where's the print above the bed from --i LOVE it!

Wow. Spiders in the pillowcase. I had never considered that. That changes everything. From now on, I will be an outie.

This article made me laugh- a lot. As a student nurse I was taught that the opening of a pillowcase should face away from the door or entrance to a room. This, I was told, came from Florence Nightingale, who decided that this was the best way to stop sand or dust getting into the pillowcases was to have them all facing this way. This, by the way, was in addition to having the bottom sheet so tight that the ward Sister could bounce a coin on it......

Always an outie, never an inny

If the ends are out, however, it's easier for the spiders to get into the pillow cases in the first place!

Stava- I love it too!

I am a staunch outward facing enthusiast!

I'm a righty.

I love when AT debates pointless topics! I hope this one gets as heated as the toiletpaper discussion!

it must be my husband who wrote to Dear Abby :-) We have this discussion on a daily basis. I do them outwardly, he does them in and I HATE it with a passion. I think he does it to piss me off (he loves torturing me with the details of interior design) it is his sense of dark humor coming thru. We also have a small square pillow that sits in between all our pillows, I always sit it square, he has to place it as a diamond.... aggggghhhhh. the joys of being married... tho now that we have a son - all has gone to the drain, he does whatever he wants with the pillow and I have to live with it.... :-)

Inward, only because I sleep with my head on the edge of the pillow on the left side of the bed and can't stand having the ends near my face.

Amusing, as I was just thinking about this the other day as I was making my bed. I don't really care either way, honestly, but I guess if I had to make a choice I would say out.

Laura
http://www.justalittlebit.net

My rationale is that the ends of the pillowcases go to the outside just like the ends of the blankets go to the outside - it all makes for a smoother and more well-made looking bed.

To me, "outie" seems so obvious that I am shocked this is even a question. People really put the open ends of the pillowcase pointing at each other?

I've never been able to get excited by the over/under toilet paper debate, but maybe I have found my equivalent.

Beth, I'm an arachnophobe too, trust me you'll sleep better if you 1. shake the pillowcases out BEFORE you go to bed! and 2. consider looking into oils that repel spiders, lavender is one that's also very sleep-friendly.

If you were staying in a hotel, use a little as soon as you've checked in, it should have time to get to work before you hit the sack.

At home, you may also want to look into various solutions like using a citronells/citrusy polish on the base boards and other wood round your bed - I read that they trained the spider in arachnophobia by using lemon-scented Mr Sheen, because spiders taste through their feet: further proof that they're hostile aliens, at least! lol

Chestnuts in season and various proprietory sprays work well, and if you're travelling you can also buy plug-in repellers, do your research because some have good reviews, and some bad.

Always facing out! Plus I'm such a neat freak I also tuck the edges of the pillowcases back in toward the pillow, turning a traditionally-hemmed pillowcase into an envelope-style one.

I do them both facing the same way. It doesn't matter if it's right or left. I never even thought about facing them both outwardly, or inwardly. Strange.

If someone else would make my bed (or help me make it), I wouldn't care either way.

Some years ago I was making the bed and inadvertently grabbed king size pillow cases for the standard pillows I was using. I didn't feel like taking the pillow cases off so I folded the extra fabric under and, voila! The pillows looked neat and finished and it didn't matter which way they faced. I started using oversize pillowcases whenever i could.

I am truly surprised that anyone cares!

I do the same as cassielynn - they both point the same way (either right or left) so one ends up facing in and one faces out.

I never thought about spiders in my pillowcase before. (Just typing wouldn't fully convey my reaction here...) Great, another irrational fear, along with not sleeping with my arm hanging over the edge of the bed because Something (what is it? Where? Why am I not afraid of it during the day?) will reach out from under the bed and grab it.

on the outside. but i also fold them under the pillow.

