Pottery Barn pillows (on the cheap!)

Well hello! Hope you are having a great week! There has been awesome progress on our outdoor project this week, and I’ll show you that very soon! It is SO exciting to watch an ongoing project that I don’t have to complete myself. It’s an odd feeling to not be doing the work…but pretty a cool one. :)

Anyhoo…so I may have mentioned a few times that I’m nutty for the Pottery Barn catalog. I’m pretty much counting the days till the fall version arrives. (There will be some gleeful squeals. Get ready.)

It’s totally free inspiration, as is a trip through the store. ;) The store version is more dangerous though…cause you may or may not find a couple $3 mercury votive holders you MUST. HAVE.

Or something.

Last week I took a trip though to see if they had fall stuff out check out the inspiration, and I ended up at the table linens area. I noticed a few things – first, they were on sale. SCORE. Secondly, they had so many fantastic napkins, in some fabulous colors and combos.

I put a few together to show how they could work together:

 

Why would you want to combine napkins in different colors in designs you ask?

To make them into pillows of course! I noticed a trend while there – many of their napkins are also versions of their pillows:

So my brain got to thinkin’. And you know that’s dangerous…for Pottery Barn anyway. ;)

I wanted some late summerish, (almost) fallish pillows in our living room, and wanted to break away from the standard reds and browns I’ve always used. I’ve been pulling in blues over the past year and was determined to make the blues work for fall(ish. It’s not fall yet. I know. Ish.).

I have a love/hate relationship with our sofa in that room – it’s OH so comfy, and actually a great, sturdy couch. It’s just the fabric…oh my dear, it drives me NUTS. And the color, it’s as gold as gold can be. I want to recover it but that’s an entirely different post. Altogether. A long one.

Anyhoo again. I decided to just work with the gold instead of fighting it, and PB had some beautiful yellow and blue combos that I loved! There was an awesome ikat pillow in the store that day:

(It was the one on the left but I love both!)

I’ve never been a big ikat girl, and I know it’s trendy, and I’m probably coming in at the end of the trend, and all the sudden I like it. Of course. I’m OK with that. I like what I like, when I like it. Don’t try to make sense of it, your head will hurt. ;)

So I grabbed a couple of napkins and made myself a pillow:

Boom.

Their (embroidered) pillow cover, $59. Mine, I think $8?

I had some fabric for another (upcoming) project, and thought it worked great with the blues in the PB linens. So I made another pillow. LOVE. (I got that blue fabric at Joann’s a couple months ago.)

I found a blue and yellow placemat at PB that day as well, and I knew just what to do with it. I opened the side seam and stuffed it:

Like I’ve shown you here. And a how-to here.

Two Pottery Barn pillows for less than $20 – gotta love it! And I could have made three if I used the ikat napkin on one side and a basic white fabric on the back.

Because I saved so much on those, I splurged on the big blue medallion pillow in the back. I have purchased PB pillow covers before and they hold up GREAT.

But like always, I used a pillow we had to fill it – but it was still a bit wimpy. I hate wimpy pillows. So I stuffed a bed pillow in there:

I do what it takes. :) It worked great!

And like always…my versions are not for the faint of heart up close. A little rough. So let’s stay far away:

:)

I’ve been trying to be more adventurous with mixing patterns and colors – the colors in the pillows are in the drapes and I love how they all tie together!

And I love that ikat so darn much I think I’m going to make another one to put on another chair in the room. :)

I have to show you another find for this room! I have wanted to replace our chunky Goodwill coffee table that has been in and out of there:

(Old pic from the red and black days.)

While on a trip to Garden Ridge last week, I found pretty much EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for:

It opens up the space SO much! I LOVE it.

It was $60, but I figure if I sell a couple Craigslist coffee tables (on Craigslist), I’ll make up for that easy. (I've got a couple.)  ;)

I have a few more changes planned for this room, but for now, I’m so happy with how it’s changed over the past year:

The pillows and coffee table have transformed it yet again…for $80. And yet again…I have ensured that Pottery Barn will never advertise on TDC. ;)

You can make pillows out of just about anything – linens, shower curtains, sheets, whatever! The possibilities are endless! Have you made any unconventional pillows? Link to them in the comments if so!

