Thank you to everyone who offered their suggestions with Friday’s Office Rut post. It was really helpful to hear some great outside perspectives and I agree whole heartedly with mixing up the print sizes/scale of the fabrics (especially balancing out the large print curtains with some smaller print fabrics on the bed – brilliant) and adding a ‘pop’ of a bold color. Ideas are underway on that one…

One recent addition that has helped to bring new life to the room is a new rug.

I love the bold trellis pattern print and the neutral brown color – it really helps to tie in that chocolate ‘nook’ behind it nicely!

We originally didn’t have plans to have a rug-on-rug in this room. The room is carpeted and I had hoped against all odds that the white remnant we had installed would miraculously stay that way for years, but I think I have always known that this high traffic area would need some protection some day.

The unfortunate part is that the carpeting is less than eight months old and we’ve already had a professional cleaner (after trying to remedy on our own) out to fix the Bodie paws + Liv spills + shoe marks that have cropped up here and there. I suppose it was inevitable.

So when Rugs USA offered to partner with us to test out an area rug from their site at a discount, it was perfect timing and I was excited to work with them to find the right rug for this space. Rugs USA has a huge selection of rugs at every size imaginable – so finding several that met my criteria wasn’t difficult. That criteria included: dark rug (to hide those inevitable spots), wool pile rug (not dhurrie or flat so that I can easily vacuum up Bodie hair and it wouldn’t get stuck to the rug), and a 5×8′ or 6×9′ size so that the furniture on each side of the office would overlap the rug rather than having a rug-on-rug look that looked disproportionate. It was narrowing the choices down that was the problem .

Below are a few that caught my eye, though some were indeed flat rugs or strayed a bit from my original brown idea:

From top: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

The bulletin board fabric is a busy print (and the board itself can get a little overloaded with photos and clippings) so I was immediately leaning towards options that were either solid or had one repetitive pattern.

And I’m really really indecisive about this stuff – poor Kate over at Rugs USA didn’t realize what she was getting herself into with our email exchange that included a change of heart every couple of days for months.

I ended up choosing the Safavieh Newport Collection in chocolate and I’m really happy with the choice. Something solid would have felt too plain and something too patterned (floral, etc) would have been too busy/contrasting with the other fabrics in the room.

This particular rug didn’t come in a 6×9′ size but as a slightly smaller 5’6″ x 8’6″, which actually worked out a little better. If you’re walking into the office from the kitchen, here’s how it looks:

This shot show how the french doors connect the kitchen and office, though those doors are readily in need of their makeover moment. Right now the frame is the natural plywood color and the doors are a hunter green (we left the color from the previous owner for now).

A close up of the pattern:

I’m still trying to decide if I’ll unload those massively packed bookshelves so that the rug can go under furniture on at least one side of the room.  Or perhaps at least add a little more carpet color between the two so they’re not smooshed right up against each other.

If you head back out to the kitchen from the office, I ended up hanging the temporary window curtains on a double rod over the french doors to add a little privacy to the space for guests and to help me ‘disappear’ when working at home. The old french doors separating the office and kitchen will be beautiful when complete, but the clear glass isn’t always the best when a guest is wanting to head to bed or I’m trying not to distract Liv when she’s eating lunch with the babysitter.

Here’s that beautiful girl coming to find me during me now!

I’m so fortunate to be able to work primarily from home, even if I have to hang a curtain between my office and the rest of the house to get a full day’s work done .

I chose a double rod so that from the guestroom area you see the thicker patterned panels (that serve as a light blocker) and from the kitchen the sheer, breezy panels (instead of the back of the other curtains). You can always have one or both pulled tightly across depending on how much of a separation between the two rooms you’re hoping to create.

The only bummer? I realized that after I had cut and hung these babies that my salvaged World Market sheer panels (from another room) were about 4″ too short!

One day I’ll have to line them with a solid fabric or something like that. One day.

