Bedding – A BLOG ON COLORFUL LIVING

Bedding, Fall 2018 Collection, Fall Rugs, Rugs

Our fall Color Voyage – Where it all Began

August 31, 2018by Company CLeave a Comment

Christine Chapin Brimfield Market — Discovering new textiles.

Every spring, I travel with my design team from Company C to the Sturbridge Vintage Textiles and Brimfield Antique Markets in Massachusetts to scour antique stalls for great finds—vintage home textiles, clothing, antique furniture and more.

These fabulous pieces become the inspiration for new rugs, home textiles, and furniture for the company’s colorful new collections. We kick off each new season by gathering as many swatches, colors, photos and more and tack them onto vision boards.

Our design challenge becomes finding stories that “complement” all of our concepts—what looks fresh and new, what may align with trends we’re seeing in the market, and what is a perfect fit for Company C’s color and design style.

One of our new fall 2018 rugs that recently launched at the April High Point Market was inspired by a 1920’s antique shawl handmade in India and found in Brimfield. We played with the unique motifs, scale and color from the shawl to create a signature Company C rug.

Inspiration for Indira rug

The result is our Indira rug, a super colorful and textural hit at market.

Indira rug, fall 2018 company c collection — Indira Rug, fall 2018 collection.

The Emma Bedding collection is another example of how the fabulous pieces from the past can bring forth something completely brand new.

Emma Bedding, Company C fall 2018 collection. — Emma Bedding, fall 2018 collection.

Inspired by a vintage embroidered quilt, this graceful design in cool and soothing blues is hand printed on crisp, yet soft cotton percale for a modern take on an antique look.

For me, it is all about “the hunt” and finding the perfect vintage reference to work with. Invigorated and inspired by the designs, I love the process of dreaming up new ways to infuse the character of those timeless pieces into our own collection, with fresh colors for today’s market.

Years ago, we found small pieces of very old tapestries at Sturbridge that had beautiful coloration. One of them became our Avalon rug, which has been one of our best selling hooked rugs for over 10 years. coc_7avalon_vintagetapestry_inspiration-e1535724747676.jpg

It is a leafy design with saturated shades of blues and aquas – and today this fabulous rug lives in our house on the coast of Maine.

The discovery of vintage references that become the source of fresh, exciting designs that inspire colorful living in the market is what brings us the greatest joy.

Cheers to Colorful Living!

Christine Chapin

Bedding, Sale

Creating Your Own Bedding Oasis

January 12, 2017January 11, 2017by Company CLeave a Comment

At Company C, we love layers of color, texture, and pattern whenever we are designing the dreamiest beds. Whatever your style, we have the bedding layers you’ll need to design your own oasis, and a place to retreat as winter takes hold. Here are our top five layering tips, sure to entice you to keep that New Years’ resolution to get more sleep.

painted-medallion-quilt — **Painted Medallion Quilt**

Select sheets that reflect your personal style. Some prefer cotton percale’s crisp cool feel, while others love cotton sateen for is softer, smoother hand. Either way, we use only 100% GOTS certified organic cotton to create our luxurious bedding so you can sleep more soundly.

fountain-sheet-set — **Fountain Sheet Set**

Add warmth and texture with cotton matelasses. These heavily-stitched “blanket” layers are a nice way to add lightweight warmth. Select a matelasse color to accent your sheets or to anchor any other elements you add to your bedding design.

ellora-matelasse — **Ellora Matelasse Coverlet**

Lay on a duvet cover or a quilt…for both warmth and contrast. Quilts and duvet covers are your bed’s topcoat, and highlight everything underneath. Duvet covers encase a down, cotton, or poly-filled comforter. Duvet covers can be used without a top sheet—where the duvet cover is washed with the fitted sheet. A quilt is used with a full set of sheets, where the flat sheet protects the quilt from frequent laundering.

