projects – Raised by Design

Jo and Joe’s Tribeca High Rise

/ concept, design, projects, round it up! / 2 Comments

Today I’m excited to give you a peek at an e-design consult I’m currently working on.

Joanna and Joe are moving into a fabulous high rise apartment in TriBeCa next month and they’re in the process of defining their style as a couple as they merge the contents of their respective bachelor and bachelorette pads. Always a fun exercise.

Joe is a music/tech entrepreneur and Joanna is in finance and active in the NYC theater community. They’re both live music junkies and fell in love shredding fresh powder and building bon fires at a ski house they share with friends in Vermont.

In their Manhattan pad we’re pulling together a palette that will feel cozy in the winter and breezy in the summer. Grays, blues and whites anchor the living room, paired with warming wood surfaces and leaving room to introduce city-chic feminine details and layered masculine textures.

Here’s the mood board I put together:

Our first step was to establish some basics in the space – they needed help putting together their living area starting with a new couch, area rug and end tables. Most of the furniture they’re bringing into the space, including their coffee table, is darkest brown wood so we wanted to lighten things up a bit.

I sent them to shop for couches at Room & Board‘s SoHo showroom, my favorite source for big ‘All Growns Up’ furniture purchases. Everything at R&B is American Made with high quality craftsmanship. Their pieces are gorgeous and it’s a great place to make that first investment purchase for your home. The Jo(e)s ended up going with the super versatile Metro Sofa in a custom L-shape with cement-gray upholstery.

Next we chose an area rug from West Elm – the Andes Wool Rug in Dusty Blue. Rugs are tricky and Joanna was leaning towards a playful chevron pattern but we agreed that chevron is a well-worn trend and she’d be sick of it in a matter of weeks. We settled on this more sophisticated, subtle iteration of a chevron in a wool blend that will stand up to high traffic but still feel soft under bare feet.

With these anchor pieces locked in our next thing to tackle was end tables. Here’s where things got fun. I try to avoid anything too matchy-matchy or strictly symmetric in my designs – although the eye likes symmetry it can sometimes feel too rigid or bossy.

I think living spaces should make people feel inspired, calmed and comforted. The best way to achieve a relaxed vibe is to establish a balance while maintaining an ‘undone’ or organic feeling.

So to start down that path, I recommended that we go with two different end tables that will bring asymmetry into the space but play well with each other.

Joe and Joanna describe their style is ‘classic’ and didn’t want anything too ‘crazy, art deco or modern’. I turned down the funk and stayed away from anything too artistic, abstract, vintage or bohemian and tried to choose pieces that were simple and clean lined without being boring.

Here are some of the options we’re considering:

Distressed Metal End Table from Target – $83
Safavieh Wynton Table from Target – $136
Allard End Table from Room & Board – 429
Wicker Drum from Pottery Barn – $149
Eden Table from World Market – $70
Driftwood Side Table from Crate & Barrel – $399
Martini Side Table from West Elm – $119
Oslo End Table from Target – $129
Safavieh Josef Table from Target – $229

The Jo(e)s are leaning towards the Driftwood Table from Crate & Barrel so I’m encouraging them to bring a new material into the mix. I’m loving the balance that a steel or bronze piece would bring into the picture. What do you think?

Loveyoubye! Maggie

Before + After – Painted Blanket Chest

/ before + after, lil' spot, projects / 6 Comments

In the bedroom of today’s woman, it’s absolutely, 100%, no bull crap essential to have a place where you can slump your clothes, sit and zip up your moto boots or rest a stack of clean laundry for a week before you finally get around to putting it away. Double bonus points if said place can also store extra blankets or bulky sweaters that don’t fit in your closet.

Ever since we moved into the smaller bedroom I’ve been searching for the right piece to go at the end of our bed. This toy chest from my childhood bedroom fit perfectly, but it needed a little love to go from 80’s nursery life to grown-ass lady bedroom.

Sometimes, all you need to pull off a good Before + After is a couple coats of paint, for real. All designers will tell you that paint is their best pal – the quickest (and cheapest) route to big time change.

For this project I used two coats of Benjamin Moore’s Midnight – a deep navy with slate gray undertones. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

In natural light, it looks more blue but by lamplight it looks almost black. It’s moody and lovely, just like me.

I’m especially happy with the way it makes the colorful art we hung above it pop.

