"Greetings to all of you fantastic Miss Mustard Seed readers! I am so honored to be guest posting today on one of the most fabulous blogs on the planet. I seriously mean that...I love Miss Mustard Seed and we have never even met face to face, but I know if I did, she would be an amazing person to hang out with....Thank you so much, Marian, for having me.
My name is Kelli, and I am a stay at home mom of 3. I have two sweet girls and a precious baby boy, Elijah, waiting on me in Heaven. Elijah taught me so much about the importance of not getting caught up in the rat race of life but to slow down and enjoy every precious moment that I have with my two healthy children and my husband. One of the biggest things I want to accomplish right now is making my house a home. A home that is open to family and friends all the time, a home where people feel they can take off their shoes, prop up their feet and stay a while. I am new to blogging, but not to budget decorating. I am and always have been an avid garage "sailer" (what we call it in my house:) and an all around "thrifter". I have a refurbished furniture and home decor business, here in Birmingham, where I live, that operates out of my basement and a local antiques shop called Consigning Interiors. My husband works two jobs, one in sales and one as a part time children's pastor. He works hard for the money we do have and it's my job to be a good steward of that money. My blog, Re Store Interiors, focuses on how to decorate your home on a budget without sacrificing style and elegance. I go to Market and other trendy places to find out what the "hot" items are that are selling for astronomical prices and try and duplicate them to the best of my ability. Right now, my focus is on furniture finishes, pillows and lamps, as well as painted canvases of crosses and angels.
I wanted to show you one of the things that I duplicated just recently. This past week, I took a trip to Altanta market and took a few photos of things that I wanted to try at home. These 18" pillows were selling, wholesale, for 68.00 a piece and they didn't even have the insert. Double that price, and that's what you are seeing in stores.
I loved the dark gray stripe. I saw a few posts ago, where Miss Mustard Seed had used frog tape to make stripes on a slipcover. This is another great thing about blogging because I already had a head start in how to do it right! I mixed two colors of acrylic paint, Black and Cream. More cream than black, until I got the color I was looking for. I found an incredible deal on fabric from IKEA. I have to give credit, where credit is due because I saw these on Urban Farm Girl where she had told everyone this was her "go to" fabric. She was right, this is an amazing find. You get two panels for 14.99 and it is soft and luscious, perfect for pillows and slipcovers. When I was at IKEA this week I bought a pair to try it out. I had gotten four 24" down pillow inserts for 10.00 at market. A steal, I know...I cut my fabric to use the inserts in a 24" square, taped off the stripes with frog tape and then painted in between the lines. I used a stiff stenciling type brush so that it would look faded. After the paint dried, I pulled off the tape and was done! I cheated on mine because I was lazy and didn't want to put in a zipper, so I just whip stitched it shut. They are going on my couch anyway:)
When you are painting, make sure you put a piece of cardboard underneath so the paint does not bleed through onto your surface. Lay a dishtowel over the paint and heat set it with an iron so that the paint won't come off when you are washing the cover.
I love how they turned out don't you?Thank you so much for being my audience today, I hope you have learned some valuable tips to make your house "home" on a budget. Please drop by my blog and say hello if you get a chance! Take time today to hug your children, grandchildren and other loved ones and tell them how much they mean to you!"
Blessings,
(I got choked up reading about her son. Anyone else?) Anyway, I love how chic this pillow looks and it's so cheap and easy to make. If you'd like to see where I used this same technique, check out my dining room chair slipcovers, upholstered French arm chair, slipcovered ottoman and upholstered "grain sack" bench.
