I love color.

Martha, you've done it again! Those people you have working for you really are great. All this color has just inspired me in the way I needed it most. 

1. Buoyant Blue, No. 6483, Sherwin-Williams.
2. Dragonfly, No. AF-510, Benjamin Moore.
3. Gray Horse, No. 2140-50, Benjamin Moore.
4. Blue Fir, No. MSL124, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
5. Cooking Apple Green, No. 32, Farrow & Ball.
6. Titanium, No. 2141-60, Benjamin Moore.
7. Punch, No. MSL014, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
8. Stonington Gray, No. HC-170, Benjamin Moore.
9. Babouche, No. 223HC-170, Farrow & Ball.
10. Heath, No. MSL212, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
11. Natural Twine, No. MSL217, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
12. Lancaster Blue, No. UL34, Ralph Lauren Paint.
13. Makaha, No. 19-32, Pratt & Lambert.

Here's what Martha came up with:

One of my top faves of the bunch.

My fave!

Martha, you rock!

Brighten Our Boudoir: Part 3

Yeah, so I painted. I took a magazine in to the paint store to get a match of a color in there. I came home with two borrowed quarts (our paint store is that cool). One was of what I thought the color resembled and the other what the expert paint man thought it was. He won. But...it's not exactly the same. I think what affected the result was that my borrowed paint was flat and then I bought eggshell. Anyhow, it has definitely brightened up out bedroom A LOT. Let me show ya.

Before:

Love that bedding.

Please excuse the mess! That's a doggy bed.

So, what's up with that paint, you say?? Yeah, it's actually a chalky dark blue Ralph Lauren color (I can't remember the name) and the RL finish called candlelight. It's striped. Really the only time it was noticeable was when there was a light flashing on it or at night with the lamps on. Not during the day.

Now, remember what I have next is only a work in progress to show the color. I don't want to give too much away at once.

After: new paint color.

WAY lighter and brighter.

New curtains I made from unbleached muslin. I love the texture. For $1.50 a yard, it was a steal.

There's still a lot of work to do. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, that giant chair...it came with the giant couch we used to own that came with the hubby.

Brighten Our Boudoir

I'm about to take on our master bedroom! Here's a glimpse into the series of images that are inspiring the change. Guess what I'm stealing from here?

Image from House Beautiful 

The wall color! I'm not going that bright, but I am taking a cue from this and changing our dark chalky blue for a light blue/green grey color from Benjamin Moore called Swept Away.

The color may vary depending on your monitor. It actually looks lighter in person.

Pillow Talk

Oh my. It's been almost a week since I last made an entry. Poop on me. Yet, I have a good excuse. I've been hard at work at coordinating a couch drop off, yanking a ton of weeds, drinking beers while watching "The Wrestler" in a movie theater (Yes, drinking beers in an actual theater) with the hubs and friends, making new curtains for the little bro's room, re-decorating the hubby's office (work in progress, pics later) lots of work at work, and....making plus pillows!

I've also decided to paint the retrofab chair. I was initially hoping to go with a RL color, but couldn't find what I was imagining. I ended finding up my match with Behr "Leisure." Yup, I'll be sittin' in my retrofab chair gettin' my leisure on. Perhaps wearing a leisure suit??

Oh crappers. You can't see the leisure. It's basically a yummy dijon color.

Anyhoo, back to the pillow talk. I was at Michael's crafts a while back and one of the books on their shelf caught my eye; a pillow making book. Fun! I flipped through the pages and suddenly, love. Why don't I just share the result of my book lovin'.

I apologize for the crappy lighting. I made two like the one in the back too.

The dumb flash makes the details of my fishy-like pillow disappear. No bueno! The fabric is this luxurious velvety thing that has a bubble design in the fabric grain. LOVE! The brown one in the back is a lovely linen. Yeah, so count this...1 yellow fishy pillow + 2 brown lovely linen pillows + 1 more striped pillow to create symmetry = lots of sewing, cutting, measuring, and 4 fab pillows!

ooohhh, ahhh.

Here's the so-so how too. My initial plan was to photo every step, but that wasn't very successful because I always end up getting way too into the whole process and forget to actually take pics. Oh well. Here's what I got. Take it or leave it.

Step one: Select a fabric that won't fray when cut with scissors and not sewn. Suede and this velvety one do the trick. 

Step two: Create an outline pattern on the back part of your fabric using a pencil or fabric pencil. I used a carpet cleaner spray bottle for the shape.

Step three: Cut out what seems like a gazillion scallops.

Step four: align the cut out scallops so they overlap and then pin them into place on a separate piece of the same fabric. 

Step five: sew each layer onto the fabric. Make sure to sew each layer so that the layer on top will cover the thread line. 

Step six: Cut the fabric out depending on the pillow size you want. Mine is 12 x 18. 

Step seven: Cut out the fabric for the back part and then sew it into place. I overlap mine so that I have an easy way of taking out the pillow. 

Here's some images to help.

Get this: total for 4 fab pillows = about $20 buckaroos in fabric. Not bad when you think about how one good pillow costs about $24 on its own. Oh, the pillow inserts; I scored big time. The hubby and I found this amazing store where almost everything costs $5! I'm not even kidding. The pillows had this great silk dupioni striped fabric as a cover. Alas, the color did not work with our whole scheme going on here. Zipper open,  super soft down pillow insert out-time for a new cover. Yay! 

Speaking of sewing. If you think you can't do it, you can. It's just a little practice. I've been doing it for a long time, so it's a breeze for me, but I am dealing with an antique of a sewing machine. Seriously, I'll have to take pictures. It's ancient and it weighs a ton! I think a new sewing machine may be in the horizon (hint for hubby: just because you love me gift??).