Showing posts with label fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fabric. Show all posts

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Curtains--How to Choose?

In case you missed the First Step in our living room decorating, we have a new couch. I am loving it! It is so wonderfully comfortable and both hubby and I can stretch out as much as want for movie watching. When I walk in the door from work, I just smile when I see it. But, like with many things in life, gaining one thing just makes me want another. Now I'm not really confessing discontentment but just the natural decorating itch to take the next step. I've really been feeling that the next step for our living room is curtains. Curtains because I am craving some color and curtains because it is too dang cold to work in our garage to make a coffee table until...oh maybe July.

I have spent a couple hours this past week "researching" for curtain inspiration. This entailed lots of Pinterest and blog hopping. I found plenty of inspiration but still have no idea which fabric/curtain to choose!? However, I DID still accomplish my February Goal to narrow down my options. When you look through the pictures you may think it's not very narrow at all but trust me, there's a lot of great fabric I said "no" to.

Originally I had thought I wanted a multi-colored fabric to tie in all the decor ideas I have for this room. As I perused, I came across really only one multi-colored choice that I liked. I did some more thinking (mostly when I should have been sleeping) and decided that I want to go with just one color (or two if you consider color + white as multi). I am leaning towards a coral design. It's got to be the right coral though, not too orange and not too pink. This is subject to change of course. :)

So first, let's look at my main inspiration for living rooms and curtains.

I am in love with this living room from "Four Generations One Roof". The light and airy feel, the rustic chic look and the cool color palette is exactly what I want. I love her TV console! We have an old dresser and I will be thinking of hers when we re-do ours. The lanterns and bird are such a fun touch and yet keep the room simple.
http://www.fourgenerationsoneroof.com/2012/02/family-room-before-after.html
 Yum! Jessica, I hope it's okay if I try to copy you! :) I really like her DIY burlap curtains, which you can read about how to make here. While, I don't think these curtains will work well in my living room, I may consider them for a room upstairs at some point.

Okay, inspiration living room #2 belongs to Abbie at "M is for Mama". This woman loves color and she knows how to use it! You can see more pictures of her beautiful living room here. I love reading Abbie's blog and I especially love seeing any of her home decorating and DIY projects.
http://misformama.net/2013/10/m-is-for-movement-a-living-room-tweaking-session.html
Her use of color, thrifty ways, and overall decorating style usually have me wishing she would come spend a month at my house and help me decorate. I plan to decorate using the same color as her: coral, blues and yellows. I even almost bought that "In This House" canvas from TJMax after seeing it on her blog. For some bizarre reason I decided to wait and when I went back a couple weeks later they were sold out. Learned my lesson there! I love the bird pillow and really all the different pillows coordinated together. I skimmed all the comments left on her blog post to find out where those curtains were from. She said they were called Volary from Fabric.com. I immediately opened a new tab and searched only to find out that this too was no longer available. So while some copying is out of the question here, I do hope to find a nice coral/white fabric and then some great colorful pillows to start adding the excitement that my living room so desperately needs.

 My third living room inspiration I originally found on Pinterest and then followed the link to the magazine website "House Beautiful". Once again, I love the light, airy feel and the splashes of multiple colors.
http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/house-pictures/vintage-colorful-beach-house-0911#slide-3



So those were the three living rooms that really inspired me. Now I have some curtains and fabrics that I love and just can't decide which route to go.

First are these somewhat striped coral curtains from Anthropoligie which I saw on Pinterest. But (insert heavy sigh) these also are no longer available. Probably just as well since I love them SO much I would have really struggled to bring myself to pay over $100 for one panel. But maybe they could have been on clearance! (another sigh)


So while they don't have the ones above anymore, they do have a few similar alternatives. I'm not in love with either one as much and the price tag is still a problem for me. But let's just look anyways, shall we?

These ones are called "Crochet Spliced Curtains" and have a crocheted type of stripe which I think is really cute and gives the whole stripe style a new sensation. However, when you compare it to the one above, I think this may be too far on the orange side of coral for me.
http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-curtains-embroidered/26436824.jsp?cm_sp=Grid-_-26436824-_-Regular_34

The next is called "Swing Stripe Curtains." This one again has a fun style of stripe. They are little pom poms. I think its a creative idea but I'm not sure I love the 3Dish effect the curtains would have. Also, as they would be behind my couch, I would like to have the color be more dominant than the neutral tone to offset my couch and the white walls.
http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-curtains-embroidered/25006891.jsp?cm_sp=Grid-_-25006891-_-Regular_9

