Time Travel Thursday #28 - Craft Turned Home Décor

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Welcome to the 28th Time Travel Thursday linky party at the Brambleberry Cottage.

Are you ready for our next trip back in time and into the future?

Then let's get this party started!

At the beginning of December of last year, I shared pictures with you of a guest room—from a model home I had worked on back in the 80s.

Then at the end of December, you got to see some of the detailed designs of the master bedroom from that same model.

Over the years, many of the pictures of my past decorating endeavors have disappeared—to who knows where.

 But I found a few more from this particular model and thought I would share them with you.

The floor plan of this small house consisted of three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, and a great room—no separate den or family room.

The fictitious family created to build this home's décor around was a young, newly married, working couple, with no children.

Since there were no children in this scenario, and no separate room for things like TV viewing, one of the bedrooms was designated for that purpose.

A small-scale sectional was placed in the room—on the diagonal—with an armoire directly across from it that housed the television and stereo equipment.

I made the Roman shades and four pillows from a linen fabric that complimented that of the sectional. 

I wanted at least two of the pillows for this space to be a bit more unique than the square ones I had created for the other rooms.

Having sewn since before my son was born, I had accumulated quite a variety of home décor patterns from which to choose my design.

Unfortunately, none of the ones I had on hand provided that special little touch I was looking for.

So I decided to browse through my craft patterns and came upon this.

"Hmmm!  Round pillows would be a novel idea," I thought.

Now remember; this model was decorated almost twenty-four years ago.

So what may seem commonplace to us now—like round pillows—was once a unique idea.

As I began to craft the pillows, I noticed that by filling them only partially and compressing the top and bottom together, the pumpkin pattern—which is what I had chosen to use—took on the shape of a star.

I liked that design even better; and as you saw in the picture above, it's the one I ended up using for the pillows.

While many of you are quite adept at using crafts to decorate your homes in novel ways, some of us had to stumble upon the concept of "crafts as home décor".  ; )

Time Travel Thursday #25 - Sweet Dreams

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Welcome to the 25th Time Travel Thursday linky party at the Brambleberry Cottage.

Are you ready for our next trip back in time and into the future?

Then climb aboard!

A few weeks ago, I shared some photos of a bedroom from a model home I worked on back in the 1980s.

I thought you might enjoy seeing the master bedroom of that same house.

The springboard for the design of this particular room was the trendy, graphic wallpaper used in the vanity/dressing area and the adjoining bath.

It was a great choice for this master suite for a number of reasons—it packed a big punch, without being overpowering and had a coordinating fabric to match—which unified the three separate spaces.

From the coordinating fabric, I created a tailored bed skirt and a handful of simple throw pillows—of assorted sizes.

Though the colors in the fabric were fairly muted, the pattern was quite busy. 

To add design interest to the skirt, without getting too fussy, I created it as straight panels of fabric everywhere except the very corners—where I added extra-large pleats.

From this angle, it's easy to see how the fabric—though used sparingly—pulled the eye from the dressing area into the bedroom.

To keep the space light and airy, soft whites dominated the rest of the bedroom décor—the furniture, bedding, and window treatments.

Note the clean lines of the contemporary-styled lowboys on either side of the bed and the tall chest, set at an angle to it. 

  To preserve the serene simplicity of this room's design, handles were omitted from the furniture.

The gathered white fabric on the headboard added just the right amount of visual detail to wall behind the bed...

while the cushy-soft, down-filled comforter and plump pillows were an invitation to stretch out and dream the night away.

To give this room the illusion of even more space, the solid white window treatments were started just below the ceiling.

And to keep the look from being too stark and formal, I attached the panels to fabric tabs, which permitted them to drape loosely from the rods and puddle every so slightly on the floor.

I'll share a little secret with you about the rods I used. 

Though large wooden rods were part of the original design plan, they were quite costly for the size and lengths needed. 

So, I purchased PVC pipes—with the desired measurements—made tubes from the same fabric as the drapery material to cover them, and hung them on inexpensive wooden brackets that had been painted white.

And the rod finials?  Nothing more than Styrofoam balls, covered with the same fabric, then hot glued to the rod ends.

There's always a way to get "the look" for less! ; )

Another design trick employed here was to use the same style window treatments on either side of the bed.

What made it a design "trick"?  There were no windows there!

The bed wall was the longest in the room, and the bed itself would have floated aimlessly along the wall, without something substantial around it, to anchor it.

Not only did these pretty panels anchor the bed, they enhanced the overall dreamy effect of the room's décor.

Though this gorgeous room was designed over twenty years ago, it would work perfectly for a bedroom today—to entice sweet dreams.

Linking to Nichelle's for Talent Tuesday, Leigh's for Thrifty Thursday, Suzanne's for Vintage Thingie Thursday, Gina's for Transformation Thursday, Becky's for 100 Ideas Under $100.00, and Susan's for Metamorphosis Monday.



Time Travel Thursday #22 - Mission Accomplished

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Welcome to the 22nd Time Travel Thursday linky party at the Brambleberry Cottage.

Are you ready for our next trip back in time and into the future?

Great; let's get to travelin'!

Recently, I came across some of my old photographs of past decorating projects from the 1980s.

During that era, I was working with a team of designers decorating model homes.

For this particular project, I was given the challenge of creating a cozy daybed from two secondhand, twin headboards—made of wicker.

If you look at the reflection in the mirror, you'll get an idea of what the headboards looked like, prior to their transformation.

As you can see, they had a nice, classic look about them.

But, the idea for the design of this tiny room was to create an environment where one would want to snuggle up with a good book or just daydream.

I needed to soften the look to establish that.

To accomplish this, I fabricated one side of each headboard—with extra-thick, cushy batting under white polished cotton—then trimmed out each piece with extra-large welt cording, covered with matching shirred cotton. 

Then each headboard was screwed to the ends of a standard, metal twin-size frame, with the fabric facing inside.

Once the mattress and box spring were in place, it was time to layer on the comfort.

The first order of business was to place a down-filled comforter atop the mattresses—followed by a handful of plump, squishy pillows.

In my opinion, there is no decorating element that speaks "coziness" more than an enticing bunch of pillows to sink into.

I created a number of them—in various sizes and complimentary fabrics—and placed them at each end of the bed.

To further develop the cocooning effect, I made a simple tented window treatment—from a pale geometric print—that added a hint of pattern and interest to the room.

The result...

 a peaceful, laid-back space to invite relaxation and daydreaming.

I would say, the challenge was met and the mission successfully accomplished. ; )

Linking to Leigh's for Thrifty Thursday, Suzanne's for Vintage Thingie Thursday, Gina's for Transformation Thursday, Becky's for 100 Ideas Under $100.00, Cindy's for Show and Tell Friday, Betty Bee's Buzz for Buzz, Brag, and Bee Happy Friday, A little Lovely's for Saturday Soiree, Bobbie's for Check Me Out Saturdays, Laura for Saturday is Crafty Day, Stephanie Lynn's for Sunday Showcase Party, and Susan's for Metamorphosis Monday.