Reclaiming the Pillows

I have been doing a lot of sewing of pillows lately and thought I would show a few projects and speak of how to reclaim your pillows.

 

Pillows are an easy and inexpensive way to update a room. They are so easy to sew. This is a picture of pillows I made for the living room a while back. You can use neutral pieces of furniture and change pillow covers during seasons or holiday., if you have pillow covers that are removeable, this is a really inexpensive update.

I use an evelop closure for pillows that are not used very often such as the Euro pillows for my bed. These are the easiest to make. Here is picture of the back.

I made a flange on the edges to give it a custom look.

If it is a pillow I use alot such as couch pillows, I used covers with invisible zippers. These can be sewn with cording, edging, or fringe to give it a custom look.

If you look closely, you can see the invisible zipper.

I also will use an invisible zipper for just plain seams.

The possibilities are endless. Go to a large fabric store such as Lewis and Sharon, Forsyth Fabrics, or Calico Corners. These can be made with a yard of material. I buy my pillow forms from www.fabric.com. I can get feather inserts for about $10 - $15. They are located in Atlanta and I can get them within 1-2 days. I see these pillows on discount at Joss and Main for $35 - $200.  Even with fabric that is $50 a yard, that is only $60 a pillow.

If this overwhems you, just RUN to the closest TJ Maxx or Home Goods. I found these for $15 to $20 each and put them on my porch. They have invisible zippers so if I get tired of them, I still have the feather pillow insert to reuse.

I am currently finishing the pillows in my master bedroom for the redo. I can't wait to show the after pictures when finished.

Sewing is becoming a lost art. Even if you don't sew and get someone who does this professionally, they too are rare. Please find sewing classes and take them. Get a sewing machine and get going!

Reclaiming My Saturday

While reclaiming my weekends, I finished a wreath project.

It is made with muslin strips. I purchased the monogram at Flint River Pottery here in Cordele.

I got the idea from Down to Earth Style. I did change it a little. I used 14" by 1" strips of muslin. I would recommend to those of you that want to tackle this project: get a much smaller green wire frame than you think you will need. The muslin makes it alot larger. I would also recommend purchasing your mongram first so you know what size of wire frame for the monogram to get.

I have also ordered from Southern Proper Monograms. Here is the monogram I ordered to go in Livvey's room. This picture was taken at Genie's Baby Shower.

Monograms are really the IN thing right now. All these monograms came in raw wood and I painted them with a sponge brush and Apple Barrel  and/or Behr samples paint available at WalMart, Home Depot and craft stores.

I plan on making another burlap wreath that is similar and I will post it when I finish.

Reclaiming the Bath

This is a project I did last fall. This is the hall bath that was used by the kids. Here is the before picture after we had started demolition.

You really cannot tell it but it had a wall that had a saloon door. The shower was brown and we had it repainted white with a new technique. If you have a good shower or tile but not the right color, I would highly recommend using this technique. We used a company out of Albany GA. We replaced the brown toilet with a new white one. We gutted the vanity and replaced the flooring. After accessorizing, this is the finished product.

The wall is a light grey/blue. We put a shelf above the towel bar. The shower curtain was a steal at TJMaxx for $14. The ginger jar is from the Nat Berkus collection at Target and I got it on clearance.

The two small jars are antique cream jars. They belonged to my grandmother.

Another picture and I love my black doors!

This is a Allen and Roth vanity at Lowe's. $500 and came with the granite vanity top.

 

The faucet is bamboo shape. I got a bargain. I went into Home Depot one day to get something random and they had these faucets for $20 each. I had just purchased a plain jane one for $90. Needless to say, I returned the $90 and bought 3 of the $20. One for this bath and 2 for my master bath when I redo it. $60 for 3 faucets, not bad. And did I mention they are beautiful!

The mirror was used in the bathroom before. It was purchased at Sam's Club about 12 years ago and is still a classic.

What to do with a large wall. I purchased this iron work at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 price. I have 2 wrought iron sconces that I will probably hang.

The zebra towels were purchased at TJMaxx on clearance. They are between gray and silver. They really give the room a transitional look.

Instead of a light fixture, we opted for recessed halogen lights. They give just the right light without competing with the mirror and vanity.

