He’s feathering his own bed

A mash up of “feathering your own nest” (looking after your own interests, particularly material ones) and “make your own bed” (to be the cause of one’s own misery).  This is an interesting malaphor, as it combines an expression of greed with one that indicates a person must deal with his/her own actions – in this case, avarice.  As a result, I like this one better than “feathering his own pockets” (see blog entry 9/2/12)), a combo of two similar meaning idioms.  The speaker may also have been thinking down or feathered pillows/bed when he uttered this confused expression.  See also topic #11 in the Malaphors in the Media page on this website for a quote using this malaphor.