We’re Painting The Blanket Pink!

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Oh! We’re painting the blanket pink!

Not black.

Not blue.

Yikes! What shall we do?

We’re painting the blanket pink!

My fun Mother-In-Law came in June to visit us. I had this project I wanted to do (dye a duvet cover pink), but I had been putting it off. She is a go-getter, my Mother-In-Law. She insisted we dye the comforter together the next day (what kind of mother-in-law is so gung-ho about making sure her son gets a pink coverlet on his bed?…The SUPER awesome kind!). Thank goodness we did. Because she was such a help. Amazing. And who knows when this lazy girl would have done it. It kind of terrified me.

I had originally seen a comforter like this on Apartment Therapy. It was in the home of S. Rohde Hill. He is a designer. So, of course, I tracked him down. I had to know where he had gotten his awesome blanket. I wanted the pop of pink in our bedroom. I had all ready made a pink pillow, and had a pink Otomi blanket, this would complete my need of three.

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It turns out it was a Target white duvet that he ingeniously dyed hot pink. He very kindly gave me some useful tips and information about how he did his, on his blog, The Aedis. I love his blog. He recently moved and I cannot wait to see what he does in his new space. I have also added his blog to my blog roll on the right. ‘Cause he is cool and you might want to check it out on other days, too.

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My Mother-In-Law so sweetly went out and purchased me a garbage can, some gloves, and an oar. An oar? I can hear your thoughts, “Jenni, you get weirder and weirder.” Well, while that is true, hear me out. In searching for the best way to dye this massive white duvet and the two pillow cases (which I purchased from Target.), I found a great tutorial on the blog The Hip Soiree. She used an oar. It was so smart! She dyed a couch slipcover orange. But it was the same process. I just followed her example.

Now, S. Rohde Hill informed me he put his duvet in his washing machine and simply “washed” it with one polyester dye tablet and one cotton dye tablet. Here is the problem: I have a front loader. He has a top loader. I do not have an agitator. Hence the garbage can and the oar.

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The dye packets were purchased from The Dharma Trading Company. The brand is iDye. They are one each of the polyester pink dye. And the cotton pink dye. I also purchased the fixative.

Here are the steps we went through:

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I put the garbage can in the shower. I filled the garbage can up with super hot water (just deep enough to submerge everything) from the shower head above. I added the dye packets. Stirred. I added the cover and pillow cases, stirred. And then I stirred and mixed the whole mess every five minutes for one hour, making sure everything stayed submerged in the process. I then drained the garbage can and rinsed the duvet and cases out in the shower before putting them in the washing machine for a good rinse. (And when I say, “I,” I mean my Mother-in Law and myself.)

What you will not see, is me in the shower, in my pink bathing suit, wringing the comforter over and over in the shower to get the dye out. My hands were pink.

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I rinsed and drained this three times in the washing machine.

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Then we went to a different bathtub and added the fixative. Even after three rinses in the washing machine, dye was still seeping out. I am glad I bought the fixative. After letting this rest for twenty minutes, I washed it in a real cycle. Then I dried it.

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We put it on the bed. And my son went to the pool and rowed himself around in a raft with the oar (supervised, of course). It was a great day! Who knew an oar was such an important item to have in the house?

Our duvet is a different shade of pink than Rohde’s was (I recently read he no longer has it). I think I got too anal with my rinsing and repeating. But I was terrified of it leaving a mark on the white duvet we use everyday. This was just going to be an extra accent blanket. And it is. Rohde’s was still much cooler. I used an old blanket I had laying around as the insert.

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But, I love the way it turned out (so does Murphy) and now I cannot wait to dye more things.

Have you dyed before? What was it? And was there a white light? (Groan.)

* Just a note: This post also could have been titled, “I have a rad husband.” Because even though he was not thrilled with the prospect of having pops of pink in his bedroom….he went along with it. He always encourages my creativity. And now he likes it. And I like him… Well, I’ve always liked him. : )

I shared this on Savvy Southern Style

And My Romantic Home

12 thoughts on “We’re Painting The Blanket Pink!

    • Thank you! In all honesty, I probably never would have done it if it had not been for my Mother-In-Law. She was such a help. And so sure of the project. I am so grateful to her and to Rohde for the idea! Thank you so much for the sweet words!

      Have a great weekend!

      Jenni

  1. Oh Jenni! Do you realize this picture if your bedroom should be in a magazine? It is amazing.

    Can you use the oar as wall decor to echo your bouy?

    Brynne

    • Oh, Brynne, you are so sweet. I very much appreciate that. We recently added patterned curtains (post to come) and I think it looks better now. You will have to let me know!

      The oar is plastic. Black and bright yellow. So, darn, it would not work. Unfortunately, because that could be cool!

      Thank you for your compliment. You made me smile and blush!

      Have a beautiful weekend!

      Jenni

  2. Your mother-in-law sounds so lovely! And your husband for not minding the pink! I can see why he like it – because it is gorgeous and does not scream “girly”.

    You have such an eye for color and what works, Jenni! Eclectic and sophisticated are really hard to do but you nail it every time!

    What a lot of work though!! I have never been brave enough to dye anything.

    • Thank you so much Cynthia! I do love my Mother-In-Law. You know, it took me many many years to “grow up” and realize what a gem she is. I am so grateful that our relationship is so easy now. I love to learn from her. She is a lot different from me, but that is also what makes her interesting.

      Of course, she does not know about this blog. Purely because I do not want her knowing I shared her stroganoff recipe. I would be in trouble!

      I am so grateful for your sweet comments. I sometimes worry about the color choices I make. Thank you for liking it! : )

      Have a great night!

      Jenni

  3. I feel a little stalky that I followed a referrer link to your blog, but I’m so excited you dyed something! Something big! I love it! Job we’ll done! (I’m addicted to exclamation points.)

    • Yay! You made my day! Thank you so much for seeing what I did. You were my complete guide. I could not have done it without you and Rohde. The oar was genius! Your couch was genius! Thank you for being brave and trying it first. You led the way for so many of us to be brave.

      Thank you again! I appreciate it.

      Jenni

  4. LOVE this!! The color combo & pillow patterns on your bed are absolutely stunning. I just found you through the YHL forums & absolutely adore your decor style! What a cool project — I can’t wait to look through the rest of your blog!

    • Hi Casey O! Thank you so much! I very much appreciate it! I will definitely check out your blog, too. It was such a fun project. A little worrisome, but fun!

      Thank you for the compliments! They made me so happy!

      Jenni

  5. I meant to leave you a reply when you first told me you were doing this and I never got around to it. I think it looks great, but man I’m glad I didn’t do it the way you did! I would have ruined it for sure. I really wish I still had mine, but my cat (R.I.P.) got mad at us for something and decided to pee all over it one day. It was pretty much toast after that.

    • Thank you so much! I am glad you like it! If it were not for my mother-in-law, I would have ruined it for sure. I was sad to hear about both your cat passing and the blanket being ruined. Yours was the coolest hot pink shade. You very much deserved to win with your color choices.

      I love reading your blog and seeing the cool things you come up with. That project with your kids in the last house was very cool!

      Thank you for stopping by and your awesome inspiration. And help (I would not have known where to start)!

      Have a beautiful weekend with your family!

      Jenni

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