Customer Reviews

Dress Your Dream Bed: Vintage Linen Inspirations for Today's Elegant Bed

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I was so happy to read Rita's book. It is a great resource for bedding and fiber care, and also an inspiration. I learned so much about cotton, natural fibers and vintage linens. I also found a great use for my grandmother's linens that have otherwise been sitting unsed. Her personal style shines through in the writing. It's actually fun to read about laundry techniques. Who else could make detergent an entertaining subject?

I'm excited to use Rita's ideas for our babies' cribs. What better way to show our love?

There's more to Dress Your Dream Bed than just learning about how to buy new sheets. Although Rita covers all that basic information (cotton is good, polyester is bad) -- she really makes you THINK about the care you take with your bed. The book is organized and very well thought out. She discusses every aspect of creating a wonderful bed. The mattress, sheets, pillows, covers. THEN she goes on to explain simple ways to decorate the bed -- like, I NEVER would have thought about using a Christmas doily as a flat sham on top of my pillows. The pictures are great -- I especially love the brass bed with the baby in it, under the clothesline. Rita's writing is conversational and humorous, yet she makes the very important point that we often save our good stuff until it's too late. From now on I'm going to sleep on expensive 300-count cotton sheets every single day. Naked.

I saw Rita do a seminar in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.I bought her book that day, and read it from cover to cover. I laughed and I cried. More importantly, this book changed the way I look at my family beds. Now I wonder what my son will remember about his childhood bed when he grows up. I never thought about personalizing his bed -- or that it might be the feel and/or smell of the line-dried cotton sheets that he remembers when he's my age. I especially love the beautiful photographs in this book -- Rita put real people in her beds. And that's what it's all about -- the bed is the heart of any home.

If your fancy tends toward doilies and crocheted afghans, then perhaps your "dream bed" would be immortalized in these pages. Elsewise, expect this book to provide you with a sense of what aesthetics you hope to steer clear of. I love vintage linens, but I would never couple it with the "elegant layered look" mentioned within this pages (pages 66 and 71 to be precise): placing a lace tablecloth and an Easter Egg-ish quilt on top of a synthetic, circa 1970s lavender bedspread. Ugh! Evokes bad associations of [tackiness], cheesy "romantic" B&Bs in Arkansas or a Texas state fair quilting pageant. "Vintage" doesn't mean that it has to remind me of the ratty polyester rejects that lived in the linen closet when I was growing up. To its merit, the book does offer useful information such as how to properly clean linen and what to look for in a quality mattress. However, the book's title suggests that it provides you with dream beds, inspiration and elegance. I'm afraid I didn't find that within these pages.

The cover of this book is what really caught my eye. I just had to pick it up and take a look. It is filled with lovely photographs and helpful illustrations. As I started to read I felt like I was in Rita's home and we were visiting over coffee. She has a very personable style that is anchored in facts, heartfelt warmth, and humor.
She tells us the truth about Pima and Egyptian cottons, and what thread-count really means. What is a reasonable alternitive to Down for a cozy comforter (no, it is not polyester). How to remove stains from antique and newer linens without damaging the fibers. (I have successfully used some of these techniques on the family laundry too.) How to make a double sized sheet fit a queen sized bed, with style AND comfort. She even has some very good advise on "how" to sleep.
Rita Farro has done all of the research for us and put it together in a beautiful, interesting, and humorous fashion. I loved reading this book and highly reccomend it.