The top work is a 1980 Mary Engelbreit original of three girls that reads “Koki, Muffie, and Bitsy shop for circle pins.” I love this drawing dearly because “Muffie” is my Mom, “Koki” is Mary – my faerie/art godmother – and “Bitsy” is Nicki Dwyer – my actual Godmother. I love these ladies and I love the cherry red frame Mary chose all those years back. This illustration hung right where I had my timeouts growing up. I wonder if Mom did that on purpose so we had to sit and reflect on how cute she was while we were being punished.

The bottom piece is an original masterpiece by my little sister, Mo, from when she was probably four or five years old – elevated to legit abstract art in an IKEA matte and frame. I adore the colors she chose – she had an eye for style even back then.

Here’s a view from the door of our bedroom:

And here’s a closeup of the dreamy breakfast in bed that I’ve never enjoyed in real life but totally makes the picture feel cozy:

And that, my friends, is all there is to it. Paint saves the day. Now you’ll have to excuse me while I eat that piece of apple cake in two bites.

Loveyoubye! Maggie

Before + After – Lettered Tray Table

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Years ago, my Mom carted this beat up table home from someone’s trash pile. Dumpster diving isn’t exactly a competitive sport up here in Westchester – most wouldn’t be caught dead getting out of their black SUV to throw a vintage castaway in the back. Ok, maybe I’m not being fair. They wouldn’t get out of their Mini. But my Mom’s an old pro and I love her for not letting go of her “One Man’s Trash” credo. She passed that credo, and this table, onto me.

The table then sat in my place with its fate undecided for months. It had a worn look that dangerously teetered on shabby chic (blegh!) with its perfectly chipped paint, cabriole legs and Queen Anne profile. But it also had a recessed tray top that was begging to be crafted.

Finally one day we had the idea to use that cool old box of ceramic marquee letters that Mom scored at a thrift shop. I pulled the title of one of my favorite Talking Heads songs and used white premixed tile grout to arrange the letters at random around the quote (with a few hidden messages).

Shit was fun. To finish the table and make it usable, Mom and I cut a template from kraft paper and took it to the glass shop to have a piece of tempered glass cut for the top, which costs under $50.

This table is now one of my favorite pieces in the house because it was the first thing I made when we bought Lil’ Spot. Between the sans-serif font of the letters and the white on white canvas, I think we’ve successfully rescued it from its shabby chic bad dream. Maybe one day I’ll seal the deal and sand down the driftwood-y finish and paint it hot pink or cobalt blue. Maybe. IDK. Should I?

Supplies Needed:

table with recessed tray top – like this one
plastic or ceramic marquee letters – like these
pre-mixed grout – like this kind in bright white
kraft paper
pencil
scissors

Good to Know:

the pre-mixed grout is latex so you can mix any color acrylic craft paint into it to change the color – just remember that since it’s already white, your color will be lightened…
the grout has the consistency of brownie mix, as my Mom puts it in her classes – so you can use it on any vessel or surface, really, and this project translates really well to pots, vases, plaques, etc.
when you’re working with the grout work pretty quickly; it dries within about 20 minutes so it’s a good idea to lay out your pattern, if you’re going to use one, beforehand so the grout isn’t drying while you’re figuring out what you’re going to do
if you’re using objects or letters that are different sizes, make sure you set aside 4 pieces that are the thickest and set them at each corner so your glass rests level
definitely download the Talking Heads song – you won’t regret it

Loveyoubye!

Maggie

RBD Makes: Copper Paper Towel Holder

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Yesterday, my Dad came over to help me make this industrial-style copper paper towel holder. We are pretty short on counter space in our small kitchen and I’ve been trying to declutter where I can.

Decluttering is a tough business for me because there’s a powerful gravity that exists between me and clutter. But I’m also a serious cook and I use my kitchen and everything in it a LOT. There are things that need to be within arm’s reach and I just have to accept that I’ll never be that person with one bowl of lemons and two rustic spoons on their counter. Plus we’re apparently running an illegal espresso bar and can’t possibly live without BOTH an espresso machine and coffee maker in our tiny coffee loving lives.

One easy win was to get rid of our countertop paper towel holder in favor of a hanging dispenser under one of our shelves by the sink.

Before you go hating on the asymmetry of these one-bracket shelves you should know that (a) there was a decent reason for building them like this and (b) I’ve already beat myself up good for not taking more time to design ones that I liked better. I just wanted them to be functional, sturdy and cheap (thanks to a good case of renovation fatigue). If I were to change them out I think I would go for something more rectilinear like these or floating shelves like these. But whatever. In 4 years when I get around to doing something about it maybe I will have changed my mind again.