These are totally not coral, but if I were going to make a major color shift, I think these would be it (well in a world where the price tag doesn't matter again). These are Pottery Barn's Classic Stripe Drapes in Porcelain Blue. I love how it can't really decide if it's green or blue and I think that would work well with my decor style where multiple shades of a color will appear together and (hopefully) not look weird. I do wish the neutral stripe was more tan than white though.
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/pb-classic-horizontal-stripe-pole-pocket-blackout-drape/?pkey=cview-all-curtains&cm_src=view-all-curtains||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_--_-



***Insert totally unrelated curtains into the blog post about curtains for the living room. ***

I LOVE THESE!!!
(the bird ones, not the blue floral)
http://www.pier1.com/Applique-Birds-on-a-Wire-Curtain/PS41881,default,pd.html?cgid=curtain-length
I would not put Applique Birds on a Wire Curtain from Pier1 in my living room for a couple reasons, but their more reasonable price tag (still a little more than I would like to spend) and my absolute love of them is causing me to rack my brain for WHICH room I CAN put them in. I would not put them in my living room because as I said before, the neutral is too dominant to go right by my couch and white walls. Also, the couch would hide half the birdies and that would be so wrong! I am wondering and kinda hoping they could work over the slider in our dining room. It is on the same wall as the living room window and only separated by about 3 1/2 feet of wall but that distance from the couch might be enough. Plus, if I do get a colored curtain for the living room they would balance each other out. Or.....am I totally off track in design world and the curtains for both should be the exact same? Someone with more decor savvy please tell me! :)

I just looked online again and discovered that they are available at the store 5 minutes from my house. Yikes! I now have the urge to go buy them and hold them up in different rooms and make a decision before the return date. What do you think?


An entirely different route would be for me to buy some fabric and make my own curtains, which is going to be the cheapest route. It's just a matter, once again, of choosing.

Abbie at M is for Mama posted not too long ago about "27 Vibrant Home Decor Fabrics for Under $25/yard". As I was perusing Fabric.com, I realized that at one points or another, I had tabs open for 6 of her 12 fabrics here! Check out her blog to see more picks, find out what these are all called, and just to pay her a visit because she is so wonderful!
http://misformama.net/2014/01/27-vibrant-home-decor-fabrics-for-under-25yard.html


After a couple hours looking through pages and pages of home decor fabrics, here are my top picks! Some would be curtain options, some maybe for throw pillows or something else.
https://www.fabric.com/home-decor-fabric.aspx
1. Zig Zag Khaki 2. Gotcha Ocean 3. Suzani White/Coral 4. Vertical Ticking Stripe Ivory/Brown
5. Stripe Slub Salmon 6. Swavelle/Mill Creek Renette Floral Sundance 7. Lulu Stripe True Turquoise 8. Fynn Ocean 9. Claridge Dots Jacquard Tango Mango 10. Duralee Home Birdcage Canary

When I was still highly considering multi-colored curtains, #6 was high on the list. #10 also comes in coral and grey which are equally wonderful.

Here are my last top pics for fun coral prints!


This is called Poppies Coral by "Birch Organic Fabrics" in their line "Elk Grove Knits". The only problem is I don't think a knit would be a good fabric for curtains. Also, it's a little too pink for what I want.


This is Chevron Melon by "Dear Stella" in the "Mercer" line. That whole line is such a fun mix of navy and coral!

 This lovely fabric is Honey House Peach by designer Bonnie Christine in her line "Sweet as Honey."


The last one is Beekeeper Coral also by Bonnie Christine and also in the line "Sweet as Honey."


So many beautiful living rooms, curtains, and fabric! How is a girl to choose? Help me out! I'd appreciate any design advice or votes! 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

2nd Try for Intrepid Thread Winner

Well unfortunately, the first winner, Patti, did not come back to check the blog and did not see that she won. I had no way to contact her since she did not have an email address in her comment. I did a re-drawing and we have a new winner for the Hip Holiday fat quarters!

Thank you to Julie at Intrepid Thread for sponsoring!



The new random number:

Comment #269

 The winner is Linda Crosby!
Congratulations!!!

Linda, I am sending you an email so we can get your fun fabric to you!

Thanks again everyone for entering and reading my blog and thank you to Intrepid Thread for providing this beautiful fabric and making the giveaway possible!  

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Intrepid Thread Giveaway WINNER!

As all good things must come to an end, my first giveaway is over. It was a lot of fun and a great success! This post had my highest number of comments and the second highest number of views. I also have 65 followers now which is so wonderful! Thank you so much to everyone who read, commented, and become a follower! Thank you also very much to Julie at Intrepid Thread for sponsoring this giveaway and making it possible!


