Fabric and pillow purge!

Hey hey! How’s your Friday the 13th going so far? Buwhahahaha.

As I’ve mentioned once or 50 times, I’m working my way around our house, decluttering one room at a time. I try to do this once a year but this time I’ve been crazy intense with it. I’m forcing myself to focus on one space at a time, which is really helping me to purge each space really well.

As I’ve made my way around the house I’ve gone through a LOT of my fabrics and pillows and decided what I’m keeping and what I’m not. I was going to take all of it that I’m not keeping to Goodwill, but I figured some of you might be interested? I kind of hate to give it away if one of you would use it.

So, I’m having a fabric sale today/this weekend. ;) I’ve measured every piece and I’ll show you how I’ve used them along the way as well. For the smaller pieces (that are really cute so I figured someone might be able to use them) I’m just asking for $1 for handling and then shipping.

If you see something you’d like just email me at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and give me the exact name of the item and how many if there are multiples. I will only accept payment via PayPal for this little flash sale. :)

First up are a couple cute cotton fabrics I used in my basement craft room:

These are just smaller pieces leftover:

SOLD

These were going to be used as pillows for the book nook but I never got to it:

SOLD

I loved this cute fabric but never ended up using it (I’m totally spacing on what this design is called):

SOLD

It goes well with this polka dot print that I used to cover the back of the plastic shelves in the basement (prior to finishing it):

I have a few pieces of this left:

SOLD

I was going to use this green quilted fabric on the kitchen stools years ago but decided against it:

SOLD

I got this for a craft and didn’t use it – love it though:

SOLD

This green floral is SO pretty – I was going to use it for roman shades but only had them up for a short time:

This is a nice thick cotton fabric. These are VERY roughly lined – like I just laid the lining down on them and used hemming tape so it’s not anything perfect:

SOLD

I got this red tulle to use at Christmas but the red was wrong (it is a true red, doesn’t lean burgundy like our ornaments). I like to use tulle as a DIY tree skirt: 

SOLD

I used this blue print to make some pillows to go with my Pottery Barn placemat pillows:

It’s a thicker fabric, almost like an outdoor fabric, but slicker. It’s hard to describe. It’s VERY durable:

SOLD

I used this stripe fabric to make pillows for the family room years ago:

I just have a small piece left, but it’s enough to make a lumbar pillow perhaps?:

Stripe is 27x20, $1 plus shipping

And finally, one of my favorites – the P. Kaufmann fabric I used on the living room drapes:

I have a few pieces of this left:

SOLD

I also have a bunch of napkins and pillow covers, like this placemat I used to make pillows:

I only have one left and it’s rust/brown:

SOLD

I used these PB napkins to make the pillows I mentioned above:

I have three of these:

SOLD

And six of these PB napkins I was going to make pillows with too:

SOLD

Everything above has never been used by the way – the last few have but are clean and in good condition. This is a super soft PB pillow cover with zipper:

SOLD

It looks like a gray blue when you look at it alone, but with other blues it looks more aqua, just an FYI. :)

These button PB covers were in that pic in the family room above:

SOLD

I will iron these for you before I ship them. ;)

These are from wayyy back but are in great condition – they are red (they lean burgundy) zipper pillow covers that would be beautiful for Christmas:

SOLD

And finally, the rust shams we had on our master bed up till a few months ago:

These were barely used – and when I say used I mean they laid on the bed a few times. I NEVER make our bed. Ever. They were from Target and are still in great condition:

SOLD

So there you go! If you are interested, just email me and let me know. I will edit this post if an item is gone! We will figure out shipping when you email me. :) These will all be first to email, first dibs. I’ll work down the list as they come in.

I hope some of you will enjoy these as much as I have (or will do something with them if I didn’t). :)

Take care and have a lovely weekend!

DIY tufted headboard tutorial

Hello all! I’m so excited to share more about how I made the new headboard in our bedroom. I shared more about the start to this room redo, the new bed and the headboard earlier this week.

I’ve made my own headboards (and for friends!) for years – even before blogging. It’s seriously one of the easiest DIY projects you can do and you will save SO MUCH money doing it on your own.

The headboard part I was used to – but I was totally intimidated by the tufting part. I’ve never tufted one because it seemed like it would be hard…but it is not a big deal! For real, it wasn’t bad at all.

So here we go – I new the shape I wanted the headboard to be for awhile, but I just found out the other day that it had a name:

I wanted the Belgrave look, which was totally easy to DIY. First up, Dad came down and we used his truck to pick up a big piece of mdf at the hardware store – it was a big four by eight foot piece and the Lowe’s Guy cut it down for me:

I wish I would have taken pics of how I cut the corners out, but it was so quick. Dad and I just searched the garage for something round (and used my bird food holder). I held it up on the corner and figured out how big of a cut out I wanted, then did some quick measurements to make sure it was even on both sides. Then I traced the bottom of the can and cut one side out with the jigsaw. That first piece is all you need to make the second one – just flip it over and place it on the other corner, trace, and you’ve got a mirror image.

