as a status symbol, and they even borrowed the practice of putting them under the heads of deceased loved ones from the ancient Egyptians.

While we have the ancient Greeks and Romans to thank for saving us from laying our heads on pillows made of stone, it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that modern pillows began to really take shape. And the rest, as they say, is history!

The modern pillow—so many choices!

With so many different materials found in pillows today, choosing the right one to suit your sleep needs can almost be overwhelming! Luckily, that very process is the topic of our next Pillow Talk blog, so check back next week as we walk you through the details! And if you can’t wait that long, feel free to give us a call at 1-800-720-6973 to talk to one of our bedding experts personally. We’d be happy to guide you!

Until next time: sleep well, live well, and be well!

Tag: pillow history

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