Vintage treasures

Hey hey! I hope your weekend was GREAT! I felt like we were moving constantly but didn’t accomplish much – ever feel like that?

Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting up with my friend Myra from My Blessed Life – her family was in town and we took advantage of the chance to spend an afternoon together!

At first I suggested we go shopping at HomeGoods, but then I remembered one of my very favorite spots in Indy:

Midland Arts and Antiques is a glorious spot for any shopper/thrifter/DIYer. Two massive floors of antique and vintage goodies. It’s ahhhmazing. I knew Myra would love it too!

Some trips I only find a couple things, some I find so many I can’t decide what I’m going to get. This was one of those trips! Here’s some of my favorites!

This aqua chip and dip bowl was gorgeous:

I’m still kicking myself for not getting it! But alas, I had run out of hands. ;)

I LOVED this huge bell:

I got a smaller version at HomeGoods a few months ago and this one was HUGE!

I’m still kicking myself for not getting it. ;)

The Bub wanted me to show you the choo choo:

He’s crazy about trains! :)

I was nuts for this mirror:

It was awesome – it was a concave antiqued mirror and the frame was so. cool. But it was already sold – DRATS.

Such a tease.

This one had us both salivating:

It was HUGE – we thought it would be a fantastic kitchen island! (In a HUGE kitchen.)

So here’s what I filled my hands with – an old, rusty in all the right places watering can:

It works great – no leaks!

The Bub loved this phone:

And I am slightly offended that it’s considered antique, or even vintage. I used those phones, hellooo. ;)

It works too! We all get a kick out of it.

I loved this platter:

It was only $6, and the tag said it was made in Italy:

I still can’t tell if it was made in Italy or made by someone named Jaly. ;)

I found a big honkin’ wide mouth Ball jar:

It was only $6 – I’ve never seen a Ball jar that big!

It makes a perfect vase:

Sunflowers – they scream it’s late summer and fall is coming soon!! LOVE.

They have had a TON of these amber jars for months now:

Both Myra and I were thinking up ideas because they were such a beautiful color and only $2 each!

I ended up getting three, and so far one is a vase:

And I filled one with sand and plopped a tea light inside:

It will look a whole lot better with dry sand. Nice.

It was hot as HADES in Midland that day – geesh. But we had such a great time! We just needed a shopping cart (or two).

See? Hot mess. Myra, of course, looked as beautiful as always. It’s like she doesn’t sweat! :)

You can see some of Myra’s treasures here! Love you girl!

What would you do with my finds? How about the amber jars? Found any fun antique finds lately? Want to go to Midland with me? ;) Do tell!

Haven tickets available now!

Whoo hoo! The time has arrived!

The Haven Conference (I told you about here) is going to be so. much. fun.

Tickets are available NOW and will go FAST! DIYers, bloggers and DIY bloggers are all welcome! ;) The conference rate is fantastic, and the hotel rate is a great deal too.

To register, go to the Haven site here and click on the “Register” paint can on the right side of the page to purchase your tickets.

To get updates and more info on the conference line-up, visit and “like” the Haven Conference Facebook page. You can also follow us on Twitter!

If you have questions, please email haventeam@havenconference.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Haven Conference? Send us an email at sponsors@havenconference.com.

We are so excited and hope to see you there!!

Crazy for Fall

OK, I’m just gonna to say it.

I’M READY FOR FALL.

I’m nuts about it, and I’ll shout it from the rooftops! (Or I guess, from this blog.)

Football, turning leaves, pumpkin patches, marching band, crisp temps.

Hot cider.

Pumpkin pies at McDonalds.

YUMMO.

Focus Sarah.

A few of my bloggy friends and I are back with yet another set of season-inspired linky parties – this time to celebrate FALL!

WHOO!

Here’s the link-up lowdown:

Show off your fall mantels with Layla at The Lettered Cottage
Tuesday, September 27

………………………………

Share your fall wreaths with Rhoda at Southern Hospitality
Thursday, September 29

………………………………

Create a craft for fall with Kate at Censtational Girl
Tuesday, October 4

………………………………

Show us your fall-inspired outdoor spaces here!
Thursday, October 6

YES. I know it’s August. But we wanted to give you plenty of time to prepare. I’m gonna need all six weeks. ;)

For those of you still sweltering in 100+ degree temps, here’s some inspiration to get you in the fall mood:

(source)

(source)

(source)

(source)

Sigh.

