Make Yellow Bedroom Pillows White Again

I washed up our bed linens like I do every week but as I was putting them back on the bed I noticed something.

Our pillows were yellow! Ick!

Now I wash our pillows often but I had never noticed that they were slowly starting to become dingy and yellow. Let me tell you that is a quick motivator to run out and buy new pillows. But I held back, thought frugally, and browsed online for some help.

I'm a little paranoid about ugly pillows. Years ago we were at an elderly friend's house who was getting ready to have a garage sale. She pulled these absolutely awful pillows out and insisted on selling them.  My husband was sweetly trying to ask her if she was sure she wanted to put them out and she was insistent. That was about 12 years ago and the memory of those pillows stays with me to this day. {{{{{sssshhhuuddder}}}}}

So back to my own icky pillows.

My first instinct was to toss them out. I mean I DID NOT want to put my head on those.  But considering they had been part of a Pottery Barn Bedding splurge I wasn't too keen on just letting them go so easily.

Luckily are were machine washable but obviously just washing them hadn't helped the yellowing factor.

Seems I wasn't the only one with such a problem too. A quick search on Pinterest let me know…

a) I wasn't alone.

b) There was hope.

c) I had the tools.

I did no measuring when I gave my pillows the whitening soak but this is what I used…

• Laundry Detergent (liquid)
• Washing Powder
• OxiClean
• A dishwasher tab (Finish brand)

I have a front loader and I wanted to give my pillows a good soak so I set them in a bucket (really squishing down) to soak them while we had school.

I rinsed in the washer and then washed them as normal.

Drying well is important and took a long time because you want to make sure and dry your pillows thoroughly so no mold or mildew issues come up.

Now my pillows are wonderfully white again! Woo hoo!

I've also rounded up three posts around the web to help you wash up your own pillows.

Get Your Dingy Pillows White Again

• How to Whiten Yellowed Pillows
• Make Yellow Pillows Look Like New Again With a DIY Whitening Solution
• How to Naturally Whiten Pillows