Moving past the self deprecation…I’m going to show you how to make this kick arse copper paper towel holder.

Here’s what you need to hunt and gather from hardware stores, Dads and basements:

propane torch with standard nozzle
18″ piece (or longer) of ½” copper tubing cut to the following sizes:
- (1) 14″ piece
- (4) 3/4″ pieces
(4) ½” copper tees
(4) ½” copper caps
tin-lead or lead-free tin solder
soldering flux (we used paste flux but any form will work)
(2) screw hooks
emery paper
tubing cutter (any size will cut ½” tubing)
power drill fitted with 3/16″ bit

Other supplies you’ll need:

WD-40, Goo Gone or ketchup
rags
permanent marker
square (optional but very helpful)
measuring tape
gloves

Here’s my super technical design drawing:

The two biggest considerations we had were (1) to make it easy to change the roll and (2) to prevent it from sliding out of the hook/hanging mechanism during use. I wanted a modern/industrial look so we headed to the plumbing aisle at the hardware store to see what we could dig up in Copper Land.

We decided to use screw hooks as our mounting/hanging mechanism because they’re easy to install and leave an opening for removing the dowel to change the roll. Using copper tees would solve the issue of sliding and keep the dowel in place so we grabbed a couple of those.

In order to cap off the tees for a finished look, we would need to cut small pieces of tubing to use as connector pieces. They do make caps that fit inside the tees, eliminating the need to cut connector pieces. But they’re $5/ea versus the standard caps which are $0.75/ea. I went with the standard caps and bought myself an iced latte and piece of $12 cheese from the fancy food shop in town…because that’s what’s up with my priorities.

OK here are THE STEPS:

First use your funny looking tubing cutter to cut one 14″ piece and four 3/4″ pieces from your copper tubing length. Cutting tubing and pipes sounds like it would be scary and involve goggles and sparks, but it’s actually really easy and about as scary as using scissors. I’m lucky because I have one of those Dads who knows how to do everything. Here’s a good video tutorial for cutting tubing that could stand in for an all-knowing Dad if you need it to.

Then you’ll want to clean up any serious gunk that’s on the tubing. For this you can use Goo Gone, WD-40 or…Ketchup! It’s nasty but it works.

To really get your copper shining bright like a diamond, you’ll need to go over it with emery paper or very very fine sand paper. Sand the outside of your long piece and the ends and insides of your connector pieces, tees and caps. This step is really important because it removes any oxidation so that the solder will adhere to the copper. You want to work fairly quickly and do this when you’re ready to get right to soldering so that it doesn’t re-oxidize. (PS – those are my Dad’s ManHands…I love them.)

After all of your pieces are sanded inside and out, use your ManHands to apply flux (capacitor) to the parts of tubing that will be connected. I’m a fan of this kind of work just because it’s an excuse to use the word ‘flux’ all day.

As you apply flux to each piece, begin to assemble the holder. Flux flux flux. Use my super technical drawing above as a reference…the long piece connects to the tee, which connects to the connectors, which connects to the caps. Capisce?

Assembled and ready to solder…

Use a paper towel to wipe off any extra fluxity-flux-flux.

Now get to torchin’. The only real safety tips for using a propane torch are these:

go outside in a well ventilated area, especially if you’re using solder that contains lead
wear goggles because it makes you look like you’re doing something dangerous
wear gloves to protect your gorgeous ManHands
work on a piece of wood or tin – no stone (you’ll crack it) and no asphalt (you’ll melt it) and no piles of leaves (you’ll start a forest fire)
don’t be a dope and burn yourself while you’re reaching for something
you know…workin’ with fire…
if all of this scares you too much, just grab someone who knows their way around a torch for help

Turn on your propane torch and heat up one end of the assembled rod, being careful not to place your hand too close to the flame (the entire pipe will heat up as it sits over the open flame, another good reason to wear gloves). Notice that Dad didn’t heed any of my safety warnings.

As you heat the copper, hold the solder over the seam and allow it to drip into place and spread to form a bond.

The whole job takes about three minutes. Once you’ve covered your seams, use an old rag to wipe away extra tin and clean it up a little. If you want to get it really clean, you can bust out your emery paper again, being careful not to sand away your bond. Personally, I prefer the look of the mixed metals which will complement the screw hooks.

