Plaster & Disaster

A few weeks ago I posted about my new DIY coffee table, which I made out of raw steel and plywood.

The coffee table photos also revealed that I had gotten a new rug. I had been considering this for awhile, since the light green was feeling pretty washed out with the light gray couch (we had a dark gray couch when we first got the rug).

I really wanted to punch up the living room with some more vibrant color, and West Elm’s Sivas Wool Kilim Rug in Macaroon Pink had caught my attention months ago and held it ever since:

But I knew I needed a 9×12, and at $849 plus tax and shipping it was pricier than I was prepared to spend — even though I had a $200 gift card to apply toward it. I kept watching sales come and go, but they never brought the price down to where I felt comfortable. And then one day, a 30%-off sale on rugs brought the price for the 9×12 down to $594. At $250 off the original price, I knew it was unlikely to go much lower.

So I pulled the trigger, and it arrived just as I was finishing up the coffee table. I absolutely love how they look together, and they bring so much life to the living room. Sam really likes the rug too, which is awesome because it was risky with so much pink.

The next step was to add some additional color through new throw pillows, since I’d sewed the other throw pillows ages ago and they were a pretty muted color scheme more fit for the dark gray couch. I bet you barely noticed them in the above pictures because they’re so dull.

Throw pillows are annoyingly expensive, though, so I decided to buy a few new ones but also sew some of my own. I thought that a variety of color-block patterns could be a fun way to bring in lots of colors that tie to the pinks, yellows, and blues in the room, so my first step was to buy an array of solid color fabric. I like Fabric.com for inexpensive fabric, and I ordered a yard each of 7 different “Kona Cotton” fabrics for $42.

I wanted to experiment with different color blocking patterns and combinations, and ended up putting together five different covers.

Here’s how I did it!

First, I collected the pillows I wanted to recover.

Then I removed their old covers, leaving me with their original forms.

I worked one pillow at a time. The first step was to measure the dimensions of the pillow I was working with, and cut blocks of fabric that would add up to the right length and width plus a few extra inches for a seam allowance.

I started with a simple triangle pattern in pink, cutting one triangle for the top and one for the bottom:

I placed them together outside-faces-in, and sewed them together along the long edge:

Then I laid them on the ironing board to press the seam.

For the back, I cut a square in the darker pink, and placed the front and back together with the outside faces together. Next I sewed around all the edges leaving a 1″ seam, and leaving a gap of about 8″ on one side. I turned the cover rightside-out, and then stuffed the pillow form in. Lastly, I hand-sewed the opening closed.

And with that, I had my first pillow!

I repeated this basic process four more times, playing around with different configurations of fabric.

Three triangles in blue and white:

The trick with this one is to first sew the two smaller triangles together, then sew that new single piece to the larger triangle exactly like in the pink pillow above.

Another simple triangle pattern in yellow and white:

Yellow stripes:

And lastly, a slightly more complex piecing.

For this one, I cut the pink piece first and then used a paper bag to help me cut a simple pattern to get the blue pieces to be the right size to add up to a complete square.

Overall, it took me a few hours camped out in the sun room, which was nice and warm with sunshine:

I put three of them in living room (the other two in the sun room), mellowing out their bright jewel tones with some earthier pillows I grabbed at Target on sale for $14 each:

I’m loving how they add color on the couch and tie into the blue, pink, and yellow throughout the room!

(Sharing at Idea Box Thursday, Remodelaholic, Brag Worthy Thursday, Tip Me Tuesday, Two Uses Tuesday, and Think and Make Thursday)

I am still psyched about the DIY console table that I muddled through creating for my living room. I needed to fill a sort of unique spot, and it is awesome to have something custom-made for me!

I used a product I had never used before – Watco Danish Oil – to take it from mis-matched raw wood to a finished state. It was fun to work with and I’m really happy with how it turned out, so I thought I’d do a quick post just on that process.

My biggest worry with finishing this piece was getting the wood to all look the same tone, since I had used two types of wood to make the table. The top and supports were all a very light wood, while the legs were several tones darker.

However, I really didn’t want to paint it or make it super-dark. I have other mid-toned wood pieces in this room, and my goal for this table is for it to blend in, rather than stand out.

I had planned on just giving it a coat of stain and poly, but in researching finishes I came across Danish Oil, and was intrigued. Danish oil is a mixture of penetrating oil and varnish. Unlike a poly that sits and forms a shell on top of the wood, it seeps into the wood like a stain and then hardens there. What drew me to it is the prospect of an attractive, protective finish that still looks somewhat like natural wood. Also, it comes in a variety of different stain colors.

I’ve really loved the look when I’ve used oil-products to revive old wood in the past, so I thought I’d give it a try. I picked up a quart of the Watco brand in medium walnut (affiliate link – read our policies), and was cleverly up-sold on some staining pads because no one should shop at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday when all their willpower has drained away.

To apply, I just saturated a staining pad (a rag works, too) and wiped it onto the wood.

As you can see, the initial coat had a pretty light color, and actually made the legs look comparatively much darker… but that is OK because Danish Oil builds up its finish over multiple coats.

As I put on each coat, it would bring out some of the splotchiness of the wood (remember, the table top was just a common board from Home Depot). However, it always dried back to a nice and uniform coloration. Here it is with the second coat dried:

As I went, I kept the sponge pretty wet, aiming to completely saturate the wood with each coat.

After letting it soak in for about 15 minutes, I wiped the table down with a clean rag to remove any excess oil (this didn’t actually happen until the final coat).

I ended up applying four coats, letting it dry for at least 24 hours in between each of them.

So, it was definitely a bit more of a time commitment than just a coat of stain and poly would have been, but I love how it turned out!

It has a slight sheen to it, but not much, and not in a fake/processed way. It matches the simple and understated look I was going for with this piece.