Bohemian Style Curtain Makeover...

... and How To Develop Upcycling Skills

Curtains are a home decor element that bring warmth, softness and character to a room. Because I live in a top floor I am quite minimalist with curtains. I have no need to cover whole windows with shades. I use curtains to finish the overall style and to get more color. A curtain in my living room has pink flowers on grey base and it completes the theme of my living room space that is lead by grey walls & big grey carpets and pink cabinet & small pink details. I love bohemian style and in my opinion it is essential to have some color theme so that super colorful details and interesting objects stand out. Otherwise the result is a chaos and beautiful textiles, baskets, bowls and ornaments will be just part of the mass.

Today's curtain makeover is both minimalist and bohemian. Black and white combination allows to layer with flowers, plants, beautiful plates, books, chandeliers and textiles. Yet the curtain is interesting with it's tassel details and real eye catcher. You could also use this side curtain as a wall textile or make two curtains to both sides of the window.

Inspiration to this curtain came from the material and texture. I found natural white 80s curtain from a thrift store. I liked the look even though it was slightly too neutral to my taste. I noticed the curtain has a lots of potential to become amazing bohemian style home decor element. It gives through light and is perfect for spring. I had a ball of black mercerized cotton yarn at home and that was all I needed to update my thrift store find to fit 2018.

I think these kind of earthy, natural white and textured curtains are relatively easy to find. You might not find a curtain that is exactly the same, but eye options with care. You could also use simple and loosely woven white fabric to this project. If you want the curtain to be a colorful element in your home decor, you can choose to use different colors of cotton yarn.

Trends come and go but the best part is that thrift stores have items from the era the same trends were in fashion last time. Usually the latest interpretations to the trend have brought a new twist to the style and you have to modify your second hand finds a bit. It is ecological, fun and inspiring to use recycled materials. Not to mention how much money you can save. Study a trend properly and think through what is this trend about. Is it about natural hues, certain color combination, texture, pattern or ornaments that construct the style. This way you see the potential in items that need a little bit of remodeling. Maybe berry hues and interesting textures are in fashion and you find a perfectly textured fabric you can dye. Or maybe you just need to remove paint from a furniture that has perfect shape.

Bohemian Style Curtain Makeover

You will need:

Natural white curtain that has texture

Black mercerized cotton yarn

Piece of cardboard

Ruler

Scissors

Needle

Step 1. Fit the curtain to a window. You might need to cut and sew it shorter.

Step 2. Cut 6 cm * 8 cm piece from cardboard. Cut a piece of yarn and place it horizontally. Then round 26 layers of yarn around 6 cm. Knot the piece of yarn tightly and remove the bundle from cardboard. Take a second piece of yarn and wrap tightly around the bundle, from about 1 cm from the knot. Take a needle and thread the yarn ends through the bind. Open the tassel by cutting the loops and trim the tassel even. I made 77 tassels like this to my curtain and it took few evenings.

Step 3. Attach the tassels to even rows using the first knot's yarn ends. If you have a notable pattern in your curtain use it as a starting point to plan the rows. In my curtain I have wide and thin stripes and I attached 7 tassels to every thin stripe.

Do you use recycled or thrift store materials in you projects? Do you follow home decor trends? How do you apply trends to your home, do you prefer upcycled home decor and furniture or all new?

Have the most Inspiring and Relaxing Weekend My Friend! By the way, the lamp you see in the pictures is also a thrift store find, you can find Ikat Inspired Lamp Makeover with Paint from HERE!

Sannu 

Quilting Tutorial: Bohemian October

I took my autumn pictures just in time this week. Today when I woke up there was little bit of snow on the ground and trees were white. Sunshine and pure white scenery have given so much energy for this day and coming weekend. Today's quilted pillow tutorial that has deeper blue and purple hues doesn't feel too wintry at all. This is the second pillow quilting tutorial in this month. I hope you like quilting and sewing. I am so enthusiastic about making pillows and other small quilting projects. Now that winter is really coming, or arrived already, cozy pillows and blankets are the best way to decorate at home. 