I hope that makes sense – it was so fast I didn’t even think to take pics.

Dad helped me take the board upstairs where I went to work! I showed you how I made the headboard in the Bub’s room and this was nearly identical till I got to the tufting part.

Like that one, I used mattress pads instead of foam from the craft store:

Why this instead of regular foam? One word – cheaper. ;) Foam is a petroleum based product, so it goes up with the price of gas. Which means it’s just going up and up over time. I haven’t even check the price lately but for three inches of foam for a nearly 80 inch headboard wouldn't be cheap. The size was another reason – I would have had to use numerous pieces of foam to cover this and when you use the mattress pad you can get one big piece.

I had one I had picked up on clearance years ago (look for the XL twin sizes after back to school – you can find them for cheap!) but it was too small for this headboard. So I ended up with a bigger size (queen I think?), then ended up going back to get another one to do two layers because I really wanted it super soft.

One of the things I grew to dislike about our old headboard was how hard it was. I mean, it was wood, so yeah. And it had a curve to it so our heads never fit against it. First world problems. This time I made the headboard tall and cushy that we could comfortably lean against it.

Once the foam is down, you want to secure it with a layer of batting or thin fabric. I used batting first just because, again, I wanted this super soft. And I already had some, so that helped too:

Then I used a piece of muslin I had in my stash too, to cover everything again. This just secures all the foam and gives you a nice base for the final fabric.

Speaking of that – after all that I was ready to finish it up – and because I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to drive the extra 15 minutes to the fabric store, I actually shopped the drapery aisle at Target:

I wasn’t sure exactly what color I wanted so I grabbed a few. ;) The two on the left were $17 for a panel – which compared to a couple yards of upholstery fabric is pretty good.

Problem was we weren’t crazy about any of them when we tried them out. One was too light, one was too blah and one was too dark.

Soooo…the next day I went to the darn fabric store. ;) I needed the stuff to tuft the headboard anyway (at first I wasn’t planning on tufting. Scared, remember?) so I took a quick look through the fabrics and found one I LOVED in the suit fabric aisle.

Before I used that I figured out where I wanted my tufts and drilled the seven holes:

I just wanted it to be a simple design and some of the tufting I see is just too much for me. So when I did my math I decided to just do three across the top and four under that. That’s it – anything lower would always be covered by pillows or the mattress so I didn’t even worry about the bottom.

After the holes were drilled I added the final fabric:

By the way, years ago I tried the electric stapler you can find at the hardware store (about $30) and it is kind of a pain in my butt to use. It gets jammed and the staples don’t go in evenly no matter what I do. I always revert back to my regular stapler (above) – it takes more muscle but that’s good for ya. ;)

Sometimes the corners can get tricky, so I’ve always used a simple method – start with the middle, then each side, pulling tight each time:

For the curved corners I just grabbed the fabric and stapled as best I could:

Remember…no one will see this part. Seriously, the back doesn’t matter. Do what you gotta do!

Here is is in it’s (almost) finished state:

Getting there! The suit fabric is like a gray linen and looked so good. Way better than the drapes I picked out – I returned those.

Now the part I dreaded…the (shiver) tufting. So not hard. At all. All the stuff I needed was in the same section at Joann’s. I picked up this waxed thread and it rocked:

It made this SO easy. More on that in a minute.

I grabbed some buttons too – it’s so easy to make your own fabric-covered buttons:

I just used scrap fabric to make them all. Making buttons is fun.

So the tufting was a breeze – I couldn’t believe I had put it off all this time! I did poke myself a couple times, but overall, easy. :) First up, I threaded one of my long upholstery needles and made a little knot at one end, then stapled it to the back of the headboard:

Then I pushed the needle through the headboard, threaded the button on, and pushed it back through to the back. This is where the waxed thread comes in super handy – it kind of held the button where it was while I secured it to the back. Regular thread would slip and be hard to keep where you want it. This worked GREAT.

I would just put a staple in the back of the headboard, but wouldn’t push super hard on the stapler, so it didn’t go all the way into the wood. Then I was able to wrap that thread around it a few times, then hammer it down to secure it. (Pic on the right.)

I didn’t pull each button super tight – I didn’t want it to be a deep tuft. Just a little bit of tuft. And there is an easier way to do this by the way – you can just thread both ends of the thread on the needle with the button already on it, then put it through from front to back and then secure. But that method didn’t work for me because the waxed thread was so thick.

I was THRILLED with how it looked! I finished it up with some nailhead trim along the sides:

The particle board I used to make the headboard was 1/2 an inch thick and I went that size on purpose – so these would have something to grab onto. Any thinner and it would have been hard to get them in well.

