{"id":15456,"date":"2016-06-13T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=15456"},"modified":"2016-06-12T17:27:23","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T00:27:23","slug":"investing-in-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=15456","title":{"rendered":"Investing in Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"linen-pillows1\"Good morning! I’ve always appreciated the finer things in life — some might call it “expensive taste” (“some” is actually\u00a0my husband). But I also have a cheapskate side, or maybe it’s this sense that I don’t actually deserve certain high quality items yet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One of those someday-when-I-feel-deserving items is linen bedding. We have a small closet at the edge of\u00a0our upstairs landing where I keep all our sheets and pillowcases, but most of them are from Target. I’m pretty sure that the fiber content is indestructible synthetic that will float out into the galaxies completely unscathed should our planet ever combust. I’ve salivated over the thought of drifting off to dreamland nestled upon 100% flax linen sheets and pillowcases\u00a0since I was a little girl. I was an odd kid, what can I say?<\/p>\n

\"linen-pillows3\"<\/p>\n

So, today is my birthday and I thought it was high time I treated myself to some linen bedding. I’ve had a linen duvet cover for a while now, but I finally bit the bullet and ordered this linen sheet\u00a0set<\/a> last week. Once it arrived, it was a beautiful expanse of white on my bed, but I felt an urge\u00a0to add a little extra…grey.<\/p>\n

\"linen-pillows4\"<\/p>\n

Using the instructions for the most basic pillowcase from this tutorial<\/a>, I whipped up a couple of grey linen versions and it was so fast and so easy and so satisfying, I couldn’t believe I’d never made simple pillowcases for my bed before. The only modification I made to the tutorial\u00a0was to fold the pillow edge 3″ instead of 4″ since I wanted the insert to be completely covered.\u00a0The French seams are tres luxe. I’d like to try this Purl Soho tutorial<\/a> with the envelope edge next. I’m already starting to iron other neutral-toned linen. Highly addictive and beautiful to boot. Love.<\/p>\n

The gorgeous peonies were a birthday gift from a friend. My adoration of pink flowers is well-documented on Instagram and these make me so very happy.<\/p>\n

\"linen-pillows5\"<\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking a lot about investing in quality. I’m no stranger to bargain-hunting and a good deal is always worthy of celebration, because cost doesn’t necessarily dictate quality. Yet sometimes paying top dollar is totally worth it. After reading this book<\/a> and a slew of other minimalism books, I’ve been reevaluating how I approach everything in my home and my notions of taste and style and quality. I’ve been guilty of wanting pricey, brand-name stuff in the past because of course it’s\u00a0a way to impress others\u00a0and it was an easy way to feel better about myself even if it wasn’t altogether healthy. There’s also a kind of safety in established brands. A particular logo may say: “Look,\u00a0I have good taste.” And though I’m well aware that filling life with expensive things isn’t all that meaningful in the end, it wasn’t until I stopped buying clothes four years ago that I started to examine what was<\/em> meaningful. I discovered that\u00a0without the crutch of trends and my go-to stores, I didn’t know what my style\u00a0was at all, and this wasn’t limited to apparel.<\/p>\n

I’m still exploring what “investing in quality” looks like for me. I guess there are certain elements like my love of linen and neutrals that have been unchanging over the years, but I’m still forging my own style and learning what my personal tastes are\u00a0(and yes, they will continue to evolve). You would think that after living over 40\u00a0years, it would be a no-brainer, but no. Maybe I’ll never know for sure, but it helps to shrug\u00a0off the little voices in my head that\u00a0blather on saying things like,\u00a0“you should look like this at this age,” or “you should own these things because ‘successful’ people have them,” or…anything with “should”.<\/p>\n

\"linen-pillows2\"<\/p>\n

Hm. I’m almost always surprised at what I start typing when I create these blog posts. My plan was just to mention the linen pillows, but I suppose\u00a0I’m feeling contemplative on this 13th day of June, now that I’m\u00a045. It feels like a significant age somehow, and I’m excited to see what will unfold.<\/p>\n

P.S. The winner of the giveaway<\/a> is Dora, congrats!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning! I’ve always appreciated the finer things in life — some might call it “expensive taste” (“some” is actually\u00a0my husband). But I also have a cheapskate side, or maybe it’s this sense that I don’t actually deserve certain high quality items yet. One of those someday-when-I-feel-deserving items is linen bedding. We have a small closet at the edge of\u00a0our upstairs landing where I keep all our sheets and pillowcases, but most of them are from Target. I’m pretty sure that the fiber content is indestructible synthetic that will float out into the galaxies completely unscathed should our planet ever combust. I’ve salivated over the thought of drifting off to dreamland nestled upon 100% flax linen sheets and pillowcases\u00a0since I was a little girl. I was an odd kid, what can I say? So, today is my birthday and I thought it was high time I treated myself to some linen bedding. I’ve had a linen duvet cover for a while now, but I finally bit the bullet and ordered this linen sheet\u00a0set last week. Once it arrived, it was a beautiful expanse of white on my bed, but I felt an urge\u00a0to add a little extra…grey. Using the instructions for the most basic pillowcase from this tutorial, I whipped up a couple of grey linen versions and it was so fast and so easy and so satisfying, I couldn’t believe I’d never made simple pillowcases for my bed before. The only modification I made to the tutorial\u00a0was to fold the pillow edge 3″ instead of 4″ since I wanted the insert to be completely covered.\u00a0The French seams are tres luxe. I’d like to try this Purl Soho tutorial with the envelope edge next. I’m already starting to iron other neutral-toned linen. Highly addictive and beautiful to boot. Love. The gorgeous peonies were a birthday gift from a friend. My adoration of pink flowers is well-documented on Instagram and these make me so very happy. I’ve been thinking a lot about investing in quality. I’m no stranger to bargain-hunting and a good deal is always worthy of celebration, because cost doesn’t necessarily dictate quality. Yet sometimes paying top dollar is totally worth it. After reading this book and a slew of other minimalism books, I’ve been reevaluating how I approach everything in my home and my notions of taste and style and quality. I’ve been guilty of wanting pricey, brand-name stuff in the past because of course it’s\u00a0a way to impress others\u00a0and it was an easy way to feel better about myself even if it wasn’t altogether healthy. There’s also a kind of safety in established brands. A particular logo may say: “Look,\u00a0I have good taste.” And though I’m well aware that filling life with expensive things isn’t all that meaningful in the end, it wasn’t until I stopped buying clothes four years ago that I started to examine what was meaningful. I discovered that\u00a0without the crutch of trends and my go-to stores, I didn’t know what my style\u00a0was at all, and this wasn’t limited to apparel. I’m still exploring what “investing in quality” looks like for me. I guess there are certain elements like my love of linen and neutrals that have been unchanging over the years, but I’m still forging my own style and learning what my personal tastes are\u00a0(and yes, they will continue to evolve). You would think that after living over 40\u00a0years, it would be a no-brainer, but no. Maybe I’ll never know for sure, but it helps to shrug\u00a0off the little voices in my head that\u00a0blather on saying things like,\u00a0“you should look like this at this age,” or “you should own these things because ‘successful’ people have them,” or…anything with “should”. Hm. I’m almost always surprised at what I start typing when I create these blog posts. My plan was just to mention the linen pillows, but I suppose\u00a0I’m feeling contemplative on this 13th day of June, now that I’m\u00a045. It feels like a significant age somehow, and I’m excited to see what will unfold. P.S. The winner of the giveaway is Dora, congrats!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-life","7":"category-sewing","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15456"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15471,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15456\/revisions\/15471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}