Pile on the accent pillows and watch them bring everything together! We love European squares in the back to anchor the pillows and shams (and to prop yourself up for pre-slumber reading). Pillows create visual interest between your sheets and all your top-of-bed elements. Decorative pillows that contrast with your bedding placed near the front of the cases and shams add dimension. Position them as you like, there are no rules…use concepts of symmetry only if they apply to you. For even more visual interest and warmth, add a complimenting throw.

freesia-duvet-with-pillows — **Braided Velvet Accent Pillow**

Remember to conceal the box spring to keep your bed from being woefully under-dressed. Our Waterfall linen chambray bed skirt comes in six lighter shades that coordinate with all our bedding and are oh-so-easy to install. It’s a tailored finish that will compliment your style!

waterfall-bedskirt — **Waterfall Bedskirt**

winter-bedding-sale

Bedding, Furniture, Pillows

How to decorate with accent pillows

August 15, 2016August 15, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

Decorative pillows are the easiest way to refresh your bed room or living room.

Use a specific color in the pillow to tie it back to your bedding for a coordinated look, or use the pillows to anchor the bed in the room by bringing the wall color onto the bed’s pillowscape. Either approach will make the bed the center of attention.

ariabedding_1 — Aria Duvet & Shams with Juliette Pillow

Stacking or propping up decorative pillows into the mix of sleeping pillows on the bed adds depth and visual interest. There is no wrong approach. Pillows can be added in even numbers, or odd. Layer them on with smaller sized pillows toward the front.

axellebedding_2 — Axelle Duvet & Shams with Braided Velvet Pillow

The same color principles apply when accenting a living room sofa. Pillows will help to make upholstered pieces a part of the room, reflect your personal style, and can easily change seasonally. There are a few logical rules that will help you select the right quantities.

Think of pillows symmetrically, where each side of the sofa should be balanced with a complimentary number of pillows.

sofa-fall16-pillows_3

sectional-pillows_4
Sectional sofas are trending. They have their own special 7 pillow approach.
Think 2 – 3 – 2…

Have fun, and pile your pillows on!

Bedding

What makes bedding luxurious?

August 8, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

We spend about one third of our lives asleep, which makes bedding a splurge-worthy necessity. What makes bedding luxurious lies in the materials from which it is manufactured. Cotton that is GOTS certified organic is our standard.

We use fine extra-long staple cotton to create our bedding. Single pic, single ply 300 thread-count sateen and percale weaves make our bedding extremely soft, strong, and luxurious. Look for organic cotton to ensure that your bedding has not been chemically treated.

LucyBedding_2 — **Lucy Duvet Covers & Shams**

Percale weave can be compared to a basket weave, and produces a crisp and cool feel, much like a cotton dress shirt. Percale is tightly woven for longer lasting wear. Its design characteristics make it perfect for casual bedrooms.

ShayeBedding_3 — **Shaye Duvet Cover & Shams**

FreesiaBedding_4 — **Freesia Duvet Cover & Shams**

Sateen weaves are smooth and silky. Sateen inherently has an element of shine due to the denseness of its weave, so it adds a dressier and more glamorous look to any bedroom.

AriaBedding_5 — **Aria Duvet Cover & Shams**

PaintedMedallionBedding_6 — **Painted Medallion Duvet Cover & Shams**

One of our favorite bedding materials is European linen. Perfect for duvet covers, organic linen adds texture and visual interest to the bed top.

ToBayGoBedding_7 — **To-Bay-Go Duvet Cover & Shams**

Accessories, Bedding

How to Be a Great Wedding Guest

June 20, 2016June 14, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

Wedding season has arrived, and for your very best friends and close family members a thoughtful and uniquely personal gift for the happy couple will trump any registry’s blender. Mix sentimental (photos) with beautiful (new bedding) for a memorable gift!

To Bay Go Duvet

Be it to toast a dear friend, family member, or a co-worker, many of us will be attending weddings in the next few months. It’s an exciting time for the soon-to-be’s, but it can also be stressful. To be sure a part of your gift is being a great guest; here are a few tips on how to help the newlyweds have a fantastic day.