You all had some wonderful ideas for what you would make with this fun Christmas fabric. If you didn't win, maybe you still plan to buy some of this for the projects you wanted to do.
 I loved reading all your comments. You also had some great guesses as to that I am making with my fabric from Intrepid Thread. Only a handful of you guessed correctly. And no, I'm not going to give it away :) You'll just have to come back and see for yourself!



And now for the winner!




Here is Comment #201 (I counted 3x to make sure)


Patti, Congratulations!!!
You can now make your lap quilt. :)
Please contact me asap
homeiswheretheheartis8410@gmail.com
 
Patti, unfortunately, your comments did not leave an email address for me to contact you. I hope you see that you have won! Because I have no way to reach you, you have 24 hours to contact me (by 9:00am PST on 7/18/13). If I don't hear from you in that time, I will do a re-drawing for another winner.


Again, thank you so much to everyone and to Intrepid Thread!!!



Friday, July 12, 2013

Intrepid Thread Fabric Giveaway!

Welcome to my first giveaway!

I'm very excited about this! Back in April, Julie from Intrepid Thread posted on Facebook that she was creating a schedule of giveaways and to contact her if we wanted to host. I've been trying to grow my little blog with several linky parties and some blog updates and I thought this giveaway would be so great to help in that endeavor. I signed up for early July because I knew we were moving into our new house (photo tour to come next week) in late June. That would give me time (I thought) to make something for my house with other fabric I bought from Intrepid Thread and then I could blog about it as part of this giveaway. Ya, if you read my last post you can guess, that didn't happen because I tend to procrastinate a bit. I started the project. I just didn't finish it. Does that count for partial credit?

I will be blogging about my project when I finish it soon. But I'll let you at least see the pretty fabric right now. I bought Yellow Pillow Fort from the collection "In My Room" by Jenean Morrison.

I love the color and fun symmetrical pattern.
Any guesses what I'm making?


I also got some more fabric from Intrepid Thread but my mom is making this project for me.

We have a King size bed and none of the quilts my mom made me for each year of college are big enough to share with my husband when I'm sleeping fit nicely on the bed. So that meant she had to make another quilt for me(us)...darn! :) I chose the blues and greens from In My Room by Jenean Morrison. Mmm, I love it!

Probably my favorite print from the line--Blue Lazy Afternoon--although it's so hard to choose! I love how this looks like it was colored with colored pencils.

  Pieces cut to start making a quilt!

Here's a couple of the blocks ready to be sewn together.

I will post pictures when the quilt is done! I'm so excited. Thanks mom :)
 
And now for the GIVEAWAY!!!
The fabric bundle from Intrepid Thread today celebrates Christmas in July (and if you are a procrastinator like me, you may win this fabric and still have time to make something for this Christmas in December).


The Winner will receive 8 fat quarters
(one fat quarter of each of these prints pictured here) 
from Hip Holiday by Josephine Kimberling
You can see the entire Hip Holiday collection at Intrepid Thread's online shop.

Aren't the prints so fun!? From top to bottom they are -- Tree Shopping White, Ornament Glam in Red, Hip Forest in White, Star Bursts in Green, Star Bursts in White, Reindeer Stroll Red, Reindeer Stroll Green, and Silver Metallic Print.

How can you win this, you ask? Well, there are multiples ways to enter:

#1. Leave a comment answering this question: if you won, what would you make with this fun Christmas fabric?
#2. Follow me on Bloglovin. Leave a comment telling me you became a follower.

#3. Follow the Intrepid Thread on Bloglovin. Leave a comment telling me you became a follower.

#4. Like Intrepid Thread on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did so.

#5. Check out any previous blog post of mine and leave a comment (on this post) telling me the title of the other post you read. Feel free of course to comment on that other post as well. :)

#6. Leave a comment guessing what I'm making with my Yellow Pillow Fort fabric.



Not too hard huh? Up to 6 entries per person. Giveaway will close at midnight on Tuesday, July 16th and a winner will be selected randomly and announced on Wednesday, July 17th.

Thank you so much to Julie at Intrepid Thread for sponsoring this fun first giveaway!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Throwback Throwpillow Thursday!

Happy Thursday! And more specifically, Happy Throwback Throwpillow Thursday! I think that may be the first time I've ever done an actual Throwback. First time for everything right. Well, this is DEFINITELY not the first time I've procrastinated. This blog post was meant to happen, in oh...uh...October. Oops. Well better (really) late than never right?

Back in October, I decided to make some decor pillows for our couch and bed. This meant fabric and sewing.

