Makely

Technology is an amazing thing. Last week, I spied a Dwell Studio for Target pillow I loved, only the colors were wrong for my home. I tweeted the picture asking for ideas on how to replicate it, and I had several replies within minutes saying it would be easy to do.

One such reply came from Gina @ Stampin’ with Gina. She sent me a few pictures of different rosettes she made, and when I told her which one I liked the most, she even wrote a tutorial for me on her blog – all by that evening. That’s technology at work, my friends! {I have since found a nearly exact replica of the Dwell Studio pillow in a tutorial over at Crazy Wonderful!}

Since I figured out how to make the rosettes (with Gina’s guidance), I could go crazy and create my own design inspired by not only the Dwell Studio for Target pillow but also this amazing Ankasa ($540!!!) pillow I spotted in the March edition of House Beautiful:

House Beautiful

I put together a tutorial of the process I used so that you can put your own twist on the rosette embellished pillow.

Rosette Embellished Pillow

Supplies:

Pillow cover (mine is a 20 x 20 ivory “Aina” from Ikea)
Pillow insert (I used a down “Fjädrar” insert, also from Ikea)
Fabric for rosettes (any fabric will work – I used 1 yard of cotton gauze)
Felt
Glue gun w/ glue sticks
Straight pins
Aluminum foil
Fabric glue (permanent)

Directions

1. I began by cutting my fabric into 2 inch wide strips, per Gina’s instructions. I just sort of eyeballed it because they don’t have to be perfect. Because I was using 1 yard of fabric, my strips were 1 yard long and 2 inches wide.

2. Next, I put a dot of glue…oh, wait. Just see for yourself. Here’s the video I put together on making the flowers, which is slightly different for this project than Gina’s technique:

3. After I made all of my flowers, I laid them out in a design on the pillow cover WHILE the pillow insert was inserted. You will want to see how it looks with the dimension of the pillow in the cover, not just with the cover lying flat. After you have arranged your flowers in a fun design, pin them in place as best you can with the straight pins.

4. Slide the pillow insert out of the cover and insert some aluminum foil in its place. This will keep the fabric glue you are about to use from gluing your cover shut.

5. On the felt side of the rosettes, apply a good amount of fabric glue. I applied the glue in a circle around the edges and then made an X in the center. If your rosettes are layered in your design, work from the bottom up. It helps to take a quick photo of your arrangement in case you have to move them around when gluing.

6. Once your rosettes are glued to the pillow cover, find something heavy to lay on top of them while the glue dries. I used a few heavy books and left them there for a few hours. Then, I removed the books and let the glue set overnight.

7. The next morning, the pillow was ready to go in the insert, and I was ready to have a gorgeous designer-inspired throw pillow!

Want to add some color to your decor? Look beyond my beige flowers and try some in brightly colored fabrics.

Seems like an easy weekend project, huh? Get to it!

P.S. My pillow and I are partying at Gina’s Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage.

This post is sponsored by Rustoleum.

One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to refresh your kitchen is to give the cabinets a little face lift. Sometimes, a little change such as adding/changing the hardware on the doors and drawers is enough. However, he majority of the time, a fresh coat of paint or a new stain on the cabinets makes the biggest impact.

If you are like me, you’ve seen fabulous kitchens all over Blogland transformed by washing, stripping, sanding, priming, painting, and using a lot of elbow grease. While the outcome is usually gorgeous, I get nervous thinking about doing all of those steps exactly right so as not to really mess up the largest focal point of one of the most used rooms in the home. Yep, I’m scared.

In early February, Rust-Oleum hosted me in New Orleans for a little hands-on time with a new product designed to take the worry out of updating your kitchen cabinets – Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations. They promised no sanding, no stripping, and no priming with the new product, and I wanted to call their bluff.

Okay, not really. The Rust-Oleum family of brands includes some of my favorite products, including my beloved Zinsser line of primers, so I figure they know what they are talking about.

The Cabinet Transformations product is a kit sold in home improvement stores (it’s definitely at Lowe’s and Home Depot). It’s a water-based, multi-purpose product for use on wood, laminate, melamine and metal. You take the kit up to the paint counter and ask them to tint it in one of 35 different colors – which becomes 70 when you add the optional decorative glaze.

Then, you take it home and get to work. The process is four steps and it’s really no more difficult than painting and wiping.

The product experts at Rust-Oleum demonstrated how to use the product and then put us to work ourselves. It was honestly no more difficult than the above instructions. The Cabinet Transformations kit comes with an instructional DVD or you can watch it here.

Hey, that’s me!

I have absolutely zero complaints about this product, and I honestly do recommend it. I even tried to scratch some of the dried sample cabinets with my fingernail to see if the paint would come off, but it didn’t leave any sort of mark. Shhh…don’t tell the Rust-Oleum people that I tried to destroy their cabinets. But, in case you don’t want to just take my word for it (Gah! The nerve!), check out these testimonials – including my favorite transformation by Savannah:

Before

After

Doesn’t that look great? You can’t really tell in these photos, but the decorative glaze makes a big difference when used over the bond coat. When transforming your cabinets using the lighter colors, I recommend using a light hand with the glaze and really just work it into the corners instead of spreading it all over. Perhaps it’s just the aesthetic that I am drawn to, but I thought it looked best that way.

The Cabinet Transformations kit comes in 2 sizes – Small (covers 100 sq ft, like a condo) and Large (covers 200 sq ft, like an average kitchen) – and has the suggested retail price of $79.99 and $149.99 respectively. Upon first glance, the price seems a little spendy, but once I calculated the cost of sandpaper + primer + paint + protective coating + a lot more time, I decided that it was well worth the price.

Also, since this product can be used on so many different surfaces, there are many other items you can transform with the kit, such as LAMINATE FURNITURE! See? An (easier) way to paint laminate furniture than my original tutorial. Woo hoo! I know all of you who have been emailing me about your laminate bookcases and dressers are doing a happy dance right about now.

Does this sound like a product that you would use? I’d love to get your opinion and answer any questions you may have in the comments – and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll get in touch with the fine folks at Rust-Oleum and find the answer for you.

P.S. We also got a hands-on experience with the sister product, Countertop Transformations. I’ll review that one for you in an upcoming post.

DIY Rosette Embellished Pillow

Transforming Your Kitchen Cabinets {and More!}