One pillow closer to a new look

Getting there, slowly but surely.

(Don't mind the stained red slipcover that doesn't go so well with the pillows. We have a brown one which we switch out from time to time. Red needs to go into the wash; brown onto the couch. Just haven't gotten there yet.)

In progress: pillows for the couch

A while back, I showed you this before:



I'm working on the after. It's taking a bit longer than I'd like (please excuse the long absence, by the way; it's been crazy around here.) So rather than an "after," here's some "in progress":




I found this great fabric, which went so well with the placemats I'd used to recover the other pillow. There's another fabric to go with it all, too, coming soon.

But the best part of this little project is one you can't see. I had a child in my program one time who hated our couch. He wouldn't sit on it. Even when we were all snuggled up together reading a book, he'd stand by my knees, or maybe, if he let down his guard, perch on the edge. Why? It's those pillows. They're cheap down pillows from Target, and they were cozy for about five minutes. And then the feathers started coming out. They'd poke you, work their way into your clothes to torture you, and pile up in corners making everything a mess all the time. Ugh.

I had this white fabric I'd bought at a tag sale for the children to use for their embroidery. But it had a crazy tight weave; the kids could barely poke even the sharpest needles through. That gave me an idea. Before making the outer covers for the pillows, I sewed an inner cover right over the old (thin, muslin) pillow case. And so far, there are no escapees! Ahh.

Now on to the (embarrassingly stained in the photo) slipcover, the other pillows, and the rug...

Bringing light to the sunroom

We call it the sunroom, because that's what it looked like to us when we moved in (a once-upon-a-time porch, now enclosed to be a room). But we ought to call it the living room, not in the formal don't-go-in-unless-there's-company sense, but because it's the room where we live. There, the children and I gather on the couch to read for hours, and their moms gather to chat in the mornings before heading off to work. Babies learn to crawl on the rug there, and pull up to stand at the coffee table, which is a constantly-changing landscape of play in process: blocks, puzzles, animal cities, shell designs, etc, etc, etc. We collapse in exhaustion there at the end of the day, and more often than I care to admit, meals are eaten right there, too.

But to me, the life has gone out of it recently. The furniture is showing its age (it's all free stuff covered with slipcovers or bedspreads). The pillows are dull and bought to enhance a previous couch. The rug is looking flat and matted. I've been wanting to inject some new life, but haven't had the right inspiration (or time) yet.

The other night, I could take it no longer. I took 15 minutes to transform 2 placemats and some vintage buttons into a new cover for a wintery-looking throw pillow, to inject some summer energy into the room.

Before:


After:


Next up: a change for the couch. Here's the before:

Stay tuned for the after. Maybe posting that I plan to do it will be the motivation I need.