Makely

When considering a furniture rehab project, my mind very rarely goes to wood stain. I’m a custom color sort of girl, and traditional stains have always seemed too reddish or light for my taste. I like my stained furniture to be quite dark brown, and you can only have so much dark furniture in a room.

I had never really considered the fact that stain can be mixed in a range of colors other than brown, but upon further investigation, I found that it can be. I think the key to a good custom stain color is to keep it a natural color – kind of like your hair color. Save your bright colors for painted furniture (although, I have seen brightly stained pieces AND people with bright blue hair that totally rock, so I wouldn’t say it’s a “rule” by any means).

Using the following pieces as inspiration, I’ve decided to go with a custom mixed grey stain for our top secret lumber yard project.

We are thiiiiiiis close to being finished building and will begin staining soon. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. And if I hate it, there’s always paint. 🙂

What are your thoughts on wood stain colors?

Image credits: Apartment Therapy, Your Furniture, Room & Board

I have a love/hate relationship with our king sized bed. I love the extra space so I don’t feel crowded by the dogs and kids when they occasionally climb into bed with us, but I hate the king sized pillows that are made for a mattress that size. I find them too large, and I much prefer two standard pillows to one king pillow. Aren’t you glad you are finding out so much interesting information about me?

The problem with standard pillows on a king sized bed are the pillowcases. A king sheet set normally comes with two king cases (although I’m starting to see some that come with 4 standard pillowcases – woohoo!), and they are far to large and droopy. I can’t stand this look.

Short of buying extra standard pillowcases, which I have been known to do, I developed my own way to fit standard pillows inside of king pillowcases. It keeps the pillow from shifting in the pillowcase, and makes it look crisp and tailored on the bed. I’m sure everyone else in the world already knows how to do this, but I was so proud of myself for figuring this out a few years ago.

How to Fit a King Pillowcase on a Standard Pillow

1. Put the pillow inside of the pillowcase, and lay it on your bed with the open end facing you.

2. With your thumb and index finger, pinch the pillowcase right above the end of the pillow itself.

3. Using both hands, tuck the loose portion on the top of the pillow inside the pillowcase.

If I were to remove my hands at that point, it would look like this:

4. From the inside of the case, smooth it out by running your hands from the center and out to the edges. It should look like a little envelope when you are finished.

The whole process takes about 5 seconds, and it leaves you with a nice, crisp lines on your pillows.

Once they are behind my other decorative pillows, I think they look so great. No more droopy pillowcases!

Oh, wait. That bed is really missing something – like a head board and some color. Oh, no! That doesn’t look great, Lindsay. Distract them! Quick!

Whew! I think it worked. Much better, don’t you think?

What are your thoughts on droopy pillowcases?