Choose Southwest Bedding For Beautiful Rustic Home Decor

Inexpensive southwest bedding is the way to go when it comes to decorating a rustic style home, cabin or lodge. A while back, I was looking for an easy way to redecorate one of the rooms in my home and give it a touch of the old west. I found some southwestern blankets at a discount linen store and decided to use them as part of the western decor. I liked the Native American look they created in the room so much that I decided to use them in all the rooms of my home to give them that beautiful, southwest flare you see in designer magazines.

Because I used these southwestern blankets everyday as bedspreads, shawls, or as lap blankets, I started reading about the story behind southwestern blankets and began studying their origin. The more I read, the more interesting the story became. I never realized that although very popular today among home designers and in modern style homes, southwest bedding for use in western home decor actually emerged in the early 1900's, when trade blankets were put on the market.

Most people I talk to, believe that the rustic blankets they commonly use for southwest bedding were originally made by American Indians. I also believed that, until I began digging deeper into the origin of these southwestern style blankets and discovered that, although Native Americans were the prime inspiration for the designs and production of trade blankets, they were not made by them.

In fact, as you read about the interesting history of southwestern blankets, you will learn that they were actually machine-made, and produced by large weaving companies for the express purpose of supplying the Indians with needed blankets. These Indian blankets were then sold to the frontier trading posts where the Native people would buy and trade them and use them to wrap themselves in instead of a modern coat or jacket.

Another thing you will find interesting as you research the history of trade blankets to use as southwest, is that as women became more interested in home decorating in the early 1900's, rustic decorating and western designs rose in popularity. These "Indian blankets" as they came to be called, were sought after by people across the country who wanted them for southwest bedding and as decorative couch or chair covers to enhance Native American home decor. The Indian trade blankets were perfect for covering exposed legs when riding on a wagon, sleigh or buggy, and in the new horseless carriages. Later on, they were used as throws for camping, canoeing and a new pass time called motoring.

Today, you can easily buy southwest bedding online and in places that sell western and American Indian home decor. Whether used as a southwestern bedspread, blanket or bed throw, southwest bedding will add great charm to your home and environment. If you are looking for authenticity and traditional Native American values and are looking for an easy way to create southwestern style in your rustic home decor, then you will definitely enjoy owning and decorating with southwest bedding.