So the office is officially back on track. Hope to finish this guy up very soon as we prepare for a summer of guests and the plenty of other projects that are calling our name!

PS Rugs USA is always offering sweet discounts over at their site, check in often to snag an area rug at 20-35% off on any given day.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: stuck in a rut, designing and sewing the curtains, diy fabric bulletin board panels, handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress, inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

See, I had this picturesque plan in my head of how I wanted the finished room to work and as I slowly decorated (after Kevin turned the room into an office from the old kitchen) I slowly realized that the pieces just weren’t fitting together. But I couldn’t put my finger on the problem.

We demoed, dry walled, plastered, rebuilt a concave ceiling, carpeted (to cover up a mismatched wood floor), painted, hung grasscloth wallpaper, found and fixed up furniture:

Organized bookshelves, built bulletin board panels:

Designed curtains (using Spoonflower), created a capiz light pendant, started a wall collage:

And then bam. Hit a decorating wall.

I didn’t know where to go from there. I loved the new curtains but I was having a hard time making a bronze/tan/teal/mint green color palette feel fresh and not 70′s.

I knew immediately that the headboard that I had made from an old bed frame needed to be recovered. The silvery grey fabric was one of my favorites (left over from this event) but it just didn’t fit. at all.

I thought one of my favorite crewel fabrics (left over from this event) would be just right for the space, so I draped it over the original headboard and have had it there for the last two months. But something still didn’t feel right.

I might still need to come out of my color mixing shell, but I love a room full of patterns! I thought I would really love the curtains with the crewel (especially with a nice neutral bedding).

When my parents were here to visit near Christmas my mom casually suggested a solid tan headboard. No, I thought – that would be too safe and boring. Plus, I was kind of digging the pattern overload going on there. But after a month of that sitting on the back of my mind (and me becoming utterly frustrated with a non-progressing room) I headed down to my local discount fabric shop and bought 3 yards of tan linen for $30.

And it worked! Suddenly the room was breathing again and the space felt fresh and light. (All I can think about looking at the above picture is how wrinkled my pillow cases are!). This is a better shot:

I haven’t covered up the original headboard just yet – still letting this idea grow on me. It’s just draped over the headboard for now.

I think that maybe if the pattern on the bulletin boards were subtler and the bookshelves didn’t feel so overloaded with projects and work stuff then more pattern at the far end of the room wouldn’t feel like so much. The room was becoming so busy!

Maybe I’ll make the crewel into a duvet or throw:

Then the patterns won’t be so stacked and there will be enough neutral to help them breathe. It is so, so pretty – see how the floral pattern is raised up just a bit?

So that finally got the brain juices pumping again… and now I’m beginning to see where the space might go from here.

To find that extra inspiration, I started tearing out magazine sheets of rooms that used my color combo.

And every time I spotted a fabric that might work I picked up a little snip of it to test out.

I’ll have to narrow those choices down, but maybe light pink or yellow would work well as a contrasting shade to balance all of the tan & teal out.

And so the saga continues! Have a wonderful weekend! PS am I alone in this or have you ever found yourself in a room rut? PPS I am always open to suggestions!

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: designing and sewing the curtains, diy fabric bulletin board panels, handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress, inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

I have a funny story… Kevin took me to a really lovely restaurant last night in La Jolla (just north of San Diego) called Whisk n Ladle. It’s a place that I’ve wanted to check out for some time and it was delicious! I’m not sure you can call us ‘foodies’ but we’re big on locavore-style restaurants full of unique flavor. If a menu mentions anything with the words ‘fig compote’, ‘breaded goat cheese’ or ‘lavender infused anything’ I start to salivate immediately. It’s the unique pairings that you can’t always accomplish in your own kitchen that I like most about eating out.