Why would you put a pillowcase that has a design like this to the inside of the bed? isn't the idea to show off how beaitufl it is?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aiRPeS8RqUo/SXkfz02yykI/AAAAAAAAGZs/K2M6Be_VveY/s1600-h/100_2709 %28Medium%29.jpg

Mine absolutely point inward and are tucked underneath. IT seems unmade to have them flapping outwards. Then regular pillows for sleeping get covered up with pillow with shams on them anyway, and that way all you see are the neat edges

I always lay my pillows with the ends facing out. Nothing to do with germs or spiders, it's just how my mother did it... and her mother... and her mother... you get the picture.

I do the same as cassielyn and andc78 usually, but I honestly don't think about it much. I'm generally more picky about making sure the coverlet is smooth and hanging evenly.

Both loose ends in. It just looks nice to see the finished seem facing out. Then the pillows in shams go in front/ on top and it looks quite lovely.

Either way. Whichever way it lands when I throw the pillow back on the bed.

I face them in, but like LauraE, also accidentally got king sized pillow cases. I fold them under, but face those sides to each other. Then, like capowe08, they get covered with pillows in shams, so the neat edges show. But when I sleep, I flip them opposite so that the ends face out because I also don't want the extra long ends in my face. It sounds like a lot of work, but I don't mind it; it really only takes a few seconds.

Husband sleeps facing to the inside of the bed, so he wants the sealed end to the inside, next to his face. I sleep on a thin thin thin standard size pillow put inside a king-size pillow slip, so I tightly tuck the excess to the inside, and I sleep on the outer-most corner of the pillow, so that works for me.

As for spiders :) I am on the southern edge of the rocky Texas hill country and the extreme heat and dry conditions are driving the spiders and scorpions INSIDE. I killed three spiders yesterday, and a scorpion last week. The spiders are those little black and white jumpers and let me tell you, and I am downright jumpy myself.

I shake out my shoes, the toilet paper, and newspapers. I am extremely cautious taking the mail out of my mailbox out by the road. I do NOT crawl into bed without flinging back the covers and shaking out the pillows.

I do not like using pesticides, and spiders are problematic anyway, but this weekend Husband is spraying all the doors and windows and waterpipe entrances into our house. I can't begin to tell you how hard it is to fly-swatter beat a scorpion to death. I'm thinking of getting a Taser gun to use on them.

Decades ago, while teenagers, my boyfriend and I were accused by his mother of sleeping together in his bed while she was out of town. She was right, but how did she know? Because she made the beds in her house with the openings facing in, while BF and I pulled the bed back together with the openings facing out!

I have the same spider in the pillowcase fear...not at all irrational when I lived in an old drafty farmhouse, but a little less rational in my current abode. I also fear spiders under the sheets, in shoes, in stored clothes...

Anyway, pillow cases point out for me. My very specific reasoning is that I'll fluff my pillow before I go to sleep to knock out any critters. I have no guarantee that my less paranoid husband will do the same, so I want his pillow opening, and any spiders that might crawl out, as far away from me as possible. :-)

I don't think spiders care one way or the other.

Scorpions yes I experienced them when I lived in Mexico. I actually took my pillows off the bed each day and stored them into those big tightly woven wicker baskets with lids which I used for towels, linens, clothes and books. SunnyBlue maybe you should get zippers on all of your pillow cases.

I get pillow cases with envelope closures because the loose ends bother me that much. But if I don't use them, I'm an outie and tuck them under the pillow.

out. and i have to say that my mind was blown a few weeks ago when i was a guest at a house that tucked the loose ends in. people do that?? (also - hooray pointless topics! :) )

What did Dear Abby have to say about it?

lol @ SunnyBlue and the Taser gun

I put the pillow case ends pointing out. My cases have a design detail on the ends, so it just makes sense to have them pointing out. If they were just plain, I would probably fold them in.

A king-sized case on a queen size pillow is nice, because you can tuck it in so you never see naked pillow edge.

I have been told by stylists that they go out. I once directed a photoshoot once for interior design and I forgot to turn them out and my editor noticed!

So I guess it is out... I never paid attention till now.

Woah. I'm going to call my mind blown by the whole debate. Where's the button for "you have to be kidding?"

I tend to grab the pillow by the open ends shake it down into the case and lay it on the bed in a fairly fluid motion, so the ends land out. If my husband ever suggested I was doing it wrong I would probably stare blankly at him and suggest separate beds.

