I think throw pillows look great with goose down/feather inserts. The poofy-ness and the squishy-ness scream luxury. On the other hand, fiberfill inserts fall kind of flat but they are very affordable and readily available. But I need down/feather inserts for the throw pillows in my house and I have figured out a way to find them for less than $5 a piece! They aren’t that expensive, but I see no need to buy new when I can reuse and save money at the same time while getting the look I love.
Even though the pillow racks at thrift stores might give you the willies, (you know, dust, mildew, etc.) I have learned over the years not to be afraid of thrift store throw pillows. You just need to be brave and give those dusty old pillows a little squeeze. You can easily identify a down/feather insert vs. fiberfill. When you find a pillow with a squishy-feather filled feel, buy it!
In 2010, when Trixie was in Pre-Kindergarten, I wanted to find something easy for her to do that was creative and fun for both of us. I had her paint on watercolor paper and fill the whole page. After the page dried I cut out large heart shapes. Then we attached the hearts to pieces of patterned scrap paper I had lying around, added some drips of Elmer’s glue, and dusted the glue with glitter. The glitter kept flaking off, so I made simple envelopes out of tracing paper and closed them up with a sticker. They were so cute!