for the past two years d*s has been hosting the ugliest pillow contest to celebrate all things out-of-date, torn to pieces and horribly tacky. we don’t normally do a lot of trash-talking or product-dissing here, but once a year i like to switch it up and see what sort of scary accessories lurk in people’s homes.
if you’re unfamiliar with the contest, here’s the rundown: every year we host a contest along with pillows and throws to see who has the ugliest pillow in america. for one week we accept entries and then narrow it down to a final 10. once the top 10 are decided (or should i say bottom ten?) we open up the voting to you, the readers, to decide who is the owner of america’s ugliest pillow. once our top three winners are chosen they receive brand new thomas paul pillows of their choice, courtesy of pillows and throws, to replace their award-winning ugly pillows.
you can browse some of the past years’ entries right here and here, but if you’re ready to join the contest, here are the rules:
1. all pillows must be photographed (voters are always interested in good photos so please take time to set up a nice shot) and emailed to designsponge [at] gmail [dot] com by TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH AT 10PM, EST.
2. all photos must be attached in JPEG form. please do not send flickr links, website links, or zipped folders. please send all of your images in one email.
3. please write “ugliest pillow contest” in the subject line of your email
4. due to shipping costs, we can only accept entries from the united states this year
1st place will receive 2 thomas paul pillows of their choice to replace their ugly pillow, and 2nd and 3rd place will both receive a new thomas paul pillow of their choice to replace their ugly pillows. thanks to pamela stanmire at pillows and throws for donating the award-pillows and thank you to thomas paul for the lovely designs.
[pillows shown above are the newest collection of thomas paul pillows at pillows and throws]
26 Comments
Next Tuesday will be the 4th of November and not 5th
Does anyone know the provenance of that lovely bench in the top photo?
Wow these pillows are beautiful, I can’t believe the detailing as if they were taken right from an antique engraving.
There are going to be a lot of entries for this one!
yes WHERE is that fantastic bench in the top photo from??? I LOVE it!
i absolutely LOVE the brown+yellow bird pillow. it makes me want to hit the thrift store for the ugliest pillow i can find just so’s i can enter this dealy!
Can the ugly pillows be photographed together, or does each pillow require its own photo? (I have coordinating ugly pillows – they are extra ugly when arranged together :)
Darn it, there’s a whole world of ugly european pillows too. Sigh.
Where is the couch from in the last picture!? its lovely.
I love pillows. I have pillows in my website too.
I’m brazilian and i love design sponge!
Lucimara Scomparim
How fun!!! I will be searching for an ugly pillow!!
Phew! You scared me for a second and I thought you were implying that the pillows in the pictures above were competing for “The Ugliest Pillow”!!!! I was like, “Umm, apparently I have really awful taste, because I love those!” hahahaha…
Thanks for the post!
ohhh yeah!!!
my favorite time of the year (plus DIY contest)
looks like fun. I will see what I can do.
Ah, the annual Ugly Pillow Contest is always a riot! I was (and still am) the owner of Ugly Pillow #7 from the very first contest. It is still [used as my booster seat] in my car, and I love the look of horror on the faces of my friends when I tell them that, at one point in time, there was a matching couch that accompanied it.
!!!
I love this contest!
I can’t wait to see the submissions!
OMG. It is my first time here and I thought the pictured pillows were the out of date ones! I thought that I had really lost my sense of style because I love them. Ha.
I’m exactly the same as Words&Eggs! I thought you were implying those beautiful cushions were ugly, and I had dreadful taste. LOL I think they’re all beautiful, off to have a closer look.
The pillows look great in the photos.. but I love the couch
The bench & sofa are both vintage pieces we found on eBay. We had the sofa professionally re-upholstered and redid the bench ourselves.
Bring on the ugly pillows :)
No!!!! I just threw out the most awful christmas pillow ever!
Ha, ha! The ugly pillows made me cringe…and laugh.
I could scream…I just last week discarded (with great pleasure) a very ugly, squashed “hooked rug” owl pillow w/one missing huge green googly eye made many years ago by my mom…but, to my surprise, inside was a rather cute needlepoint Scottie dog w/a red bow. I’m keeping him.
Same as Word&Eggs ! I was worried for a few seconds. My taste is known to be dreadful (I’m actually embroiding pillows I own, in a kenzo-ish way), but I really thought those pillows were stylish.
I also agree with Sophie S: yes, ugly pillows have crossed the ocean to Europe. My mother-in-law owns some interesting homemade rags from the 60′s with an fake Egyptian motif… so cute !
I’m excited anyway to see the submissions !
oh i am sooo winning this!
Those pillows look perfect on that sofa. Could not have done a better job myself.
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