The Secret to Turning Your Sad Pillows Into Happy Ones

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After spending a day learning how to clean like a housekeeper at The Marlton Hotel, there's one thing I can honestly say I'll never do the same way again: display pillows on my bed. You see, the director of housekeeping, Linda Ajdari, is quite particular about this detail: "Every supervisor has their pet peeves," she says. 

According to Ajdari, there are two kinds of pillows: "Happy" ones, which are pressed flat and stand up straight on their own, and "sad" ones, which slouch and look messy. As you can see above, my first attempt wasn't so pretty. But lucky for us, she shared her insider secrets to pull off a hotel-approved presentation.

Step 1. Karate chop the middle 

The purpose of this technique is to make it easier to fit the pillow into the sham by folding it in half first. Then, once it unfolds inside of the pillowcase, it fits like a glove.

Step 2. Flatten aggressively

Next, press all of the air out of the pillow before standing it up. To do this, put your hands in the middle, then slowly push both them out in opposite directions repeatedly until your pillow is as flat as a board and about half as thick as before you started.

Step 3. Position with care

Once you're done, grab the top two corners of your pillowcase and stand the pillow up next to your bed frame — do not (I repeat, do not) lean it against the headboard. If you've successfully made a "happy" pillow it should stand tall and proud on its own. Tah-dah!

​Via