Wow, I guess I'm not as into the symmetry as many of you because I go both on right right or both on the left.

Emily

yeah, just kill me if my husband and I ever have this discussion.

haha - what a debate! I'm thinking this is all about personal preference... at least it should be!

I'm with a few others who said they point them the same way. I guess I do this because my bed is currently in a corner and I face the ends away from the door. but my habits would probably change depending on the placement of the bed and the door... such a strange thing to argue about :-)

Outie. Always. It goes against my personality, I guess - wanting to keep everything controlled - but I think it just looks better out.

There is no debate.

They go out.

I remember seeing the painting here on AT! The girls in the pic....The Olsen Twins!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/house-tours/house-call-julie-and-yoffys-artfilled-space-067809

Ha ha! I'm with Edinburgher. I do all my pillows facing away from the door of the room. I never really thought about why, or where I learned that because nursing school was over a decade ago. I guess I'll have to blame it on nursing.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS to the outside NEVER to the center!!!

Who cares? The 18 throw pillows that get put on after making up the bed will hide the pillowcases anyway.

Always out.
Always over (tp).

Speaking of spiders, I can't decide if I should do something about the truly gigantic thing living outside my living room window.

I was once stung by a bee that got in and went under my pillow and in the middle of the night it stung my pinkie when my hand was under the pillow.

I think that this is *precisely* the place that this dicussion is perfect. If you can't argue about pillow placement on an interior design site, where can you?

I see there are several people of my mindset and yet I don't see "I don't give a f***" on the survey.

We could talk about top sheets. Do you tuck at the toes or leave them untucked?

I'm a FREE THE TOES kind of person. It takes about a week to learn how to not jerk your sheet/blankets up to your kneecaps, but after that it's wonderful.

Out, in, both to the same side... I'm naturally a kind of anal person, but this is one issue I really couldn't care less about.

Count me 'out'. ;)

Towards the ceiling. Nah, really, along with whytephoenix, I am in the do not care at ALL camp. Also, as with other delightfully pointless AT questions if I were dating someone and they cared at all about this, it might count towards dealbreaker status, on the theory that they were a total anal retentive pain in the butt. Depending on where else they stood on this matter. If it even deserves to be called a 'matter'.

Spiders in the pillowcases??? You people are outta your ever-lovin' minds (as my mom used to say).

Pillow cases, ends out. End of story!!! ;-))

i always thought they should go ends out & that's how we do it; however, some posters above said it looks nice & finished with the pillow seams showing. i can imagine this would look nice too & not so sloppy so tomorrow i'll be daring & try something new by showing my seams.

well, instead of waiting for tomorrow i just now rearranged my pillows with the seams showing & i even folded the pillow case under as others above described. it DEFINITELY looks much more polished than having the outer edges showing. So i've now switched sides & you can now call me a converted innie. ATers, try it, you'll like it!

SunnyBlue, I'm with you. Free the toes!

I never paid any attention at all to pillowcase directions. However, I am adamant about the toilet paper issue (over the top, thank you).

Question! WHERE is that excellent quilt/duvet cover/whatever it is from? I just love it! I can't find a black and white duvet cover anywhere.

I never put much thought into it, but both of my pillows' ends go in the same direction so the aren't in or out. I fold the ends under as well. I like shams though since there is no "end"

It depends on the pillow - some of mine have a contrasting strip on the folded end. If so, that goes on the outside. Otherwise, it's flaps outward.

Both facing the same way. Doesn't matter which way, they just both have to be the same.

My vote goes to Whytephoenix's check box.

Neither! I face both the direction away from the entrance door from my bedroom. So they actually both face the wall away from the entrance.

At home I don't care really, but I always put the ends outwards when I stay in hotels as the pillowcases might gape open my face/open mouth would be on the naked yucky pillow in the night!

Interestingly, hotels (which are generally a reference point for doing things the "right" way) have them facing in all directions in my experience.

Waitaminnit. Pillows with shams are supposed to go *behind* your regular pillows when you make the bed. So says the picture on the duvet package!

P.S. Outie.