I’m ready. :)

So there you go – start thinkin’. Heat up the glue guns. Put on a sweater. Make some pumpkin pie.

What’s your favorite part about fall? Are you ready?

 

**To see our summer shindig, click here. And if you’re thinking of Christmas already (raising hand slightly), you can see last year’s Christmas party here.

Mini Transformations

Hey hey! How are you? I’m super excited because it’s only supposed to get up to 79 tomorrow – ahhh, I’m in heaven! Although that is perfect deck staining weather, unfortunately. Fortunately? Whatever.

I’m back with one more post about the family room redo – are you tired of seeing it yet?

Don’t answer that. :)

Many of you had questions on the little details in the space so I wanted to get the info on all of the accessories in one spot.

First up, the TV area – the old TV spot was a thorn in my side, and now I couldn’t be happier:

The dresser was (another) Craigslist find. I told you it’s story here. It’s a Henredon and I adore it – it’s one of my very favorite pieces in our whole house. It’s GORG.

The lovely lady lamps were from HomeGoods last year – they are a beautiful green with a gorgeous finish. LOVE.

The mirror was also a HomeGoods find and it started out black. I got it months ago for another room, and it didn’t work there, so I put it back in my car to return it.

When I went to open the back of my SUV to get it out, it fell out in the parking lot. GAH. So…it wasn’t going back. ;) Drats.

The corner was busted and it had a few scratches (I can’t believe the mirror didn’t break!), so I sanded those down a bit. It was way too dark in black (I wanted something brighter above the black hole of a TV), so I took the mirror out and  spray painted the frame bright white. It turned out beautifully!

I haven’t found the mirror again, but I did run across this one at Target just recently:

It’s so close, and I think it’s the same exact size! I love how the mirror balances out the dresser and TV and all that jazz.

I showed you the mantel changes awhile back:

And it mostly stayed the same, but that brown candlestick needed some color!

Enter my Mountain View spray paint:

It was just what the mantel needed!:

That mossy “S” was a crafty project using sheets of moss:

I showed you how I hot glued my fingers made that one here.

The IKEA sofa table got a little accessory redo too, yet again using what I already had:

I had never done much to accessorize the top before:

So I went hunting through the house. :) The lanterns were a smashing deal a couple years ago – I got them for $10 each at Walmart. They used to sit on our deck and looked like this:

I wanted a brighter look, so I busted out the brushed nickel spray paint and there. you. go:

The tray was a $4 Goodwill find I’ve had for awhile and was black, originally white:

Someone had spray painted it black and I sprayed it back to white. Again. Got it? ;) I picked large blue books, again to pull some blue over to that side of the room. The faux greenery puff ball I showed you here.

And the lamp has gone through a few transformations – the latest being a coat of blue:

It’s a vintage light that started out ivory and brown with a different shade:

Then went to black, then green:

I luuuuurve the funky shape of it! We’ll see what color it is next. ;)

The very first thing I do when we get a new sofa (which is all the time, you know) is to take off the pillows that come with it. I ditch the matchy matchy and use pillows as a chance to pull in some color and customize the space:

I used the pillow forms that came with the sofa and made the striped pillow covers with Waverly fabric from Joann’s. The large furry cream pillow in the corner is from Target and IT’S SO FLUFFY!!!! (Name that movie!)

The others are all Pottery Barn pillow covers I picked up last summer. The embroidered one on the left was a total splurge but I. LOVE. it. I don’t buy my pillow inserts there though – they are insanely expensive and I actually don’t think they are firm enough anyway. I use old pillows to stuff my cases, or get forms with a coupon at Joann’s or Hob Lob.

Whew! I hope that helps to answer any questions you had about the space! Other than a few pillows, I used what I had to finish up the accessories and wall decor for the whole space. I’m really, really pleased with how it all came together!

If there’s something I missed, let me know in the comments and I’ll let get back to you there! And…I swear, that’s the last I’ll mention the family room for about, uh…a few days? ;) 

So tell me, have you transformed something with spray paint lately? It’s magic in a can, I tell ya.