This will be a pretty quick update. My cousin and Godson are coming to stay with us next week, and my aunt and uncle stayed with mom and dad this week. For some reason, impending house guests give me decorating fever like nothing else! You know, that feeling of "Oh no! This wall looks empty (after a year) - I need to fix it immediately!!" You never feel like that? Ok, it's just me then.
Nonetheless, I decided the walls needed a little something flanking our tv in the living room. While I was at it, I decided the pillows I threw together with scrap fabric (for the sake of taking pictures of the finished living room for this very blog) needed an upgrade.
Based on a pinterest tip, I bought feather pillow forms at Ikea. They were only $6 each for a 20x20! That's like 66% less than the cost of the polyester ones at JoAnn's! Jury's still out as to whether I'm a feather pillow kinda girl or not. I like that they fluff right back up, but I'm thinking I don't like how they get pretty flat while in use. After all, we actually use the pillows and live in our living room! No pillows just for show around here. I really wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go in for the pillows so I went fabric shopping, and fabrics just started jumping into my cart and they were all different but coordinated and so became my pillows. I felt pretty smug when I finished because they turned out far better than how I self-classify my sewing skills! Just to show off a little bit I added piping to the blue toile pillow. :) The small green linen pillow has bright white cheapo cotton doilies that I dyed to look like "grandma's old vintage doilies."
They're definitely an upgrade from what we had! I don't know why almost every one of these photos came out blurry. Sorry - just not worth the re-take.
And for the art, I purchased one print online and had it laminated. I also painted a wooden sign to look like one I found online, and I built matching rustic frames for both of them. I'd never done this before but it was really easy. Because the sign is made of wood and the print is laminated I didn't have to use glass in the frame, which is good because I don't have the tools to notch it out. :)
Here is what the frame looks like on the back - I bought a couple 1x4 cedar boards un-planed on one side so it's really rough and rustic (the photo below shows the planed side on the back). I used our chop saw to miter the corners, and then I just glued the corners, ran a row of staples, and screwed on an L- shaped bracket for extra security.
When we first moved to Texas I was quite taken with the blue bonnets! They're beautiful blue wildflowers that pop up everywhere in the spring. You'll often seen them growing along the highway, or covering fields, and sometimes they're interspersed with indian paintbrush, a bright orange wild flower. When hunting for art inspiration I kept being drawn back to New England. I was really drawn to this one photo of Rockport taken from the water that captured boats in the harbor and the little downtown area very close to where we got married. I still feel very connected to Boston and feel the need to represent, but as I looked around our living room, I decided I needed to embrace our new home and give my cow (painting over the fireplace) some art it could play nice with. :) So blue bonnets it is!
I feel like the room is more balanced now. I'm really happy with the art on the walls, and I love how the pillows look - just still practicing enjoying the feathers. :)
Hope you enjoyed this quickie!
Now I have a question for you. Doodle's 3rd birthday is coming up, and I'm going to be giving her a big girl bedroom finally. Since we moved about a year ago her (large) room has been virtually empty. So the plans are in progress, and shopping and designing has begun! But I wondered if you'd like to see one big post at the end, or if you'd like to see one project at a time as we work towards the reveal which is probably a month or two away. Do let me know via facebook, or text or however you normally connect with me.
Nonetheless, I decided the walls needed a little something flanking our tv in the living room. While I was at it, I decided the pillows I threw together with scrap fabric (for the sake of taking pictures of the finished living room for this very blog) needed an upgrade.
Based on a pinterest tip, I bought feather pillow forms at Ikea. They were only $6 each for a 20x20! That's like 66% less than the cost of the polyester ones at JoAnn's! Jury's still out as to whether I'm a feather pillow kinda girl or not. I like that they fluff right back up, but I'm thinking I don't like how they get pretty flat while in use. After all, we actually use the pillows and live in our living room! No pillows just for show around here. I really wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go in for the pillows so I went fabric shopping, and fabrics just started jumping into my cart and they were all different but coordinated and so became my pillows. I felt pretty smug when I finished because they turned out far better than how I self-classify my sewing skills! Just to show off a little bit I added piping to the blue toile pillow. :) The small green linen pillow has bright white cheapo cotton doilies that I dyed to look like "grandma's old vintage doilies."
They're definitely an upgrade from what we had! I don't know why almost every one of these photos came out blurry. Sorry - just not worth the re-take.
And for the art, I purchased one print online and had it laminated. I also painted a wooden sign to look like one I found online, and I built matching rustic frames for both of them. I'd never done this before but it was really easy. Because the sign is made of wood and the print is laminated I didn't have to use glass in the frame, which is good because I don't have the tools to notch it out. :)
Here is what the frame looks like on the back - I bought a couple 1x4 cedar boards un-planed on one side so it's really rough and rustic (the photo below shows the planed side on the back). I used our chop saw to miter the corners, and then I just glued the corners, ran a row of staples, and screwed on an L- shaped bracket for extra security.
When we first moved to Texas I was quite taken with the blue bonnets! They're beautiful blue wildflowers that pop up everywhere in the spring. You'll often seen them growing along the highway, or covering fields, and sometimes they're interspersed with indian paintbrush, a bright orange wild flower. When hunting for art inspiration I kept being drawn back to New England. I was really drawn to this one photo of Rockport taken from the water that captured boats in the harbor and the little downtown area very close to where we got married. I still feel very connected to Boston and feel the need to represent, but as I looked around our living room, I decided I needed to embrace our new home and give my cow (painting over the fireplace) some art it could play nice with. :) So blue bonnets it is!
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| my painted board... |
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| coordinating print - real life blue bonnets and indian paintbrush |
I feel like the room is more balanced now. I'm really happy with the art on the walls, and I love how the pillows look - just still practicing enjoying the feathers. :)
Hope you enjoyed this quickie!
Now I have a question for you. Doodle's 3rd birthday is coming up, and I'm going to be giving her a big girl bedroom finally. Since we moved about a year ago her (large) room has been virtually empty. So the plans are in progress, and shopping and designing has begun! But I wondered if you'd like to see one big post at the end, or if you'd like to see one project at a time as we work towards the reveal which is probably a month or two away. Do let me know via facebook, or text or however you normally connect with me.
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