Head inside and do a whole bunch of head-hurting fraction math to figure out where to drill holes to hang your hooks so that the paper towels will have space to turn and you can easily take the rod out to change them. Measure a million times, cut once, is the goal.

Dad taught me another good trick for making sure you don’t drill clean through your beautiful shelves, which I’m 100% sure I would have done. Hold the screw up to your shelf and mark the depth on the screw with a permanent marker. You can do the same directly onto your drill bit for drilling your pilot holes. Then you just stop when you get to the line! And you can feel free to do this dance.

Drill some pilot holes…

Screw in your hooks and hang that sucker!!

I LERVE it. Si! Si! Si! I think it complements the colors in our counters and coffee station quite nicely.

The asparagus dish, btw, was my Dad’s Mother’s and it has a good story. It hung in her kitchen for years when my Dad was growing up. When she passed, he and my Mom got it. It hung in our kitchen in Oak Park. Years later we moved to New York and down-sized to fit into a loft apartment. She gifted it to our dear friends Anne + Jeff across the street. It hung in their kitchen for the better part of 14 years until I got married and Anne gifted it to me at my shower. I cried. And it hangs here in proud memory of my Grandma Betty.

The whole project (including a run to the hardware store) took us just under 4 hours. It cost about $25 not including the solder, flux and tubing cutter. If you’re not into pyrotechnics but are loving the industrial copper look you can score a similar one for $65 at ScoutMob.

I’m pumped because I freed up about 8″ of counter space…and that’s a big deal for me. Plus I got to spend the day with Dad and play with fire.

Loveyoubye! Mags

Wrapping Up

/ family, projects, small luxuries / 3 Comments

Today I’m wrapping up some DIY gem magnets I made to add to the goodie bag at my Mom, Charlotte’s Vermont Getaway next weekend. I’m honored to be contributing something as a sponsor – there are some ridiculously talented ladies in her circle. I hope they like them!

I’m also wrapping up from our weekend with family at the beach in Old Lyme, CT. It’s one of my favorite places to be – the beach. I love everything about being near water. Especially the breezy New England beach on the Sound up at Old Lyme. It’s the best of both worlds – the coast and the country smooshed together in a kind of heaven that seems like it was made just for me.

This weekend had all the bells and whistles: kayaking, birding, reading, puzzling, fried clams, bonfires, sunset cocktails, painting, morning walks, pockets of shells and rocks, hot dogs, playoff hockey and long meals with loud laughs. I always wonder if life were like this all the time, would I love it this much?

Loveyoubye! Maggie

rbd makes: metallic stone coasters

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Making your own stone coasters with metallic color blocking and geometric patterns is a super easy project with big results that will fool anyone into thinking you are a design mogul. A set of four would make a great gift for almost any person in your life and for any occasion. Guys would like these. Gals would like these. Heavy drinkers. Shmoopie newlyweds. Design snobs. College grads. Should I keep going? No? Ok, here’s the how-to:

DIY Painted Stone Coasters - Raised by Design — You’ll need a few supplies, all available at home improvement stores, craft stores, or online.

4″ x 4″ stone samples or tiles – mine are honed limestone samples leftover from a design project, but you could do this project using these or any stone that you prefer; just keep in mind that a honed finish is easier for paint to adhere to than a polished finish
craft paint in various colors – I used Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-Surface Acrylic Craft Paint in White, Rust, Gold and Sterling
painter’s tape – I like Scotch-Blue Painter’s Tape by 3M for Delicate Surfaces because it peels away easily and cleanly (we use this tape to paint our home as well)
paint brushes – every art teacher I’ve had confirms the notion that ‘the brush doesn’t make the painter’ so don’t buy expensive paint brushes; the ones I use are from this super-cheap value pack
felt squares – you know, the ones that cost a PENNY!
scissors – you all know where to buy scissors, or probably have some already, but I like to have one pair marked “FOR FABRIC ONLY” so they stay nice and sharp and I stay nice and uptight
hot glue gun + glue sticks – super easy to get your hands on one of these, and every home should have one to keep things dangerous, just make sure you buy the glue sticks that are the right size for your glue gun
stone sealer for honed finishes – I think this one is your best bet, although it does come in a pint size at some stores

raised-by-design-stone-coaster-DIY — No prep – just tape and paint! Wait for paint to dry in between coats for best coverage. Also, peel your tape away at a 45 degree angle soon after you paint for the cleanest line. Don’t wait for the paint to dry before you peel because it may peel up with the tape – a great tip from James’ uncle who is a contractor.

