A Simple Update

As the kids have moved out (we’re “empty nesters” as of 9/2020), I’ve been looking around and wanting to make little changes here and there. The set up that got me through the beginning of lock-downs (with 6 adults in the home), is either not working for me or looking a little shabby at this point.

To that end, I decided to start with some changes to the “soft goods” in the house. I think changing up pillows and cushions and even curtain panels is an inexpensive and gratifying way to update your home. Here is the “before” for our “little” dining room. This is the room that Superman and I use when we don’t have the kids and their significant others home, which means it gets used all of the time these days.

This is the little dining room “before”…the rug was just a little too small and the cushions just weren’t holding up. (I had whipped them up last year using the innards of some old worn out cushions and I just wasn’t happy with them.) Honestly, there was nothing wrong with this set up, it just wasn’t what we wanted.

The first thing we did was to get a solid color rug that was still round, but bigger, to set off the table Superman had made for us a little better. Then, I started hunting for fabric I liked.

Love this modern black and white geometric home decor fabric from Fabric.com…not too expensive (roughly $8.50/yard) and not out of stock! Then I got to work. I used brown craft paper to trace the seat of the chair to get the rough cushion dimensions and then I made a pattern out of that tracing. Then I made a lot of matching piping/welting because I wanted these to be a little elevated…I like to use 5/32 cording for my home decor piping. (If you’re interested- I get it in bulk (65 yards on this spool) from Amazon.) I kept it simple and used the same size strips (2″) I used to make the piping to make the ties. Finally, I decided they definitely needed zippers because they’re going to need to be washed and I didn’t want to have to seam rip and resew the openings every time.

My sewing room cat, Clementine, seemed to want to help along the way. Actually, though, I included this photo so you could see that I serged all the raw edges of the pieces before assembly. As you can see, the piping is attached to one side and the raw edges have been serged. I’m not sure you can see it, but I even serged the raw edges of the piping before I added it to my cushion front. This makes it nice when you launder your cushions…the edges won’t fray. (Full disclosure: I was sitting on the couch seam ripping each cushion here because I had stitched a little in preparation for inserting the zippers without remembering I needed to insert the ties at that point!! Clem was “helping”.)

Here is a shot of the finished cushion. In addition to reusing the batting from the old cushions (yes, again!), to get a fluffier pillow, I added fill from old bed pillows my kids had left behind. As you can see, the cushion needs to be squished down a little, but you can clearly see the detail of the matching piping along the edges…the piping will straighten out the longer its off the spool…this shot was when I’d finished the first one and I was just so excited to see how it looked.

Pro Tip: You don’t need to cut your strips on the bias for something like this because it won’t constantly be bending and flexing…unlike piping for clothing, once its in place, it will stay in the same position. This allows you to just use the scraps you have to make the strips for the piping, which saves fabric.

The “after”…the new rug sets the table off beautifully (we got it at Rugs.com for a very reasonable price!) and I love how the new cushions look on the old chairs. The “new” curtain panels are actually 20-year old IKEA curtain panels I have used in various places in this house and who started out life in our old house.

Pro-tip: Don’t get rid of things that you really like, just because you can’t figure out how to use them right at the moment. Save them well and you’ll find a new use for them.

There you have it! It is amazing how much changing a few things can change the look of a room, isn’t it? As soon as the weather is warm enough, I’m going to spray paint that tray black and then see what “needs” to be done next. I’m thinking I’ll be playing with the colors of that little mirror because it’s not quite right, but I’m not quite sure where to go with it…I’m thinking I’ll be getting rid of the turquoise and maybe the baby blue…adding a red and something else…we will see. That’s part of the fun, though, letting a room reveal itself in stages.

So, until next time!