RSVP, ASAP! Wedding invitations may arrive by both electronic and posted mail. Be sure to respond as quickly as possible, and always RSVP to the invitation in the format in which it was received. If the invite arrives on embossed stationary, a texted reply will not do. This is a casual response to a formal request, and someone is tallying the RSVP cards. Don’t add to the confusion of planning the event by not providing requested details.

Post with care. You will, of course, be taking photos with your phone. But unless you are furnished with a hashtag, and some level of instruction by the bride and groom regarding how to share the day, please do not post images to social media while the wedding is happening. Yield to the professional photographer, and let them capture the special moments. You can collect the candid shots as the party and evening unfolds!

Be on time for the ceremony. What this really means is be sure you are parking the car twenty minutes before the actual wedding begins. If you arrive after the procession has started, seat yourself as quickly as possible in the rear of the venue to ensure the bride is center stage.

It’s not your day. Please don’t wear a predominantly white or ivory ensemble. And it’s best to leave an all-black outfit for another day as well.

Bedding, Summer 2016

Five Tips for Preparing Your Bedroom for Summer!

May 23, 2016May 31, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

Spring-time drizzle and gray skies will soon give way to warm breezes and rustling green leaves. While we wait to open up the windows, it’s the perfect time to say “so long” to winter and welcome summer bedding into your bedroom. Here are a few tips to prepare for, and transition to, the balmy nights to come.

Lighten up, and pack up your winter worries. Use light and bright accents to add extra pop to your summer-weight bedding after you store your heavier blankets and coverings for the season.
Give the bed a clean sweep. Before you make the bed, be sure to flip and rotate the mattress while laundering mattress pads and mattress covers. Vacuum the mattress using an upholstery attachment before returning the washed and thoroughly dried mattress pad, then make the bed in your favorite summer sheets. Try adding a patterned quilt and shams for light-weight warmth and visual interest.
Accent the room for the season. Remove candles which evoke a sense of winter’s low light (and flicker like a source of heat) ,and replace them with your favorite vases and cache pots for fresh flowers.
Let the sun shine in. Wash the windows, and replace your heavy insulated draperies with sheers that let the summer light in.
Get ready for your best night’s sleep in months!

Bedding, Pillows, Rugs, Uncategorized

Gray is the New Beige!

April 18, 2016April 13, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

In a word, Greige. Gray is the new beige, and as a color visually cools a space in summer months while adding a warmed glow in the dimmed light of fall and winter. It is the perfect neutral, half way between black and white on the color scale. Because it pairs perfectly with everything, gray continues to be the hottest go-to color for both product and interior design. Classic. Sleek and refined. Considered the color of intellect, gray matters for so many reasons.

Accessories, Bedding, Spring 2016, throws

Layer on Texture & Warmth with Throws…

March 14, 2016March 7, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

Throws are warm and welcoming additions to any living room, family room, or bed room. They also bring a new level of design to any space. Throws often have three qualities that make them standout additions:

Color
Texture
Pattern

Layering any of these three elements onto a bed or upholstered furniture will add depth and a visual focal point. Here are a few easy ways to add the versatility of a throw where you need it most:

On the sofa. When adding the visual impact of a throw to any piece of upholstered furniture, consider your personal style and the frequency with which your new throw will be used. For a casual look, toss the throw onto the back of a chair or sofa, and drape without folding. Fringed throws add visual drama when placed this way with the fringe landing just shy of the floor. The look is warm and cozy, and casually inviting. If your style is more formal or structured, drape a neatly folded throw over the arm of your favored piece of furniture for an orderly and at-your-service look. Place a patterned or textured throw over the back of a neutral colored sofa to add some visual spice. No matter your style, the visual contrast of a throw will add depth to your space.

