Serena & Lily poufs

Pouf! You’re in love. Right?  This is the kind of thing I dreamed about when I was a little girl: marshmallow like miniature ottomans available in a rainbow of colors.

Sadly, the Serena and Lily Poufs are $450. What’s a girl to do when the price tag is so steep?

Serena and Lily

They are just so visually inviting that I can’t help but want them.  All.  Here’s what Lillie from Lillie’s Blog says about poufs and their steep price tag:

But at $225-$325, they’re hard to justify. Especially since no one can sleep on them or put clothes in them or drive them, or use them for some other very functional purpose. You can sit on them, or put your feet on them. But mostly I just want to look at them. I LOVE them.

Amazon has lots of poufs for less than $200~I hate that that’s actually a pretty good price for them but it’s hard to tell the quality from a little photo.  A big part of what makes a pouf poufy is the stitching and it’s shape.

Be very careful buying them on ebay, make sure you buy from a reputable person.  For example, I’m no expert and you don’t need to take my advice but, this seller doesn’t seem to be responding to buyers and they have poufs listed for $99.  This seller, on the other hand seems to be shipping poufs to happy customers for about $114, just make sure you read the fine print~the poufs come unstuffed unless you pay $35 to have them “expertly” stuffed.

I have two poufs. The thin brown one is more like a floor cushion but is very pouflike. I got it from the Metrolina ~ basically a local antiques/flea market it’s an old a vintage pouf with some loose stitching but, it was only $8.  I stalked the other pouf at One Kings Lane {click here to learn how I use OKL}.  For months I wanted a pouf so I saved up some credit at OKL and waited, just hoping one day they would have some poufs for sale.  Finally, they had three colors so I grabbed up the pink one.  I think the poufs were $250?ish. What I do remember is I that I didn’t have enough store credit to purchase it so I paid $75 to cover what I didn’t have plus shipping.  For me $75 for something that tiny is a lot but knowing that they normally sell for $150-$400 {I know, crazy right…are they stuffed with albino and pink kitten fur?} I thought $75 was a fair price for me.

The very first thing I did as soon as I got my pouf was to promptly place it in every room of our house and then gaze at it longingly wishing I had 87 more poufs to arrange around all my stuff.  Then, the second thing I did was flip it over and open it up~what the heck WAS inside that thing?

I figured you’d want to see it too.  It’s a bunch of torn up little pieces of foam.

Here’s the inside of my vintage pouf.  It feels like the same stuff, just covered in black fabric.  I’ve heard of people stuffing them with old clothes, wadded up newspaper and fabric scraps.  If you are rich I guess you could wad up hundred-dollar bills and stuff it with those.

It’s real and it’s spectacular.

Target sold metallic poufs for $59 in the spring and of course they sold out super fast.  Here’s a photo from Lori May Interiors~she referred to the zipper around the bottom as “unfortunate” and I have to agree.  I think I’d be tempted to empty out the frame that’s in there and stuff it with cut up foam pieces for a more natural less I just had plastic surgery look.

Want to DIY a pouf? You could make an Amy Butler gumdrop pillow

Or a double stack of the Amy Butler Honeybun Poufs, oh mercy, has anyone made these?

Etsy is also a great place to find some poufs and things of that nature, check out aletafae for lots of pretty choices.

How about a knit pouf from danasjoy?

Love these crochet poufs by lacasadecoto in Spain.

ack, no link: pinterest

PS, if you are 8 years old and creating a Barbie house and want to make a Barbie pouf, just grab a sea urchin.

 

And here are a few more poufy resources:

Just Morocco: $130 Poufs: unstuffed~anyone ever bought one from this shop?

Table Tonic: $199 :: a fellow blogger with a shop but shipping is from Australia, I did the estimated shipping to NC and it was $67.

Bohemia Pouf :: $90-117

How to DIY a pouf via Apartment Therapy

And, I just checked out the upcoming sales at One Kings Lane, looks like tomorrow, Wednesday July 6th at 11am EST there is a Wunderley sale. They offer Moroccan decor and have poufs on their website, fingers crossed for a good deal.

So what are your thoughts on poufs? Do you have one? Do you want one?  Where did you get yours?