Down with Comforters!
This was the headline on the front page of the Off Duty section in the weekend Wall Street Journal. The article to which it refers is, alas, typical of the pablum found every week in this section. In it Sara Ruffin Costello focuses on the putative fact that “many aesthetes have been reconsidering the down comforter, some banishing it altogether.”
I will have to confess that I do not care one whit that the aesthetes think it “a style error,” but I do share their dislike of the Duvet. I do not own one, but I encounter them frequently when I travel, and I think it sufficient condemnation to say that the down comforter is “a sweat factory,” as its aesthete detractors readily acknowledge. For me, in fact, it is worse. If I fall asleep under one, I am soon awake again because I am too hot. Then, I find that I can sleep neither with it (“too hot”) nor without it (“too cold”). I can, of course, stretch it across party of my body, leaving the rest uncovered. But then I am too hot and too cold at the same time.
Am I alone in this experience? If not, why have the fancier hotels all gone over to the down comforter?
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
What you need, Professor, is a member of your staff to constantly re-position the comforter every 15 to 30 minutes, or so, while you sleep. That way, just before the body parts covered begin to get too warm, the comforter is moved by the loyal and timely staff member to the the area becoming too cool. This simple procedure should indeed produce a perfect, even nights sleep, guaranteed to have you wake up refreshed and perky, just in time to author your first post of the day for for us millions of Rico fans waiting, hungry for our morning brain stimulant. Or you could throw the damn thing away and buy a blanket.
Re: Down with Comforters!
Those are, indeed, the alternatives -- and I do carry in my suitcase a silk sleep-sack that sometimes does the trick. I think that I found it advertised by Magellan.
Re: Down with Comforters!
A white down comforter on a narrow, unadorned, rock-hard bed is a staple in German-speaking countries, where I travel a lot on business. I love it. The trick is to cool the room down. Turn the heat off; open a window, if possible. Then enjoy that snug-in-a-cocoon feeling.
Nov '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
If ever there were a section that could easily go from the driveway to the recycle pile, it is WSJ's Off Duty section.
Oct '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
That works for me in cold climates or seasons.
But near the beach here in SoCal, my wife needs one or two comforters even in the summer, so I depend on a base layer of a light blanket most of the year and roll the comforters over on top of her, so she has them doubled. And I still have to lobby for opening the sliding door far enough to matter.
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
There is no pleasure better than a down comforter on a cold winter's night. If, Mr. Rahe, you are down on down it's because you are sleeping in a room that is too warm. If it's a woman v. man ideal temperature thing, then I feel your pain, and can only suggest that you provide her with TWO down comforters.
PS: There are even non-winter down comforters, but at some point during the spring, all of my down comforters are sent to Canada for summer vacation.
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
PS: the duvet cover also needs to be of a good quality cotton--which of course makes the whole thing even more insulating, and aggravates your problem; try sleeping in a room @ 62-64 degrees F.
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
Question, isn't the purpose of a section in a newspaper like the WSJ "Off Duty" section to be intellectually unchallenging pablum?
Heck, after catching up on NRO, Drudge, Ricochet, TV news, etc. I myself turn to "Ugliest Tatoos" and "Ihazahotdog" for a little mind fluff.
Re: Down with Comforters!
Nick Stuart: Question, isn't the purpose of a section in a newspaper like the WSJ "Off Duty" section to be intellectually unchallenging pablum?
Heck, after catching up on NRO, Drudge, Ricochet, TV news, etc. I myself turn to "Ugliest Tatoos" and "Ihazahotdog" for a little mind fluff. · Jan 9 at 9:43am
That sounds as if it is a lot more interesting than the articles in Off Duty.
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
I agree, Paul. Maybe an open window is the answer, but then you contend with noise, light. Yesterday I was shopping online for a substitute-- a good old blanket--not too heavy or too light. Devil of a time finding anything like what used to be standard fare. BTW, I can identify with the Alpine down comforter experience, but is the SF Bay area cold enough for that?
Re: Down with Comforters!
It is often difficult to get the temperature of a hotel room down to the requisite level, and one must plan ahead. Usually, if I have my wits about me, I call the front desk and ask for a blanket or two.
Oct '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
Got to say I am a comforter lover - but there are many different qualities to be found. We got one from Costco that is awesome - somehow never too hot or too cold. But my husband has a down sleeping bag from his youth that could cook an egg - it simply makes you roast. Opening the window is also key, and something we fight about still. I am an open window person and hubby is not, but luckily the window in our bedroom is on my side of the bed and I am allowed a sliver even in winter. But you don't get the weight with a comforter that you can with the old fashioned bed-spread, and it is hard to find blankets that don't make you itch, or if synthetic, make you sweat. So I say high quality but not too much loft comforter, or the old-fashioned cotton blanket and quilt.
I have seen those silk sacks in catalogues and wondered about them - do you actually use yours?
Aug '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
Whenever I think of "comforter", I remember that the church across from Granma's church when I was growing up was called "The Church of the Holy Comforter" -- for years, I thought they had a giant fluffy bedspread suspended above their altar.
I was somewhat disappointed to walk into that church one day and discover there wasn't one.
I also remember Christ's promise, "If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father. And He shall give you another comforter." (Beautiful musical setting of this bit of Scripture by Tallis here.)
Nice to know that God is in the business of replacing our duvets, eh?
Edited on January 10, 2011 at 1:39amRe: Down with Comforters!
Xty:
I have seen those silk sacks in catalogues and wondered about them - do you actually use yours? · Jan 9 at 2:13pm
Occasionally, on the road. It is light, easy to carry, and rolls up into a very small bundle.
Re: Down with Comforters!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake: Whenever I think of "comforter", I remember that the church across from Granma's church when I was growing up was called "The Church of the Holy Comforter" -- for years, I thought they had a giant fluffy bedspread suspended above their altar.
I was somewhat disappointed to walk into that church one day and discover there wasn't one.
I also remember Christ's promise, "If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father. And He shall give you another comforter." (Beautiful musical setting of this bit of Scripture by Tallis here.)
Nice to know that God is in the business of replacing our duvets, eh? · Jan 9 at 4:37pm
Edited on Jan 09 at 04:39 pm
Somebody has to.
Aug '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
ParisParamus:
PS: There are even non-winter down comforters, but at some point during the spring, all of my down comforters are sent to Canada for summer vacation. · Jan 9 at 9:13am
You mean they don't migrate of their own accord?
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
MFR, all I know is that the day after the temperature reaches 75, they disappear, and are replaced by cotton blankets. Whether they take a taxi to Laguardia, or are picked up in the mouths of Canada geese, I haven't the slightest clue...
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake: Whenever I think of "comforter", I remember that the church across from Granma's church when I was growing up was called "The Church of the Holy Comforter" -- for years, I thought they had a giant fluffy bedspread suspended above their altar.
I was somewhat disappointed to walk into that church one day and discover there wasn't one.
I also remember Christ's promise, "If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father. And He shall give you another comforter." (Beautiful musical setting of this bit of Scripture by Tallis here.)
Nice to know that God is in the business of replacing our duvets, eh? · Jan 9 at 4:37pm
Edited on Jan 09 at 04:39 pm
Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem,.. (Isaiah 40:1)
Perhaps you can play this section from The Messiah by Handel as you snuggle in.
May '10
Re: Down with Comforters!
Comforter = lame to me. Quilts, good; blankets, good; comforter (when not followed by "down") sounds too marketing-ish; too department store.
I assume quilt comes from the French "couette," which is actually a cool comforting word. Yes, it is true that I discovered down in France. On a bed that wasn't my own...
Thread over.