Well, this menu was everything and more and I was so excited to try it all. We narrowed our choices down to two specialty cocktails to start, braised pork shoulder with dates and roasted brussel sprouts as well as seared local halibut for our main courses — and to start us off delicious pan fried sweetbreads with onion confit in an au jus sauce. Are you salivating yet? But this is where things got a little crazy. What do you think of when you hear ‘sweetbreads’? (this is officially why we’re not foodies), I was picturing a most delectable french-toast style of handmade bread with an onion confit for dipping. Nope! Sweetbreads are a friendly word for the throat, glands, stomach and intestines of a lamb or calf. We were half way through the appetizer when I decided to Google it because it just didn’t taste like I was expecting… ha! Kevin happily finished off the rest. So maybe he’s the foodie in the family.

Okay, back to a fun little laser cut butterfly art project that brought a little more Spring to our living room.

There’s just something about these natural beauties that is so lovely to look at! And such an easy way to add color and bring nature into a space.

More lovely inspiration:

Lots of folks are not fans of taxidermy butterflies. It doesn’t bother me so much if I’m purchasing from a humane seller who harvests butterflies after they have naturally passed (since many live only 3-4 weeks) but if you’re looking for an alternative (or you don’t want to spend $50-100 for a shadow box) plastic laser cut butterflies are the way to go.

Krista of Kiki’s List (who I learned about from this favorite site) turned me on to Etsy seller Clear Cut Crafts that creates just that – beautiful, natural looking thin plastic butterflies that can be used for cake decor, weddings, you name it.

I placed an order for 2 dozen Monarch colored butterflies (love that orange! and thought they were the most realistic – plus I grew up near Monarch groves which are just beautiful when full of butterflies). To hang them, I found a cheap Ikea frame in silver that I altered just a bit to function as a shadow box.

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Butterfly Art (and converting a Ribba frame to a shadow box)
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Materials: laser cut butterflies (or the like), Ikea Ribba frame, white construction paper, scissors, pliers, 1″ tack nails, hammer, glue

Using the back of the frame as a guide, I cut out a piece of white construction paper to match. My butterflies came pre-cut (huge time saver! hence the laser cut) and so I gently folded the wings and laid them out on my paper to get an idea of how I wanted the finished display to look.

Once I had settled on a layout I used a white glue (so that I could adjust placing as I went) to hold them in place.

I let this dry over night and began working on the frame. Apparently there is a shadow box frame that Ikea makes – and I thought that I had picked up that version when I found my $4.99 find. But later after arriving back home I realized that while it’s deep for a frame (as most Ikea frames are) the photograph mounting was smooshed right up against the glass.

To create a shadow box out of the Ribba frame, I popped out the glass and mat and pulled out each mounting clasp (is there a more accurate term for those little metal clips?) with pliers.

Then I added small tack nails between the edge of the glass and the frame. Just a gentle bump with the hammer and a little glue held these guys in place. I also let the glue dry overnight.

Now the back of the frame would sit atop the nails and the nails would bridge the distance between the glass and artwork — making the frame a shadow box (and perhaps the cheapest I’ve ever bought).

Since I pulled out the little clasps that keep the back in place (because they were in the wrong location for a shadow box) I simply glued my back to the frame edge. Since it’s a tacky white glue that I used it will hold my artwork in place for as long as I’d like but will allow me to easily pull the back off (maybe with the help of a utility knife) later down the line to update the contents. A glue gun here would be equally useful but might not allow the versatility to easily replace the artwork inside. Let dry overnight if using white glue.

Finally, flip over and hang!

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The finished frame fits in well with my Spring update for the living room with the bright colors playing off of the new throw pillows.

And another shot of the corner of the room with the new butterfly artwork:

Do you have any funny stories to share from Valentine’s Day? Or any new DIY artwork projects? What are your thoughts on butterflies – fake or taxidermied?

More living room posts right here.