This technique to quilt a block is easy. I have put quite many pictures of the process because I believe pictures tell more than words when it comes to crafts. I have made more detailed instruction on how to make the back piece to my previous quilting tutorial, so now I will mainly focus on making this block. Two main things you should remember when quilting are the 0,75 cm sewing allowance and that always after sewing iron the seams open before moving to second step. More tutorials, tips and inspiration on my previous quilting posts. The most interesting part for this simple quilted pillow comes from the unusual shape and fun tassels that finish the bohemian look.

You will need:

Cotton fabric in four colors

Sewing thread

Embroidery yarn

Batting

Cotton fabric for batting

Back fabric

Woolen yarn for tassels

Quilting equipment:

Ruler

Cutting mat

Rotary cutter

Sewing machine

Needles

Iron

Embroidery hoop

Scissors

Step 1. Cut 4 cm stripes from all four fabrics. Cut first about 4 stripes from each one (you will need more but it is easier to work with less at a time).

Step 2. Sew stripes together. Remember to keep same order in all stripe groups.

Step 3. Now you can choose. I preferred to sew these groups together to get a longer string. It will save material because the next step is to cut triangles with 45 degree corner. However you will have extra seams visible on your blocks. If you want to avoid that don't attach groups together but use shorter strings.

Step 4. Cut triangles with 45 degree angle. Cutting mats vary, but I had angles ready drawn on my mat so it was easy to follow the line and cut.

Step 5. Now you have two kinds of triangles that make two kinds of blocks. Collect the blocks and sew together.

When you sew parts together look that the stripes meet each other.

Make more blocks to have all parts for the pillow.

Step 6. Now sew blocks together as shown on the pictures. First sew blocks together to make three lines.

Then sew lines together.

Step 7. All parts sewn together. Now it is time to do the batting. Put cotton fabric to the bottom, then batting and quilt on the top of all. Pin layers together.

Step 8. Sew layers together by hand before you start embroidering.

Embroider the layers together with beautiful decorative stitches. Use embroidery hoop to make the work easier.

Step 9. Cut off the extra batting and make the back piece. See tutorial from here!

When the back piece is ready cut off the extra corners.

Step 10. Make simple tassels from woolen yarn. Attach the tassels, hide the yarn end inside the tassel. Put a pillow inside the pillowcase. I sew a basic pillow with the same shape using all batting leftovers I have collected during the years of quilting.

This cute bohemian style pillow goes well with faux fur pillow and luxurious quilt I have bought from interior decor shop one year ago. 

Hope you find this tutorial both helpful and inspiring. If so, please share on social media and /or tell friends on a coffee table. All your comments here on my blog and on social media warm my heart <3 If you got something on your mind you would like me to write about do not hesitate to leave a comment!

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!  I am not saying winter weekend because I heard on instagram comments today that some have a summer, some enjoy autumn :D 

Sannu

Mid-Century Modern Table DIY

Friyay! While being effective for the last working hours of the week it is time to get inspired and search for the best DIYs of the weekend. Side tables are handy in home decor. They offer extra surface for seasonal arrangements, place to leave your books and coffee mugs or to keep all the little plant pots organized. Today I went for darker colors to get a side table that will give needed contrast to all my bohemian style collections. I love layered look that has elements from different eras and styles: old worn out carved wood, modern design chairs, bright colors, global style patterns and eclectic mid-century. 

Combination of mid-century modern and bohemian style works quite well I think. Especially when color palette in furniture is simple and combined with deeper bohemian shades. Harvest season's colors like pumpkin orange, beetroot purple and moss green begin to look great with warm wood and grey. Golden accents make the look luxurious and urban. I have had many styles during the years and the modern twist is the latest one. Clean lines calm down the overall look which is great in small space like my apartment. Grey walls, mirrors (check this contemporary mirror wall DIY!) and two big carpets create a sense of a bigger space and allow to play with smaller and more decorative objects. 

