Adding Custom Touches to Basic Bedding

For my parents' new guest bedroom, I had picked up some basic white pillow cases since they would be seen a little behind the shams. I decided to spruce them up a little to give them a more custom look.
I had these pretty tie-backs that came with the living room drapes that I knew we wouldn't use, and they were the perfect size!

See how they turned out HERE!

Dropcloths: A solution for inexpensive drapes

I purchased a dropcloth a little while back to possibly use as some kind of window treatment at my parents' house after looking at the one currently on my bathroom floor (being used as an actual drop cloth) and realizing what a great thickness and natural look it had!
Then I started seeing them used other places by actual designers:

Jenny from Little Green Notebook rounded up a lot more of these pics for BHG...you can see them all HERE.

Then I saw some in person at a friend's house and they looked great! So I thought we could give it a try. This is a VERY in-progress pic, but you get the idea:

I re-used an old brass rod that I painted oil-rubbed bronze, and then picked up some ORB clip rings at Walmart. I had to hem the drapes since they are 10 ft by 6 ft, but they are a great width for the windows and are nice and thick. And for only $10 a pop, a great deal!
See some more in-progress pics of this room HERE.

Vintage Magazines = Instant Art

Vintage Magazines have such amazing colors and artwork. My grandmother had saved several from the 30's. Although we didn't know why she had saved them, they must have meant something to her, otherwise she would have tossed them long ago.
So what do you do with something like this that you know was important to her? Treat it as a piece of art!

I used inexpensive document frames from Walmart and just left the cardboard backing off. How great are these? They even still have the postage marks from when they were mailed to her!

Other items that we used for creative art: old sheet music. Oma was a piano teacher for many years, and she has an awesome collection of music that is in great shape. What better way to honor that part of her life than to feature some of it in the room!

This room has undergone a lot of changes. To see the process so far, check out THIS post with lots more pictures!

Freshening Up A Vintage Sofa

People are starting to realize the value of a good, sturdy sofa. Because of this there has also been a re-emergence of the printed fabrics that you saw in many of those sofas from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. The key to using these is to update them with fresh fabrics and accessories. A few examples:

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We had my grandmother's vintage printed couch to work with:

See what difference the other side of the room and some custom pillows made HERE!



Backing Shelves with Fabric

This old secretary needed some brightening up...

But we didn't want to actually make any permanent changes to the antique piece. So the solution: fabric!
HERE is the full post on how I did it!

Inexpensive Pillow Form

How cute are these little lumbar pillows for my mom's side chairs?

Check out my secret for a super-inexpensive pillow form that gives great support HERE!

Also, if you are wondering how I make most of my pillows, THIS is a great tutorial. You may remember my original post about it HERE. It's a great way to cover a pillow without a zipper but still enabling you to wash it if needed!

Dresser in Distress

While helping my parents with their house, I worked on a dresser that was in need of lots of help.  I thought you might enjoy seeing the transformation! Here is a pic of it before I started (after I took the pulls off).

Since I'm too lazy to repost the whole thing here, you can see the full post with lots of "after" shots here: HERE

I've Been a Busy Bee

Happy Friday! I have been back home again working on my parents soon-to-be new house. I spent last night loading lots of pics for blog posts on the site where I am keeping track of all of that. If you would like you can see it all here: www.opashouse.blogspot.com

Here are a few looks at projects that will show up there in the next couple weeks!