PAUSE---NEWSFLASH--I will have another post TOMORROW about fabric...a GIVEAWAY of fabric so that you could do your own sewing of pillow or something entirely not-pillow. And if you're a procrastinator like me, getting this particular fabric now may be just the right timing to allow for procrastination and still be able to squeeze in a creative sewing project on time to use this fabric. Hmmm....curious? :) Come back tomorrow and Enter to WIN the FABRIC GIVEAWAY!

Now back to my fabric and sewing project. These were my first pillows to make and I plan on there being MANY more. I mean, come on, you gotta have a variety to change them out and multiple couches, chairs, beds, you get the picture. My husband thinks that decor pillows are absolutely pointless and ridiculous. We joked about them so much before we got married, I would tease him saying there was going to be 20 on our bed and he would tease me saying he was going to hide them, etc. This video clip from Along Came Polly is so us but I'm the guy (but just the guy before he follows along because I'm not converting to anti-decor pillows) and my husband is the girl. So when it came time to write my vows, it seemed fitting to include something about decor pillows. In one of my promises, I said, " I give my word to agree to disagree on the necessity of dessert and decor pillows." Yeah, the dessert topic is for a WHOLE different day. :)

And so we have decor pillows :)

To make these, first I had to choose the fabric. If you know my mom, this task is not easy because she knows about EVERY fabric and EVERY website that sells it and EVERY sale and so the possibilities are truly endless and I have to say "stop, stop, 23 tabs open in your browser is enough for me to make a decision." :)

For the couch pillows (I will write about the bedroom pillows another time...don't ask when, haha) I chose Riley Blake Ombre Dots. I bought them from an Etsy store called Selvage123. We have a green leather couch (on loan from my parents until we find our own) and while I really like the couch's comfiness and color, green is not high on my list so it took awhile to find something I would like to match the couch and not be too green. And you're saying, "the only color on that fabric is green." True, but because it is ombre there is not an overabundance of one shade of froggy or mossy green. Also I love ombre and this was my first ombre item to own. So there, it's green without being GREEN.

I bought pillow forms at JoAnn's (they were on sale! each pillow was about $6.50) This picture includes the pillows for our bed as well.


I made an envelope pillow cover. There are several tutorials that you find on Pinterest, I just typed it into Bing and found this YouTube video: How to Make an Envelope Pillow Cover as one of the top results. It's only 8minutes long, to-the-point, and very informative. If you want to make these, I would suggest watching this since my directions and pictures are not as thorough as a video.

First, measure the pillow. Mine were 17"x17". For the front of the pillow cover, you will need a square of fabric that is 1" bigger on all 4 sides, so in my case, 18"x18".

For the back of your pillow cover, you will want the same height (18") but then 4" wider than the front. This piece should be 18"x22". The four extra inches will provide the overlap envelope on the back of the cover. Once you have the back piece cut, then you will need to cut it in half so that you have two pieces that are 18"x11".

Next, you will need to hem just one of the longer (18") sides for both of those two back pieces. Fold 1/4" towards the wrong side of the fabric and press. Fold 1/4" again and press again.


Then you will need to sew the hems on both pieces of fabric.

I used a zig-zag stitch right down the center of the fold to keep it all hemmed nicely.


The next part I failed to take pictures of. If my directions confuse you, refer to the video for the visual.
Lay the front piece right side up on your table.
Lay one of your back pieces right side down on top of the front piece. You will want to lay it so that the left, top, and bottom edges meet up and the hemmed edge is in the middle.
Now lay the second back piece right side down as well. This time line up the right, top, and bottom edges with the front piece. The hemmed side should be overlapping your other hemmed side on the other back piece. Still with me?

Now you will want to pin all around the outside edges to keep the front and back pieces together.

Sew around all four edges. Remember, that overlap of the two back pieces is the opening to take your pillow in and out so that's why you sew all the way around the outside edge. As you'll see in the video, she keeps the right side of the foot along the outside edge of the fabric.

Once you are done sewing, you will want to trim the excess fabric in the corners so that when you turn it inside out, you have nice crisp corners. Be careful not to cut your seam.


Here it is finished and inside-out. You can see the hem where it overlaps and is the envelope opening.

Flip it right-side-out and poke the little corners out.

Stuff your pillow in.

Voila! You just made a pillow cover. Pretty easy huh? Hey, if I can do it, you can do it too!

Here they are on my couch.

See, not too GREEN, right?

 Hooray for easy sewing projects! (notice I cropped the picture really close so you can't see too much of my new house until the photo tour next week!)


Remember, be sure to come back tomorrow for a FABRIC GIVEAWAY!!!

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