Little living room makeover and much-needed pillow update

Little living room makeover and much-needed pillow update

• 5.30.2013

As I mentioned Tuesday, I thoroughly enjoyed the holiday weekend and did lots of fun projects around the house. Some of those projects are not yet finished, unfortunately... you'll have to give me a hand on some of the pillow recovering dilemmas I'm having. Switching up throw pillows seems to be a never-ending project for me!

I've been collecting cool fabrics, some of which I have visions for and others I don't know what to do with, but it sometimes helps to drape fabric over pillows and squint at it. So follow along with me...

I'm dying for bright, print pillows but haven't found the right fabric. But I pulled out these pink patterned pillows and tried to get some color from the curtains I made for the dining room (I took them down a while ago, but I still like the teal). They go with my zigzag painting, but I'm still wishing for more color...

(Also still hanging around the couch: the DIY applique crux/cross pillow and these black and white striped pillows)

One of the biggest challenges for the living room has been recovering the big tan vintage wingback chair in the corner. I've had this thing for ages, picked it up for $5 at Goodwill Outlet, but it's a classic and I'd love to make a new cover for it. (Let's see, uh, here's a pic of it as it is now, here's another.) But, after quite a lot of back-and-forth at the fabric store this weekend, I finally chose a fabric for its new slipcover, a basic lightly textured upholstery fabric in black. I also got some fun colored accents at Goodwill. Not sure where they go yet, just playing. But, what pillow color will go on this whenever I get it done?!

I also need to buy fabric to recover these basic vintage slipper chairs, since currently they're these white slipcovers I made, and this is a big challenge... I like having them white, keeps them from getting lost in the shadows and they're a nice bright part of the living room, but the white is not going to stay clean long, and the fabric they are currently isn't heavy enough. So what on earth should they be?!!?

I'm also having pillow problems on them. Adi once suggested hot pink bolsters, and I just bought these bolster pillow forms, but then I realized there's no actual hot pink in the living room--just light pink (curtains) and red (in the art,). So, uh.....? (But I am in love with that pink/pink/orange stripe. Maybe it would work.)

Okay, so that was all part 1 of this post/rant. Part 2 is, I actually did make some new pillows for the living room. ;)

I guess I'm so used to sewing clothing that I forget how easy some home dec projects are to make. Yikes. These little pillow covers took me about 30 minutes and less than 1 episode of mid-2000's SNL on Hulu (how I spend my time when husband is away... ;) ), and yet totally refreshed our slipper chairs in the living room.

I had this really nice, sturdy cotton denim/twill print from Spoonflower--they sent it to me as one of the choices for me to use in my book, but I didn't end up needing it. But, it's an absolutely amazing stripey tribal print and I loooooove it, and couldn't wait to use it for something else but didn't know what!

So for now it's two pillow covers on the (still-white) slipper chairs. If I ever recover them in a print, the pillows will have to move! Also not sure if I can realistically put these plus the bright bolsters on these chairs... too much pillow-age?

Well, for now they brighten my mood. Love the grey and white stripe print!

Okay, so what's your two cents on my living room pillow and slipcover dilemma?!? I've got lots to recover, and don't know where to start!