I have been busy updating my new rental home's decor. Since I can't do what I love and paint the walls, I decided to inject color with my accessories. Like you've seen in my previous posts and will soon see again, I've been inspired by the color palette of yellow, turquoise, coral and grey. It all started with this beauty.
So, off to Target I went and fell in love with their new Threshold line. It was just what I was looking for in color and design. In this post I'll share with you my first step, which was updating my boring couch pillows.
There I was in the decorative pillow aisle falling in love, till I looked at the prices and started to do the math in my head. I wanted 9 pillows, and at a minimum of $25 a pop, that would come to at least $225 in pillows. In my head, I could hear my hubby saying, "You spent $225 on what???" So, I came up with a plan as I put those beauties back on the shelf and headed over to the kitchen aisle. That is where I found the same beautiful designs and colors in the form of napkins and placemats but at a fraction of the cost. So, $32 dollars and a little elbow grease later, I had myself 9 beautiful new pillows and was bragging to my hubby, asking him to guess how much I paid. Don't you love playing that game with your husband?
Here is my before: We got this super comfy couch at RC Willey, and it came with these blue pillows. They were nice but boring, all the same color and too dark. Can't you hear my couch screaming for help?
Here is the after. I just love the colors--they make me and my couch sooooo happy. Now, let's get started on this tutorial.
Supplies:
1. Threshold Ombre Placemat $3.59
2. Threshold Grey Placemat $4.49
3. Room Essentials Dot Napkins, set of 4 $8.99
5. Threshold Coral Kitchen Towels, set of 2 $5.99
7. Not pictured, I had 1 bag of filling from Joann for the placemat and dot pillows.
First up, is my cute coral small and long pillows.
These are a super easy sewing project. I bought a set of 2 kitchen napkins that were 28" by 18" and I found 2 pillows at the DI for $4 to fit inside them.
1. I folded the napkin right sides together to form an envelope pillow.
2. I pinned it and sewed straight up on both sides.3. Turned it right side out and inserted pillow.*
*Note: If you didn't want to buy a pillow to go inside, you could complete steps 1-3, and then fill pillow with filling and hand sew the envelope opening closed.
Next up, my dot square pillows.
I bought a set of 4 Kitchen napkins that were 18" by 18". With these I made a regular pillow that I stuffed with filling I had from Joann's.
1. I put 2 napkins right sides together and pinned on all sides.
2. I sewed up all 4 sides *make sure you leave an opening to insert filling*
3. Before turning the pillow right side out, I cut the tips of the corners to help make nice, pointy corners when the pillow is filled. I then filled the pillow with filling and then hand stitched the opening closed.
Next up, my watercolor floral pillows.
I bought a set of 4 Kitchen napkins that were 20" by 20". I used the napkins plus 2 yards of scrap fabric to make 3 envelope pillows that I inserted my old couch pillows into.
Last up, my 2 placemat pillows. These are the easiest pillows to make.
1. I used a seam ripper to rip an opening just enough to fill the pillow--about four inches long. (Make sure your placemats have two layers, or this won't work).
2. I filled the pillow and then hand stitched the opening up.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. The next time you are in the market for some pillows, try checking out the kitchen section. You never know what you might find, and you might save your self some $ MOOLAH $ like I did--which of course will be used on your next DIY project.
Again here is a before shot of my living room. Soon I will share with you how I took care of my other problem spots.
1. New curtains: again, too much brown.
2. Side table: an old table that needs new life or maybe something new there all together.
3. My son's toys: OK, confession. I cleaned and removed the actual problem for this picture. That corner is usually bursting with boy toys that need some corralling.
So be sure to check back as I share those updates and as always budget-friendly solutions for home-decorating and more!
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