On the bed. Throws bring the utility of added warmth to any bed, but they also add personality and convey welcome to overnight guests. Folded and draped the long way, throws add depth and texture to any sized bed, but make larger beds seem more cozy and inviting. Throws bring a sense of design unity to guest rooms with multiple beds in them by simply placing coordinating throws on each bed. When pulled up over the bottom half of a bed, throws add immediate visual contrast…..and keep sweet dreams from being interrupted on chilly nights.

Bedding, Pillows

Five Tips: Coordination and Pattern Play

January 25, 2016January 25, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

We love to mix it up here at Company C, especially when it comes to patterns! We are often asked for advice on mixing and matching motifs, and it is the easiest way to create a custom and personal look. There are no hard and fast rules, but these five tips should help you embrace pattern and forget about solid neutrals for a while…

SPR16_PRISM_BLUE_PILLOW-copy

Select one favorite pattern to be the monarch of the room. Work in two more patterns designed to highlight and accent the dominant motif.
Scale your pattern sizes. Select one large, one medium and one small pattern if you are brave, one medium and one small pattern if you are just getting started with pattern…..you can always accent with a larger pattern later!
Let color provide the continuity. Choose patterns that share a common color to create unity, or that share a less significant color as an accent.
Use a solid element to create harmony. For bed design, a flat sheet or shams in a coordinating solid color can be used to separate and delineate two bold patterns.
Add unrelated pieces to bring it all together. Decorative pillows with artisanal accents and design elements differing from everything in the room will add pop, and a throw will bring textural dimension.

LucyBlog

And we know some of you will never give up your solid and perfectly matched sheets. You can still add pattern to your bed with a duvet cover and shams, or a quilt and quilted shams. Both add warmth and design dimension, yet each has its special nuances to consider when picking the perfect piece for you.

A duvet cover is intended to encase a down or poly-filled comforter, and in the true European tradition, serves as the equivalent of a flat sheet as well as the warm bedding layer. While many use a flat sheet in conjunction with a duvet cover, the cover itself is easily removed to be washed with the other sheets. Matching shams are available.

A quilt is also a warm top layer with insulating batting sewn into place between a front and a reverse layer of cotton. Often detailed with intricate stitches, quilts are an easy way to add warmth and interest to a bed.

Bedding, Pillows, Rugs

Toute Suite: Designing your bedroom from the floor up.

January 18, 2016by Company CLeave a Comment

Creating an inspired master bedroom or a restful haven for guests just requires a little planning. Here at Company C, we of course love to start with art for the floor! And while not all bedrooms require a rug, the following six tips will help you get your master bedroom project started.

Give the bed the prime real estate. The bed is the focal point of the room, and its placement will guide the rest of your design process. Once the bed’s location is determined, consider rugs to help anchor the room….it’s always nice to start a chilly day with a few steps on a warm rug, and our rug planner helps make selecting a bedroom rug(s) easy!
Dress the bed. Layer on sheets and pillows, quilts, matelasse, or a duvet cover for the top of the bed…this is where the fun begins. Apply a heavy coat of your personal style.. …match and balance symmetrically, or mix patterns with abandon and pile on the pillows. Don’t forget tailored bed panels to dress up the bed’s foundation.
Tie your spaces together. If your bedroom has an adjoining bathroom, select a shower curtain that matches or coordinates with an element from the bed such as the duvet cover or quilt. This is an easy way to add color and pattern in the bath and create harmony throughout the entire space.
Think beyond the dresser. As bedrooms become retreats, people are spending more time reading and relaxing in a space once designed primarily for sleeping and dressing. A chair upholstered in fabric to accent bedding (or a rug) provides a spot to rest or reflect, and adds design depth to the room. Add accent pillows or a throw, and you’ll always work from home!
Don’t overlook the windows. Draperies that coordinate with bed-top layers (see our dynamite new Echo collection) extend pattern and texture to the windows and diffuse direct light to ensure your space is serene and calming.
Barely made it past the diagram? Don’t give up! Visit your local Company C retail partner or designer for advice , or call us…we love to help!