Alpacas, sequins, and fur, oh my!

I'm beyond excited to share this room with you today.  We planned it all out and then when my client went on a trip with her grandparents, we did the installation.  

She was turning 10 and this room redo was her birthday present!

I'll begin with a few befores and then show you around the finished room.  At the end I'll give you more design details, and tomorrow (click here to see!) I'll share all the furniture rehabs--let's just say nothing was left untouched!

This space includes so many of my favorite things: white linen bedding, hanging rattan chair, walls the color of water, an alpaca, fur, sequins, a canopy, bamboo, natural wood, collaborative abstract art... I could go on, but how about I show you?!

A couple of before pictures:  you can see it's a fun room, but the client wanted a fresh new space.

Here is our final design board.  After meeting in the girl's room, I typically give 2-4 design board options, we tweak them a bit and then land on one.  

I chose Tidewater by Sherwin Williams for the walls.  

Here we are having no fun at all...shopping, Starbucks, talking...it's actually one of my favorite things about designing girls' rooms.  

After deciding on the design, I always give the client the option to shop together for some of the key pieces.  I either find the other items online or continue the hunt for the perfect thing!...or make it myself as you'll see below. 

Ok, I'll quit talking for a minute so you can look around.  Make sure to scroll all the way through so you can see an inexpensive plant hack idea!

Can we please have a moment of silence for this cute alpaca.  I smile every time I look at him!

I also give my client the option of painting an abstract with me to hang in the room.  It's so important to encourage these girls in their creativity and show them they can create something beautiful!

When brushes don't do the trick we use flashcards...

...or our hands....

Here's the finished art!  

This canopy was an idea I had, and my client said go for it! I'm thrilled to report that it worked!  I used bamboo for the two rods.  

   

Using several different textures on the bed is always a good idea.

I love the non-presumptuous look of this white linen.

Ok, how about a few more details---

I bought this pom pom beaded garland before we started on the room design but I knew it would be a great inspiration.  The wood beads relate nicely to the other wood tones around the room--the headboard, bamboo rods with the canopy, lamps, and rattan chair.  

Once again, these battery operated candles saved the day--you can put them on "timer" so they only stay on for 5 hours and won't destroy the battery life. 

coasters...

a sloth, naturally...

rose gold...

If you follow me on instagram  @thenotsoblankcanvas you've already seen this plant.  

My client had the gold pail and the faux twig/branch/plant (what do you call this thing??) was half off.

Thanks for stopping in today.  Tomorrow I will share all the furniture rehabs we did for this room, including my favorite headboard redo ever! 

the painted pillow

When I ordered this pillow cover from h&m I didn't know what I'd do with it, but knew that the possibilities were worth $4.99.  By the way, who knew that h&m had such great bedding!?  My mom got the boys linen duvet covers and shams for Christmas from there, and we love them.

 I honestly don't have any photos of the painting process because I really didn't think I would like it, and especially wouldn't post about it. 

But one day as I was painting the canvas you see the corner of this photo, I decided to experiment with painting on the pillow cover.  

I placed a piece of cardboard inside the cover (there's a zipper in the back) so it wouldn't bleed through.  I used both fabric paint and acrylic paint.  

After it dried, I removed the cardboard and put the pillow form in the cover. 

I love the way it turned out!

I should probably make a disclaimer that this is not the pillow you'll snuggle up with--it is not soft.  It's just a simple way to add color to a room.  

Wouldn't this be a fun project to do with your daughter for her room?

You can barely tell in the photos, but the gold that I used was metallic so in person it catches light--so fun!

I found the turquoise chair at a flea market in Shreveport.  I didn't even have to paint it!  The frame on the wall is from the trash, and the branch is one that was on our porch one day that I decided to hot glue it to my wall.  Don't worry, it comes off easily.

One more thing--do y'all have the Color Snap App from Sherwin Williams?  You can take any photo and match the colors to make a color pallette.  So if you have trouble putting colors together for projects like this or for decorating a room, you could use a picture to get started. 

Here are a few photos that inspired me to make a color snap pallette. Once it matches all the colors, you can click on any of the small squares at the bottom to see the name and number of the color.  

the never ending t-shirt

Last week I told you how I often use shirts and sheets, or any fabric I can get my hands on, to make pillows.

I didn't start this because of clever creativity but more out of necessity and limitations.

I wrote a few years ago about one way I repurpose outgrown t-shirts.

Of course there are a lot of t-shirts that come and go with little emotional affect, but then there are those that bring a flood of memories.

You see that Detroit Dogs shirt above?  This was the shirt my middle son wore when he was five.  For what seemed like the whole year. With orange basketball shorts that were too big (anyone else have sons who liked shorts so big they looked like a skirt? or kolots?).  The grey shirt with the red football on it was a toddler shirt.  All three of my boys wore it--I get teary eyed thinking about my little chubby boys in that shirt and a diaper. Anyway, so you get my point.

Today I want to show you how easy it is to make pillows from a t-shirt.

This shirt is not as much of a memory  for me, but it is for my youngest.  He is 9 and into all things sports.  And yes our team is called the Wampus Cats--a six legged cat--4 to run the speed of light and 2 to fight with all its might.  

He was so sad when we declared this shirt outgrown so I quickly pulled out the machine and got to work.  I may have a throw pillow accumulation problem which my kids do not share, but they'll agree to having extra ("they aren't extra, they are necessary!") pillows if they're cool.

Keep in mind that the definition of cool changes often and suddenly--rule number 523 of parenting.

The tricky part of t-shirt pillows is getting the logo centered if the shirt isn't very large.  I didn't do a great job with this one but no worries.

As I've said in other posts, I always draw straight lines to help.

I wait and cut the excess after it's sewn in case I make a mistake.

And don't forget to use a pillow form that's a little bigger than your pillow so it will be nice and full.

The pillow sham on his bed (which looks empty in this pic) is one I made years ago out of my husband's old dress shirts and pajama pants (!), which is fitting because it's for the son who would permanently attach himself to his dad if he could...