Pillow Talk

So for the last installment of recent changes…pillows! I know, exciting, right?

First let’s start with a stylist tip: when making your space feel like “home,” start gathering ideas – either by pulling out pages from magazines, copying them from decorating books or finding them on the web (consider using Pintrest for this). You don’t have to like everything about the picture, just some aspect (could be just a “feeling” that the picture evokes).

I have done this for years and when I looked at living rooms I liked, I found a common thread – patterned pillows that didn’t exactly “match.” So I started incorporating this look and feel into my own living room.

The first pillow covers I made years ago for my first home had red accents, but moving into this house I wanted to change them to more of a teal. I like to make my own covers so that I can pick fabric at the store and lay it all out before me. I did one round of pillows in this house that were regular covers – meaning they went over the pillow and I sewed the bottom so they were not removable.

I soon realized with a toddler that I wanted to be able to wash them, hence: round 2. So this time around I made envelope pillows. Here’s the fabric all laid out.

The first of these is actually my dining room chair fabric. You can see that transformation here. The other fabrics I wanted to use to coordinate but not “match.”

I went from these:

To these:

I did upgrade a couple of the smaller pillows (thank you IKEA!). I like the new covers a lot. I don’t think it was a dramatic difference in color. The big difference was knowing I can slip them off and put them in the wash. Here’s a few more photos…

Loveseat before and after.

Couch before and after.

Chair before and after.

What I found really interesting is that my son noticed them right away. He sits on the chair to watch his shows and was really happy with the “birdies.”

Don’t discount the role accent pieces can play in your space. It’s the little things that create the feel and make it yours.

How about you? Any changes you are working on?