I put down black and white granite tile for the flooring. I still need to paint the closet door black. I'll post some more pictures of the sconces and the painted door.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Reclaiming the Guest Room to the Nursery

Since becoming a grandparent, I now have a need for a nursery. So I decided to redo the guest room into the nursery. Since we are empty nesters, we really don't need a guest room any more. I have plenty of empty beds. I wanted to have a twin bed for the grandkids as they get older, but also have a place where we can sleep in there if needed. Plus it gives Thomas's brother Ronnie a place to sleep when he comes each Thanksgiving. I still want to get an area rug and I want Thomas to build a growth chart with a barn old barn wood (that's another post). Here is how it turned out.

The picture above the crib is Livvey (my granddaughter at 2 weeks of age). The rocker was purchased at an antique auction when I was pregnant with my first child and I rocked my children in it and I'm planning to rock my grandchildren in it too.

The doll was my doll when I grew up. It is such bad shape. My parents kept buying me new ones but I would just take the new clothes off of them and put them on my doll and then keep the new doll for others to play with when I had friends over. The mercury glass owl, other mercury glass jars, and lamps were purchased at Home Goods or TJ Maxx.

The daddy-daughter statue was a gift from my daughters to Thomas.

The nightstand belonged to my mom and I painted it silver (Martha Stewart paint from Home Depot) and the pulls thundercloud (also Martha Stewart). The Precious Moments figurine is for adoption, a gift from my parents (I was adopted). The frame from TJ Maxx.

This is a close up of the picture. I absolutely love it. All the mirror frames are from Target. The curtains are from West Elm and I purchased extra curtains and made the bed skirts.

The mirror above the bed was purchased at Target. It was gold so I painted it with the thundercloud paint.

The book case came from Target.

I purchased the changing table at a local used furniture store. It was in bad shape but I loved the bow front. After patching and repairing I painted it Espresso Beans (Behr from Home Depot) and replaced the pulls with Martha Stewart collection at Home Depot. I think it turned out beautiful.

I love this photo. Livvey was caught pulling her Mom's hair. The angel was hand made by Cissy Chorley for my children. She was a friend of my parents and we once lived across the street from her. She was the most Godly woman I knew and my children always trick or treated at her house. She knew how to make them feel so special.

A close up of the changing table.

I love this room. It will work for girls or boys and for infants to teens.

Reclaiming the changing table

While I am working on my master bedroom, I thought I would post projects I have done in the past year.

Here is the changing table I did for Genie in Livvey's room. We found it in Douglas GA at the downtown flea market/antique store area. If you haven't been there, it is worth the trip.

Before:

I know it looks very traditional but it had good bones. The drawers opened and closed well and some had dividers.

All I did was remove the hardware and gave it a light sanding. I use Home Depot paint. I love to use their samples for approximately $3. They have Glidden with primer and can tint it to any color. The great thing about this is the primer. That means that you really don't have to sand but I like to do a light sand on any surface that has a shine. I also love to replace the knobs and Home Depot has plenty to choose from that really make a piece.

After:

I sanded and distressed this to bring out the details and exchanged the handles for these glass knobs. But my real surprise came when I was putting the drawers back in and noticed that this is an Ethan Allen piece! We only have about $300 in this piece. I could not have found anything that looked better in Livvey's room.

Crystal Ceiling Fan Light

While I am redoing my master bedroom, I look at my ceiling fan and think how do I make this look better?

All the great looking rooms have great ceiling lighting with crystals and beautiful chandeliers. My mother would have loved to see this new trend.

I remember growing up in a home that was built at the turn of the century. My ceiling light in my room was original to the home. It was georgous but I can't remember it specifically. Fast forward to my home today. I want to recapture that turn of the century feel but with a south Georgia feel.

Let's be real, this is south Georgia and we must have ceiling fans. After browsing the internet, this is what I have found.

I'm not worried about the finish, I can paint it. The chandelier look is out of the question because I have 8 foot ceilings and with a 6'2" husband. I don't want it to look too traditional or too modern.

Then I ask myself, can I adapt a normal ceiling light to the ceiling fan? That is the best idea.

Stay tuned to see what decision will be.

Any ideas are welcomed.