I might be old fashioned but to keep my pillows clean, I use a pillow protector and then at least two old, perhaps non matching pillow cases most of us have in the linen closet and then I put on the pillow case that's used for the week. When I do a wash, I usually remove all three pillow covers, especially from hubbies pillow, as he tends to sleep deep into his pillow and hence there can sometimes be superficial stains or stale smells that don't permeate through to the pillow protector. I am quite fussy and still iron my pillow cases but it's certainly not necessary for these extra covers as their sole purpose is to protect the pillow. I have seen some horendous yellow stained pillows that are still being used and have ended up like this because they are not protected from normal every day use. As for how often I replace my pillows, if they do eventually have any type of stains regardless of how long I've had them, then I will purchase a new one but it could be longer than 2 years as I feel my pillows are clean. My pillow is also a very expensive type being a chiropractic pillow with neck supports, so I do all I can to protect it and keep it as long as possible. My theory is, if the pillow has no smell or visible stains, no need to replace it unless you want to.

Reading this thread, the picture I got (maybe from another discussion because I'm sure I've seen this talked about before?) was a dividing line somewhere between a few extra pillows which enhance the bed aesthetically, are potentially useful for sitting up to read a book, and are easily stored elsewhere when not required and too many extra pillows which make the bed look less like a bed and more like a pillow factory, are potentially useful for an attempt at a world record pillow fight, and keep you up all night moving them when you need access to the bed.

Good point! While stains are more prominent on neutral sheets, they're timeless, gender neutral and easier to accessorise. And yeah, bedlinen can be bleached. Alternatively you can mix up your own bleaching concoction using - 1/2 a cup of baking soda + your usual detergent + 1/2 white vinegar

I love them all!! Very hard to choose. I would say the bottom one, just love all those colours!