Raised-by-Design DIY metallic painted coasters — You can decide if you want to paint the edges or leave them natural. On some of my coasters I did a dipped look and wrapped the tape all the way around and painted the edges only where I had painted on the surface.

raised-by-design-painted-stone-coaster-DIY — Once your paint has dried, cut out a square of felt to size and use the hot glue gun to adhere it to the bottom of your coaster as a backing. Then swipe on a coat or two of sealer and you’re done!

Loveyoubye! Maggie

Before + After: Landscaping Progress

/ beginner level, lil' spot, projects, Uncategorized / 3 Comments

I know, I haven’t really given you a proper introduction to Lil’ Spot. So here’s a quick backstory. Our 882 sq. ft. kit house was built in the 1950’s by a couple who emigrated from Eastern Europe. They built this little spot with their own hands and took great care of it for 60-some-odd years. When they passed on it was sold as part of their estate. Lucky for us, we were first-time home buyers looking for fixer-upper to cut our teeth on home ownership and renovations. Here’s what it looked like the day we closed on it, 4 years ago this April:

I must confess that today it looks almost exactly the same from this view. My Dad always says, “You fix the inside of your house for you, you fix the outside for your neighbors.” So the front has been bumped to the bottom of our very long list of renovation projects. Sorry, neighbors! We did swap out the mailbox (a wedding gift from friends with number decals I added), painted the front door a nice dark navy blue (Benjamin Moore Hale Navy) and replaced the screen door with a more modern full glass door (sans eagle).

But we haven’t done a thing to the poor overcrowded boxwoods, hydrangeas, azaleas, mountain laurel, dwarf pine and japonica. We also haven’t ripped out the last hedgerow of invasive barberry and privet. Or fixed our broke-ass concrete path and crumbling steps. Or painted our peeling porch. We’re not proud of it. We’re just busy. And not made of money.

Over the last 4 years we’ve really focused in on the back yard, where we spend most of our time in the warm months. With such a small house, having a big backyard makes us feel like we have more living space. Here are some BEFORE snaps from 2010.

backyard-before — View facing North into our neighbor’s yard. With a tin-can-man that is funky but I kind of love.

Our neighbor to the south has a small yard that is mostly occupied by a well-maintained vegetable garden. We love learning about growing vegetables from the elderly couple that owns the property. They even share extra plants with us.

I’m sure those ginormous laundry line poles didn’t escape your trained eye either. They’re retired since everyone has electric dryers these days. But they’ve found a second life as nesting sites for nuthatches and training poles for woodpeckers.

Don’t mind the John Baldessari-esque dots. I’m protecting privacy here, it’s serious business.

backyard-before-driveway — View facing east. This chain link beauty is still there and I’m doing my best to hide it with plantings.

Oh, and then there’s the infamous pear tree. There was so much that I loved about this tree. The scale was perfect for the house and I adored its cute lollipop shape. In spring there were fragrant white flowers and it provided privacy from the 2-story house to the north. Plus, it produced dozens upon dozens of pears each summer. But…it produced dozens upon dozens of pears each summer. And we couldn’t keep up with them. And they tasted like crab apples. And they attracted bees. And got stuck in our lawnmower. And STUNK like rotting fruit. And…we eventually decided it had to go.

Down she goes…

pear tree coming down — I think I actually teared up. Poor tree. We’ll never forget you.

Also I should mention the teeny-tiny sad peach tree planted in the middle of the yard. We gave it the college try but it just wasn’t thriving. Plus, we noticed it had developed an oozing fungus and an ant infestation. Buy-bye, little nasty tree.

The last corner of our backyard was occupied by this crazy contraption covering the steps to the basement. Complete with corrugated composite, sheet metal, rusty poles and plenty of jagged wire. A wonderland for young children looking to get tetanus.

So, here’s the BEFORE + AFTER of our backyard plan, illustrated by yours truly.