I don’t think I’ve shared Liv’s first year photos here before, so in the spirit of Valentine’s Day here’s our little nugget of Love with her teddy bear ‘Behr’ (as named by her Grandpa):

I didn’t take monthly photos – more of just when I remembered to snap a quick pic so some of the pictures are weeks apart and others months. I hope to keep the tradition alive with an updated picture maybe every 6 months to a year (won’t that be great when I have an 18 year old sitting in Behr’s lap?) .

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to the park yesterday! She’s such a cutie.

And here she is hamming it up:

Such a little cheeseball. She has the BEST faces, if only I could capture them all. And the best run! It’s sort of a stomp, stomp run because I think she loves to hear her shoes make tapping noises when she moves (which works out much better on our hardwood floors).

Happy Valentine’s Day!

When garage saling or thrifting, I’m always on the lookout for little figurines and bowls and tschotchkis for my bookshelves. My favorite finds tend to be old brass animals or white curvy ceramic vases because they look awesome as bookcase and shelf fillers (helping to break up the shapes of bound books and square bins).

Now this idea takes it all to the next level and is quite clever.

Hi Sugarplum! turned plastic toys, and crazy thrift store finds into bright and bold figurines with a little Rustolium spray. I’ve seen this idea before but I really dig how Cassie styled her finished pieces!

Mount your figurines on flat stones for a more polished look.

And for that favorite brass sheen, try metallic gold:

I tend to stick to neutrals like a bright white or a weathered grey – but after this inspiration I might try out a crimson red, kelly green or sunshine yellow soon! Cant wait to give it a go.

We tried out four variations of blueish/greens. Actually, nearly all four read too green on our walls (and yet they look so blue in these photos!) in the light of the bathroom. The Chosen One is pointed out below.

Usually I’m a big fan of adding a swatch to each wall to get an idea of what the color will look like when sunlight hits different walls at different times of the day, but because we have no windows (except the new skylight!) it was more of a concern that the color compliment that awesome recycled tile hiding in the shower nook.

See how the tile looks greener here? We could have totally gone green in the room and it would have looked just as great. This tile is tricky like that…

But as you can see when the paint colors are up right against the tile it matches our blue options really well:

We opted for Valspar Signature’s Hi-DEF paint in a low VOC version (for the babe). Their new line offers enhanced color accuracy, meaning the color you select on the chip will match the color on the wall and (if we had old paint on the walls) claims to cover your old paint faster in less coats, saving both time and money. The paint is also highly durable and has superior fade resistance, meaning it will last even in high traffic rooms like our bathroom. You can learn more about its benefits over here.

Wanna check out a nifty color sample tool? Try this one here (I’m a huge fan of the Ideas Library). I tested a few different blues in the Color Selector tool and it made searching for specific shades of specific colors so much easier than trying to cross your eyes and compare paint chips at arms length in the florescent lights of the store. Since I was going for a blueish-green, I chose a color palette that boasted of coastal and ocean shades and then just slid the little highlighter box from grey to green to blue until I found a few that I loved. If something was too blue I moved one box back to the green or vice versa.

You can even upload your own photo, here’s our unfinished wall waiting for plaster and paint:

Next I selected a color from my palette:

And then I boxed off my space using the little tool provided and ‘painted’ in the color:

We didn’t end up choosing Sea Spray (too teal) but here’s the Sea Salt Blue on the actual wall:

Of course you don’t have to upload a pic, you can always play around with a selection of rooms they have ready to go, too:

Anyway, it’s one more cool tool to file away in the home improvement toolbox for making big decisions like settling on a room color. And it might just save us some serious dough in the long run if it cuts back my paint sample expenses from 10 mini cans a room to just two or three .

PS this is how we were able to funnel a little bit of that awesome natural daylight into the space. It is definitely the DIY of skylights!

I love a freshly painted room! Now we are one step closer to a finished bath.

As shown above, the toilet no longer resides in the living room… but as one reader put it, it sure would have made potty training easier!

