Christensen, who revealed she's collaborated on a bed linen line with Swedish brand Odd Molly, with proceeds to the charity Chernobyl Children's Project International. Christensen is in Old Molly's current campaign. "For one bed cover, I wanted to use a huge image that looked like a [photo] that had been torn from an old book and left to fade on a windowsill," she said.

"It was a soft launch, we weren’t doing any real marketing, just testing the site, letting consumers do commerce and increasing the number of vendors," he says. "We're officially relaunching today and starting our marketing campaigns." Those campaigns will include e-mail marketing to the more than 3 million consumers on the Linens 'N' Things e-mail list.

The purchase includes the Linens 'N Things brand name, its bridal and gift registry businesses, all Internet domains and several proprietary brands, such as Luxe Versailles, Attitude, Super Set, Cook at Home and Hotel Living.

Similar to other acquisitions by Gordon Brothers and Hilco, including Bombay Brands, Linens 'N Things will relaunch under new management later this year as a licensed brand. The new strategy is expected to include direct-to-retail licensing, wholesale licensing by category and geography, and e-commerce.

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"We are enthusiastic about the broad demographic appeal of Linens 'N Things and its highly trafficked web site," says Stephen Miller, a principal at Gordon Brothers. "We believe the licensing program will bring global growth to this premiere home market brand."

To get you in the romantic mood, for the first time Lulu Guinness has just launched online its Life is a Bed of Roses collection - a suitably red rose-adorned bed linen range.

"One of my sayings is 'before going to bed count your blessings' and there is nothing more luxurious than a bed covered in beautiful bed linen," explains Guinness.

"We are disappointed with this outcome," said Mervyn's Chief Executive John Goodman. "Although we took a number of steps to improve our financial performance, we were unable to return the company to profitability." Mervyn's joined other retailers such as Linens 'n Things that decided to fold their operations after the financial-sector meltdown squeezed off sources of financing for companies across the board, let alone struggling chains seeking a turnaround, analysts have said. Mervyn's deep discounts during the holidays, the industry's biggest selling period, are also expected to further pressure rival department stores and other retailers that already are headed for their worst holiday season, by some measures, in 17 years.