Pepper Design Blog

Before & After: A Vintage Sitting Chair

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been searching for a great chair makeover on my local Craigslist for our guest room, only to have the perfect chair sold hours before I could nab it! Bummer. Here’s another great makeover project from the blog Matters of Style to spice up an older sitting chair for a newly appreciated place in the house. And you can’t beat the starting structure: French legs, rattan siding and an elegantly curved back.

I love the fabric and trimming — so classy!

Coming up later this week… an improptu reason to throw a party (our friends got married! and since the celebration was two weeks ago and miles and miles away, they want to celebrate with local friends and family with a second, last-minute reception) and I’m on the search for a great dessert bar for the duo. Stay tuned.

Follow the jump for the How-To on this beautiful chair, and more pics! Read more »

All About Ruffles: DIY Pillows & Other Pretty Things

This felt pillow with it’s rosettes (or ruffles) is very much my style. As author Michelle Traub, in this adorable Etsy How-To Article, so eloquently puts it “I haven’t crafted with felt since I was little, but… now I have a whole new universe of respect for the material,” and I couldn’t agree more!

The artist of the ruffled felt pillow, Anne Kyrrö Quinn, has a similar chic design style as one of my favorite blogs: My Mama Made It. If you love handmade rosettes, ruffles and pretty, delicate things… you must check it out.

While Alexis, of My Mama Made It, focuses primarily on sewing and clothing refashions, we’re teaming up to offer a wonderful tablescape give-away this month featuring her fabulous work.

There are so many ways to add a bit of homemade touch to your decor… Shown above are a few of Alexis’s floral corsage pins that could easily be incorporated into home design, as these Etsy pillow examples (Raw Studio, De De Etsy Shop) illustrate. My Mama Made It blog offers step-by-step tutorials for all of her creations, too.

Follow the jump for the DIY of the felt pillow! Read more »

Fabric of the Day: Dolce by Grand Revival

Today’s Fabric of the Day is actually fabrics of the day because Grand Revival’s new line of chic home-spun patterns is great enough to bundle into one little post… It’s a bit of a teaser though, I must admit, because the Dolce line is actually set to be released in Fall 2009 (we’re there, but not quite there!). BUT you can pre-order at Fat Quarter Shop. I’d love to see a little girl’s room done in a patchwork/hodge-podge of these prints!

Grand Revival was founded by the very creative Tanya (who is an American fabric designer currently residing in Belgium) and is now on it’s fifth collection! Check out her blog too, where she shares the joys of patterns, sewing and living abroad. You can also find more creative uses for her fabrics (bag patterns, table runners and the like) with great close-up pictures posted at the blog.