More building a bathroom posts: vanity wars, subway tile installation,  floor tiles and toe warmers, a quick catch-up on our work on the bathroom in 2011, tiling with recycled glass, choosing and installing a bathtub, demo time!, a peak at the layout, initial inspiration, partnering with Lowe’s

We partnered with Lowe’s on our bathroom remodel and received some product at no cost and some product at a discount. The ideas and stories shared in this post are entirely our own.

These cards have a sweet pattern that remind me a little of a playful Valentine’s day note – and an idea was born.

After hunting around the house I was happy to find that I had nearly everything I needed on hand for my Valentine’s Day treat bags. Though I did pick up those two small bags of salt water taffy for $1 at Target.

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Custom Valentine’s Day Treat Bags
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Materials: cellophane treat bags (available at Michaels or on Amazon), note cards, candy, photos, scissors and stapler

To make the treat bags, I filled each plastic sack with salt water taffy and a photo of Liv trimmed to size (I keep a stack of pictures on hand from Costco to send to grandparents and great grandparents when they’re needing a Liv fix). My cellophane bags were just the right size to match up with my 4×6 note cards, but if you’re buying all of your materials from scratch that’s something to keep in mind (you can always trip down your note cards but you don’t want the bag to be wider than the cards).

The notecards have the perfect fold for the top of your treat bags, I simply chopped mine in half length-wise (so that the card was shorter near the fold) and sandwiched the treat bag between each side of the card. Two staples held my finished bag in place.

An alternative to note cards would be scrapbooking paper with a bone folder for a professional looking fold (this tool scores and creases your paper). Or for a cheaper option just fold that sucker in half and press between heavy books so that the fold stays put.

These would be great for family, but for a kid-friendly option I would fill the baggie with animal crackers and include a fun illustration instead of a photo, or perhaps a few crayons and a coloring sheet. Cookies and wrapped candies are probably the way to go since any candy prone to melting would smudge up the photo and transfer ink to the candy. Fun stamps or stickers might make for a neat note at the top of the treat bag, too.

I can see reusing this ideas for party favor bags somewhere down the line… PS I can’t believe it’s already the middle of February!

More Valentine’s Day ideas right here.

When putting together the dessert buffet that was sort of the focal point of the dining room, I wanted to create a few tiered cake stands that would add a little height and variety. In the past I’ve covered boxes or stacks of books with fabric so that certain platters would be higher than others, but this time around I came up with a temporary adhesive solution so that I could turn a few of my favorite plates, vases and candle holders into cake stands without any permanent damage (I’ve also gone the super glue route with thrift store finds).

This is a trick I will use time and again! It’s so easy.

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Temporary Cake Stands
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Materials: any sort of glassware, platter, plate, dish or vase, adhesive putty

My trick to getting a fairly good stick with stacking dishware is by using an adhesive putty like this one. It’s available at nearly all craft and home improvement stores and the brand isn’t important, but you want to look for a product that claims a strong but removable stick.

The process of assembling is pretty simple. I applied a layer of the adhesive to the edge of the glassware and plates making sure to cover as much surface space as possible.

Since I was covering an area of the vases/plates that wouldn’t be seen, I applied a thick layer:

Then I turned the vase/candlestick/dish over and pressed it into the center of my plate or platter for at least 30 seconds. You could use a utility knife to clean up any edges if you wanted a cleaner look.

Using this technique a made a few different tiered stands for our selection of desserts.

At the end of the shower I simply pulled off all of the putty and washed each dish. No harm done!

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The truth is, I’ve had several of these cloth napkins lying around the house for months if not years! They were waiting for the perfect opportunity and new throw pillows fit the bill.

These raspberry red velvet guys are from a yard of fabric from my local discount fabric shop. The store is actually called Discount Fabric and it’s in an old movie theater about a mile from our house – such a treasure so close by! The tan pillow was from a previous project and you can find its invisible zipper tutorial here.