Idea of this table came with the need of an extra small table and the legs that appeared from the garbage about the same time. I could not find suitable plank from the garbage or thrift store so I had to buy a new one (cost 10€). I modified the plank to fit in a narrow space, that is why I sawed of the corners. Paints are all more of less leftovers. I always tend to have some jars in my closets. As a starting point with the colors I had a thought that I am not going to add any more colors in the house so I kept the palette simple. Now I have plans to put my stereos on this side table and maybe a small flowerpot.

You will need:

Metal table legs + screws

Wooden plank

Paint in three colors (I used golden spray paint, black furniture paint and brown antiquing wax)

Painter's tape

Sanding paper

Strong white paper like wallpaper

Saw

Pencil

Ruler

Scissors

Drilling machine and drill

In today's tutorial I have got more pictures than usual but I hope that in case you are making this DIY you will find them helpful. This DIY is not difficult to make yet includes many different steps. So here is how I made this table:

Step 1. The table legs are a garbage find. I spray painted the legs with golden spray paint. Then I bought a plank that fits to the legs. This plank is 40 cm * 1 m. 

Step 2. To get right proportions to make legs and table cover work together I removed few centimeters from the length. Because this side table is going to a narrow place I removed the corners. I always hit myself to sharp corners so I hope to prevent that with this simple design.

Step 3. Saw off from the length if needed. Saw off the corners. Sand the edges.

Step 4. Attach the legs. First I measured how wide the the leg pair is and counted it to the middle. Then I draw another line from the front edge. As a result I got a rectangle that works as guide to get the legs in their right place.

Step 5. Screw the legs to the plank. If needed attach supporting pieces to keep the plank firm in use.

This table would look pretty like this or painted with just one color but we are not stopping here!

Step 6. Cut a model that is the exact same shape as the table cover. Use a long ruler to draw lines and form random geometrical shapes. My tip would be to keep most of the shapes quite big and then add few smaller shapes. This keeps the project easier to paint plus creates dynamic look.

Step 7. Decide what paint are you going to use in particular blocks. In case you are using spray paint cut out the blocks you are spray painting.

Step 8. Use painter's tape to secure the lines. I left about 0,7 cm gap between color blocks which means that I put the tape 0,3 cm over the models line. 

Step 9. Spray paint the blocks. If you want to use spray paint in all blocks you need to make as many paper models as you got colors. Then you just cut out the blocks you are painting with the certain color.

Step 10. Gently rip off the tapes when the paint is dry. Try not to break the model.

Step 11. Then cut off blocks one by one drawing the outlines to the table cover.

Step 12. Use ruler to get the lines sharp and gaps between the blocks right.

Step 13. Then it is time to paint with the second color. With furniture paint I worked block by block. I put the tapes, painted and removed the tape immediately before the paint was dry. This because acrylic paint sometimes cracks with the tape when dry.

Step 14. After the furniture paint blocks were dry I did the same with rest of the blocks. This time I used antiquing wax.

Step 15. Then I painted the edge with the black furniture paint.  After the paint was dry I sanded the gaps between blocks to take off the pencil marks and paint that went over the lines. 

Best thing in this mid-century inspired table is that it is timeless piece in home decor. It can be styled with various ways. You could decorate the whole home with mid-century pieces and this table would not pop out. Also it is a perfect dynamic piece in modern global style. I love to collect all sorts of decorative items, like trays, flower pots, baskets, decorative pillows etc. The look might get a little messy without furniture like this that gives frame to the entity.

Hope today's post and this tutorial was both inspiring and helpful. Please share my tutorials and projects on social media if you like them! Shares, likes and follows are the biggest encouragement for my work <3 

Have a Fun and Creative Weekend!

Sannu