Pepper Design Blog

Friday Guest Blog Interview: New Dress a Day!

Fashion-meets-design-on-a-dime with today’s Guest Blog Interview. New Dress a Day shares Marisa’s creative journal of 365 items of clothing on a $365 budget in 365 days. Checking in with Marisa’s latest makeovers & creations has become a daily habit as she shares her designs, process and incredibly inspirational end results.

When Marisa lost her job last year she turned to a creative endeavor that would keep her occupied and pull her through a tough time.

In Marisa’s own words: “I’m spending the entire year without doing an ounce of traditional clothing shopping… The thing that makes this girl happiest is scouring flea markets, vintage stores and garage sales… I love finding vintage goodies that may not fit me perfectly or translate well with the current state of fashion and then make them work on me. I get out my trusty sewing machine to change hems, cut sleeves and tweak to transform a lowbudge piece that had its’ moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, decades later.

Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day. 365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars.”

Neat, right? Generally, Marisa starts out with a vintage piece that is quite out there – a muumuu, an oversized pair of overalls, a frilly 80′s smock  – but the end result is hip, stylish and fun. I love to incorporate unique pieces into my closet collection as well, and this has been all of the inspiration I need for a good Goodwill hunt.

Today Marisa shares a bit about her personal inspiration, favorite trends as well as a few fun suggestions for trying her project out yourself. I’ve added a healthy dose of my favorite ‘before & afters’ for more eye candy. Read more »

Painter’s Tape + Fabric = Handmade Pillows

Here’s a great tutorial by How About Orange on how to create your own uniquely patterned fabric.

With a bit of fabric (a remnant sized piece will do), painter’s tape, a foam brush and fabric paint the possibilities are endless. Throw pillows, a table runner, even a lampshade covering like this one. I love this geometric pattern but stamped fabric (more inspiration here and here) would look great as well.

Beautiful! Especially for a hard-to-find print for a complete DIY project. FULL instructions and more images here!

Friday Guest Blog Interview: A Diary of Lovely

Here’s a great little blog that I travel out to quite often. Helena highlights everything design and shares regular inspiration on fashion, food, travel, home, party decor… you name it!

My favorite is a regular post called “My Stuff Series” where she creatively shares the loves of a fellow blogger (from places to shoes to bedding to perfume) and I always walk away eager to try out a new shampoo or lip gloss, or hunt down that great cardigan that was featured (the series is based off of Vanity Fair’s “My Stuff” series and is plenty of fun).

I love Helena’s casual writing style (almost as if you really were peaking into her ‘diary of lovely’) and the fun images she includes. She’s all-over-the-board talented and super cute. You don’t want to miss her interview answers to PDB’s four questions – especially Helena’s highlights of favorite trends and all of the fabulous images! (Did I mention she lives in London?? Added bonus).

Let’s jump right into the interview with A Diary of Lovely. Read more »

Quick & Easy DIY Wall Art

There’s a narrow wall in our hallway right outside of the bathroom that has been looking a bit plain. I’ve always loved the look of vintage plant and wildlife illustrations and thought I might be able to create a wall collage with a few garage sale finds (in the form of old botany textbooks and encyclopedias).

A few months and no cool books later… and I came across a beautiful vintage-y poster of a blooming white rose with botany textbook-type text at Aaron Brothers, it was perfect. And one picture cut into three images? That saves a bit of dinero as well. I purchased three custom mahogany frames and white mats off of ebay (a great resource for cheap but well made picture frames) to complete my project.

Using the mat as my template, I cut out three squares of the illustration for my frames.

The end result is easy-to-create handmade wall art that helps to brighten up the hallway.

Sorry for that awful glare – I couldn’t get rid of it!