My two new cloth napkin envelope pillows are over here on this side. Kev was seeing Christmas with my green and red mix (even though I tried to insist they were more kelly meets raspberry) and my horizontal floral print pillow helped to bring Spring back in. Next to that guy is a smaller brown trellis pillow made from three Target cloth napkins (still can be found in store, bought these around Thanksgiving). Yes, that raspberry red pillow needs a 20″ insert and not the current 18″– it’s definitely on the to-do list.

When mixing so many pillows, I try to throw a couple over-sized ones in the mix (wish I had one BIG one), a few medium throw pillows, a horizontal size and maybe a little guy. But with pillows I really think that anything goes–mix patterns, colors and sizes and when you get bored invest in a few more cloth napkins.

But really, cloth napkins are pretty genius as pillow covers. Since napkins already have a hemmed edge and are roughly the size of a throw pillow, they make for an easy solution – especially when there are no zippers involved!

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Easy Envelope Pillows

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Materials: fabric, pillow insert, pins, fabric scissors (a dedicated, super sharp pair is always a plus to have around and will make fabric cutting SEW much easier. hehehe), sewing machine

I’ll go through all four pillows, but let’s start with the horizontal botanical print pillow. This is the cloth napkin that I’ve had for years – it’s so pretty but it gets very little use buried in my linen basket! The back of the pillow is just a tan fabric scrap from my remnant box.

1. I began by laying out the napkin right side up to cut my fabric to size for the backing.

2. Using the cloth napkin as my template (I didn’t alter the size or shape at all), I cut out a panel for the right side of the pillow that was roughy 2/3 the size of the front side of the pillow and folded over the inside edge about 2″. You could seam this edge but if it’s folded over a far enough amount (and the raw edge is buried deep within the pillow) no one will be the wiser. These top pieces should be facing down (we’re pinning and sewing this inside out).

3. A similar panel is cut and folded in for the left side.

4. Time to pin!

5. and over to the sewing machine we go.

The entire pillow cover gets a simple stitch all of the way around the outer edge

And while even cloth napkins don’t have even edges, I tried to stay as close to this edge as possible. This is especially true if you’re making a pillow cover for a specific size insert size (16″, 18″ or 20″ for example).

6. Flip your pillow cover outside in to reveal its final shape:

You can see here that hemming each of those folds isn’t really necessary as mentioned above. The raw envelope edges are buried inside the pillow cover.

As mentioned on Monday, I used a standard bed pillow to stuff this guy (it was the perfect length and nearly the right height – but that extra stuffing added the right amount of soft ‘pouf’). When it comes to buying and reusing pillow insets though, I highly recommend West Elm inserts. I’ve tried everything from buying my own fiber fill to upcycling old pillows (great solution if they have great inserts) but in the end I’ve found that the $12 investment in a good insert will be comfortable and cozy on the couch, will hold its form and will stand up to the abuse of constantly switching out covers.

Moving on to the square trellis pillow which is actually even easier since we’re starting with three cloth napkins with hemmed edges.

Picked these guys up at Target and actually did a test run by washing the fourth napkin first. It came out significantly faded so I didn’t prewash this batch and I’m secretly just hoping that this pillow won’t see any spills or stains in the near future (or perhaps I’ll just let it sun dry if I must wash…).

1. Following the same steps above, cut panels for the envelope backing out of two of the napkins (2/3 the size of the actual napkin should do the trick).

and now the other side…

So that I am ultimately left with one whole napkin and two 2/3 napkins that were laid on top of each other and overlapping. Because the edges are already hemmed there’s no folding necessary.

2. Pin and sew around the edges!

Wait… this is not how it’s supposed to look on the other side. Bah! I forgot to start with my top piece facing up and not down! Just keeping it real…

I ended up just cutting off my recently sewn edges and made a 16″ pillow instead of 18″ rather than pull out the seam ripper. It actually worked out well since the other pillows were on the larger 18″ side – a little variety is nice!