I’ve never used the connected nailhead trim (I usually just do them individually) but wow, this made it so simple! The nailhead stuff is $21 for five yards, but I had two coupons so I got it for about $10. :)

I hung this up the same way I did in the Bub’s room – I just used picture hanging jobbies:

I figured out where the studs were and screwed into those in first, then that determined where I put the hangers on the back of the headboard.

When we got it hung I was so dang happy with how it turned out!:

You can see the nailhead trim better in that pic. From the front you don’t see it as much, but it’s a great little detail when you get up closer. I love it!

You can see there why I didn’t add any buttons any lower too – they’d just be covered.

Many of you have asked about the new bedding – I found it at HomeGoods earlier this year:

It’s by Hillcrest and it was a duvet cover and shams for $40. I had been looking for new bedding for months and just happened to find this, new sheets (they aren’t on now – they are darker and I’ll put them back on later in the fall) and the small pillow on the bed all in one trip. None of them are supposed to go together but I think they work well!

So far with what I made on the old bed, I’ve still got about $300+ to spend – I think I may make money on this redo! That’s what I’m talking about.

You can find upholstered and tufted headboards all over the place, but I promise you they are not hard to make on your own! It does take some time so just be patient with it. But you will save tons if you DIY this one -- the Pottery Barn bed on the left is $1000 for a king (gulp), the Ballard Designs on the right is $500+:

 

I think mine looks pretty darn good for less than $100:

Here’s the break down on cost:

Wood: $15
Foam: $45
Fabric: $8
Buttons, nailheads, etc: $25

Total was $93! Aww yeah. And I have wood, foam, nailheads, buttons and thread left over to use on future projects.

If you went with one layer of foam/egg crate that will go down about $20. I had the batting and muslin but only one of those is really needed and they are both cheap. Of course of you skip the tufting that will help too!

Overall I’m so happy with how it turned out. And it is SO much more comfortable than our old headboard. Have you ever made your own? Did you find it easy to do? Have you ever attempted the tufting? Are ya sceered? 

 

**I’m getting more and more done in this room! To see how I updated old nightstands for the room, go here. And see what color I spray painted the brass lamps in this post!

The Moon Chairs

Sooo, I don’t go into Goodwill nearly as much as I used to. I was going a couple times as week there for awhile and it contributed way too much to my crapification problem. ;)

Now I am dropping off stuff a lot more than picking up. I probably go in once a month now. And last week I went in and found a couple really fun items.

There were six “moon chairs” for $15 each and I kept walking past them, stalking them. I even tweeted a pic, but I just couldn’t figure out where I could use them in our house.

I walked around some more, stalked them some more, then sat in one.

It spun people. Round and round.

That sealed the deal. I had to have them. I sat in one, spinning around like a five-year-old, trying to think of where I could put a couple funky chairs, and it hit me.

Duh. Basement. Play area.

So I got two:

I had been thinking that maybe, just maybe, they were actual vintage moon chairs…how cool would that be? I was all congratulating myself that I had just found the deal of a lifetime.

Then I turned one over and saw the IKEA tag. ;) I laughed at myself for a good five minutes straight.

They were in decent condition, just some nicks in the metal legs and they needed some cleaning. But I had bigger plans in mind for these, so I started by taking off the bottom and back pads:

It was then that I realized they had zippered covers, so I took them off and threw them in the wash:

I rarely buy anything upholstered second-hand, but I could tell these had been taken care of pretty well.

Then I took the seats off the metal bases using a socket wrench:

Look! A picture of the blogger!!

With a socket wrench!

And sweaty nasty from a workout with no makeup!

And a headband to accentuate the big ears!

:)

Anyway…

After the covers were clean and dry, I put them back on the cushions, then laid them out on the new fabric I found at Joann’s:

I used about a yard for this project and it was perfect.

Some of you might be thinking I made new covers, and you’d be wrong. ;)

I just hot glued the fabric around the back of the cushions:

Oh yes. Hot glue could heal the world.

No one will ever see the backs, except for me. And after some scotch guard, they’ll hold up great. I kept the black covers on so the new fabric would have something to glue to.

I made sure to cut around the holes for the screws:

While I was working on the cushions, the legs were out in the garage drying. They were dull and more of an aluminum finish. I wanted something a little flashier, so I spray primed them and then used some leftover silver spray paint from the dining table centerpiece.

I put everything back together and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out!:

I was looking for a fun fabric that would work well with these funkalicious chairs. I wanted something kind of mod, but that would hide marks and would hold up.

This upholstery fabric was PERFECT!:

Each chair came in at $35 each when I was done – for the fabric and chairs.

It was a fun, quick project and I can’t wait to see them in the Bub’s play space in the basement! They may just stay up in the living room till the drywall is done cause the colors work pretty perfectly in there. ;)

Did I mention they SPIN??

:)

Don’t you love a great Goodwill makeover?

P.S. Next time I decide to include a picture of myself (six months from now) I’ll wear makeup.