Garden Plan - BEFORE + AFTER - Existing Plants — BEFORE garden plan (with a creative way of spelling “lilac” for your enjoyment.)

backyard plan before + after — AFTER garden plan

I justified cutting down a beautiful, mature fruit tree by planting not one, but SIX other native trees in the yard. Do you think I overcompensated? The pictures I took are horrendous so I made this list instead:

We also put in a pre-fab shed since we don’t have a garage. It’s wonderful, I would like to move in like a hipster. Maybe one day when we replace the siding on our house it will match. For now, it’s just so dang cute.

garden shed and climbing rose — our cute shed being upstaged by the climbing rose

We also planted a native perennial garden along the chain-link fence. In our hood we don’t put up tall fences because then you don’t get vegetable plants from your neighbors. Just a little privacy goes a long way so we did switchgrass and red osier dogwoods in the back row and filled in with purple coneflower, lavender bee balm and purple agastache. This will be the second year for this bed so we’ll see how it all fills in.

Last summer, my kick ass Dad built a huge, awesome deck on the back of the house. He’s turning 65 this year and can still rip up a driveway, drill for pilings, pour concrete and build a freakin’ deck! Yee-haw. The deck has by far been the biggest improvement to our yard, especially paired with the renovations we did inside which allow for direct access to the backyard through sliding doors off of the kitchen.

The deck is home to our Beetlejuicey black and white striped patio umbrella. I can’t tell you how much I love this umbrella!

Actually, yes I can. I love it just a little less than the set of 4 original Russell Woodard Sculptura chairs handed down to me by my mother-in-law, which were passed down to her from her mother. I feel so lucky to have them. When we were growing up my Mom chained our porch furniture down after some problems with theft in our neighborhood. Don’t think I haven’t considered the same for these babies.

deck-table-chairs-umbrella — Russell Woodard Sculptura Chairs + West Elm Table

And that’s pretty much where we are these days. This year I’m letting things grow in and become more established. I’m resolving to water when my garden needs it and learn about pruning and caring for the plants that I have.

Is anyone still reading?! Holy Marathon Blogpost! Sorry to post so late tonight. I gotta go make dinner and watch some trish-trash on the TV.

Loveyoubye, Mags

‘Break Your Own’ Geode Shelf Decor

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DIY geode bookshelf decor — raisedbydesign.com

It’s Earth Day! I swear this blog isn’t just about my excitement over holidays. But I’m sure you’ve noticed that I like science and when you like science Earth Day is important! It just so happens I’d planned this post about how to ‘Break Your Own’ geode decor accents.

Geodes are all the rage. I’ll spare you the science because you came here for design, but just know that these minerals are essentially gassy rocks. They have bad gas. But they’re beautiful because of it so we forgive them. Here are some hot sexy pink geodes posing as bookends. (via Lonny)

I have hot pink geode envy now. These guys are like, “I’ll see your amazing hot pink Agate Bookends and raise you an adorable on-trend air plant. BITCH.” (via Earth Sea Warrior)

etsy-bookends-airplant — Earth Sea Warrior

Then we have this gaggle of teenage millionaire geodes. Huge, fantastic and untouchable. (via The Little House Blog originally from Jonathan Adler)

Geodes are everywhere these days, finding work as coasters, lamp finials, candle holders, wallpaper…you name it. They’re the whores of decor right now (more over, Mr. Owl!). They have no shame. I had an empty spot on the bookshelves in my office and needed something interesting and pretty to balance all of my doopy-doo storage boxes and reference books. I’m sayin’, when in doubt – PUT A GEODE ON IT!

To get a little geode decor in your life you can expect to drop anywhere from $30 to $5,000. This geode with white druzy from ABC Carpet and Home is pretty perfect and surprisingly reasonable at $45. But I thought a $4 break your own geode sounded like an, “In-Ya-Face!” so I went for it. I could air out my angst towards teenage millionaires and save money doing it. Sounds satisfying, right? I highly recommend it. Here’s the breakdown:

DIY break your own geode supplies — All you need is a flathead screwdriver, hammer and safety goggles.

DIY break your own geode shelf decor — Use your screwdriver to score a line where you’d like the break to occur, tapping with the hammer all the way around.

DIY Geode Shelf Decor - score to break — You can also use the claw of the hammer to directly hit the geode if you feel you’re not making enough progress – just know that you might chew up your hammer a little bit this way. Hmpf.

Proudly bring your new babies inside and get to work styling! It’s easy to find a home for these guys because they play so well with others.

Now I’m just trying to decide whether to seal the deal and paint the outside gold. Too much? We’ll see.