And here she is again finished:

The last set of remnant pillows I made were from a yard of raspberry colored velvet that I picked up at the fabric store.

1. No need to repeat the above photos, but what essentially made this project even easier is that I was able to cut down on two hems by cutting out one long strip of fabric (my pillow was to be 20″ so my long strip of fabric ended up being 21″ in height (to account for the hem) and ~45″ in length) and then folding in each side to create a 20″ front and an overlapped envelope in the back.

2. A simple stitch along the top and bottom and I had a cover! The above would of course need to be turned inside out before this step.

I didn’t hem the envelope edges because I didn’t want a stitch across the thick velvet (and I didn’t want to change out the thread in my machine!), so I folded each edge and when sewing the top and bottom included the folded over piece in the hem just like the first pillow (so that it was nice and secure).

In hindsight, I should have made the envelope pocket even deeper,

because that raw edge of the envelope overlapping piece began to sneak out of the envelope every so often (see above photo on couch as an example).

3. I added a few basic cross stitches in matching thread to keep the flap in place. I didn’t close the envelope up so that I wouldn’t interfere with stuffing and sliding the insert in and out but just to keep a clean folded edge on that flap. (the cross stitch is barely visible but it’s there!)

One of the velvet pillows was designed for the front to face outwards and one was designed with the envelope side facing outwards.

4. For the envelope out version, I sewed a big button from one of my previous pillows onto the lower overlapping piece of the envelope and created a slit on the top piece of the overlapping envelope with sharp fabric scissors.

And here she is finished:

There you have it! Four new easy pillow covers for under $20.

The entire project took me a couple of hours of cutting, pinning and sewing machine time but I love the finished pillows and they’re sure to last me at least a few months (in all seriousness).

More living room posts can be found right here.

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Hi there!

Maryam here, dropping in to give a little peek on one of this spring’s trends that is sure to brighten up your coldest winter days! I am talking about PASTELS!

Heaps of sorbet and pastel color pieces are popping up all around the fashion world. Colors like cantaloupe, honeydew, peachy pink, lavender, mint, sea foam (sounds like dessert time. huh?) are all adorning anything from skinny jeans, heels, tanks, blazers, backpacks, rings- truly, the possibilities are endless.

This is a color trend that doesn’t have to stop with one accent piece. Don’t be afraid to mix and match colors and shades to create a cohesive outfit. The neutral tones compliment each other quite nicely… a lot like the sorbet section in the ice cream shop, so I say, go all out!

If you just want to just try a little taste of this sorbet-lovin’ trend, buy yourself a great pair of colored skinny jeans. Almost every online and in-store boutique is carrying them, and it’s a great way to ease into this color trend. Pair them with a chambray or denim button-down (one of my closet staples) and you got yourself a great looking outfit if I do say myself. And I could go on for days on that minty backpack… so very dreamy.

If you’re a gal who likes to dress it up or down, I adore the boyfriend blazer. The blazer is so very versatile, wear it with jeans, shorts, a mini or maxi skirt, over a dress- truly there are so many ways to style it. My favorite is to pair the blazer with a textured short. This look is classy, but you don’t have to worry about matching your shorts with the blazer, because its special feature is the texture. Eyelets or lace give a great contrast while still looking put together.

So what do you think about this year’s pastel trend? Are you going to eat it all up?

Maryam

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As always, you can visit the slideshow gallery for sourcing info to track down any of the above.

I have always loved Maryam’s LOVE for bright and beautiful colors, these style boards are the perfect example of how well and easily she mixes her favorites – be it an outfit of pastels, primaries or saturated colors – so wonderfully. I am in awe, being the neutral gal that I am. As hinted at yesterday, I’m working on taking the leap into brighter signs of spring for the house, too (a slow leap… but working my way up that color confidence ladder). Thanks again for visiting, Maryam! (PS You can always visit her right here.)