Loveyoubye, Maggie

Image credits: RaisedByDesign and Mo Lyons of OhhhhMo

Geometric Pillow Cover

/ lil' spot, projects / 3 Comments

Hi. Last week I made a pair of pillow covers out of fabric scraps. I’m sure that doesn’t sound awesome to a lot of people, but here’s why it is. These fabric scraps are stored in a small pile in my studio that’s part of a bigger pile in my basement that’s becoming a mountain of half-baked craft projects. You know, “I really think I should start needle felting all my friends’ baby gifts. Hm, maybe I’ll take up oil painting en plain air and buy a stupid beret while I’m at it. Those mittens are totes adorbs – I can probably make them myself I just need 8 skeins of alpaca wool.”

Said pile has been growing for at least the last three years and making my husband worry about me. The new rule is that if I’m not going to use it, out it goes.

So I made these pillow covers out of some old samples from a design job and a random piece of cute vintage green tomato fabric from my Mom. Green Tomatoes!! It was super easy and I’m NOT an expert at sewing. I have a beginner machine that my Mom and I picked out together in college from the local Kmart. It’s a Brother LS-1217, which they don’t make anymore but is probably most comparable to this guy. It’s bare bones but it gets the job done.

So here’s how I did it. After perusing the internets for inspiration, I decided on a simple geometric pattern.

Here’s what you need:

1. 20″ SQUARE PILLOW INSERT (LIKE this one FROM IKEA)

2. THREE PIECES OF CONTRASTING FABRIC FOR YOUR GEOMETRIC PATTERN (I used a neutral woven, a black textured microsuede and a blue-gray wool)

3. ABOUT ONE YARD FABRIC FOR YOUR BACKING

4. PINS

5. GOOD FABRIC SCISSORS

6. IRON (optional)

7. SEWING MACHINE AND THREAD

STEPS:

1. Cut your triangles for the front – one large and two small as the pattern shows. I find it easiest to just drape the fabric over the pillow insert to see how much I need to cut. When you’re sewing anything, you always want about one inch of extra fabric all the way around so keep that in mind when you’re cutting your pattern.

2. Cut two rectangles from your backing fabric and set aside. Each rectangle should be bigger than half of your 20″ square…so that they will overlap by a good six inches (see pattern above). That would mean your rectangles would EACH be about 17″ x 22″. For this pillow, instead of using a zipper (too hard) or sewing the entire cover shut (too permanent), we’re going the easy/non-committal route. We’re making an overlapping fold so the pillow insert can be removed easily but won’t peek through. Like this:

3. Iron all of your pieces. This step is optional but highly recommended.

4. Back to your triangles. Take your two SMALL triangles and align the edges so the hypotenuse edges face outwards (what, you didn’t think a GEOMETRIC pillow cover would involve GEOMETRY?). You should now have two triangles that, together, are roughly the same size as your LARGE triangle. Capisce? If you have to read this step a couple times I won’t judge. I had to write it nine times so we’ll be even.

4. Now fold those two SMALL triangles onto each other so that the good sides FACE INWARDS. Muy importante! Pin along the middle edge and sew along this line. Yay.

5. I like to iron the new piece so that the seam sits flat and doesn’t cause any problems. Also optional.

6. OK OK OK. Take your two big triangles and lay them down, hypotenuses facing IN this time, to make a square! Fold those two pieces onto each other along that line, good sides IN again. Pin…and sew. Easy peasy!

7. BOOYAKASHA geometric square.

Let’s make the back now!

1. Lay your two rectangle pieces down so that they overlap by about 6″. Just check yourself here to make sure you have a square big enough to cover your whole pillow. This would be the time to adjust if you need to…

2. Hem one (22″) edge of each rectangle. This hem will be VISIBLE so use a thread color and stitch you don’t mind looking at. I have exactly two stitches available on my machine…so I chose zig-zag and used black thread. You could be super fun and use hot pink thread and a fancy pants stitch.

3. Now lay your overlapping rectangles down over your geometric square…good sides what? GOOD SIDES IN. Pin all the way around that bad boy and trim wherever you have extra fabric. You should have a nice 1″ border around a 20″ square to fit your pillow.

4. Sew all the way around…inevitably run out of bobbin thread and struggle to remember how to reload and thread a bobbin. Curse, get up and go eat something, come back and calmly finish sewing.

5. DONE! Turn it right-side out, stuff your pillow inside, and give your cat a brand new thing to shed on.

Loveyoubye, Maggie