Opulent Cottage

A Big Texas Welcome

Happy first day of fall! If you're stopping by from POPSUGAR and MSN Lifestyle, welcome! I am thrilled to have my Fall Greetings pillow featured, you can find the link to the project again here. 

 

Please make yourself at home and look around, there's a tab at the top where you can search by category, and a link to search my blog on the right sidebar. You'll find projects galore, vignettes, holidays and lots of colorful inspiration. Our home is going through some changes currently, but one thing that will never change is my love of color!

 

My love of color is only rivaled by my love of Texas. 

 

Although cooking is right up there, also. 

 

I'm currently decorating madly for a fall home tour next week, I hope you'll come by! You can subscribe at the top of this page, and also follow along on Bloglovin'.

 

Enjoy your visit, and please email me with any questions you may have! 

Joining:

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Martina at Northern Nesting for Share Your Style.

 

A Collection of Burlap Projects

Given the recent popularity of our new Burlap and Gingham Kitchen Curtains, I am guessing that you all still really enjoy a good burlap project! Burlap is certainly a home decor trend that's not going away any time soon. And with its versatility and modest price, why not give it a try?!! Here is a quick recap of some of the burlap projects from the past year here at Opulent Cottage.

My love affair with burlap started with a couple of Painted Initial Burlap Pillows, made for our back patio last fall.

I wanted a special decoration for our daughter's weekend home from college, so I used some Collegiate Duck Tape and burlap strips to create a UT Themed Bow for our front door wreath.

This lumbar/body pillow received an update with a Fall Greetings message painted onto burlap! It's a perfect fit for the bench on our front porch.

A simple drape of some leftover burlap created an elegant tablecloth for a relaxed dinner on our back patio.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a recap of some past burlap projects! There's more, too, so I'll keep digging through the archives, and be back soon with round two! Hope you all are having a good week :)

I'm joining:

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Nita's Mod Mix Monday

The Scoop at Confessions of a Plate Addict

 

Burlap and Gingham Kitchen Curtain

With temps hovering around 100 every day here, I'll do almost anything to keep the house a little cooler. I love letting the light in, but our kitchen needed a break from the blazing sun every morning. I shopped the house, and created a curtain using things from my stash! 

This is such a simple sewing project, just four seams and some ribbon for the bottom edge trim. 

It's hung on a tension rod! It seemed the simplest way to put up a temporary curtain, without installing something permanent between the two cabinets. Plus, I already had it stored in my closet. 

But now that it's up, I can't imagine ever taking it down. It really does help keep some of the heat out of the kitchen in the mornings, and I really like the charm that it adds, too.

Thanks for coming by to see my project :)  I'm joining:

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday

Yvonne for Tutorials Tips and Tidbits. 

Cindy for Show and Tell Friday

From the Farm Blog Hop

Debbie and Ann's Pinterest Blitz.

Laura's Inspired Sunday at Sunday View

Elaine's Sunny Simple Monday

Susan's Met Monday.

The Scoop at Confessions of a Plate Addict

p.s. Everyone always asks what the white thing is on our sink, and it's our wonderful Aquasana water filter! They're very economical and easy to install, the website is here. 

Joss and Main Knockoff Pillows

The countdown to Thanksgiving is on at Opulent Cottage! I'm so excited for the season, but I must admit to having a hard time tearing myself away from TV coverage on Hurricane Sandy. My heart aches for all who lost their homes and family heirlooms, and have had their lives disrupted so dramatically. I'm keeping all in my prayers, and I cheer a little every time I hear about the progress that has been made.

As usual we have quite a few projects on our plates. It's a goal of mine to make our home as cozy and as comfortable as possible before the holidays arrive! One of the things we hope to accomplish is to update the window seats in our dining room. They were painted red, to match the former wall color, but now they are primed and ready to paint white! We are adding some trim also, to make them look a little more custom and built in. I hope to show our progress next week. And like the living room, the pillows in this area had seen better days. Pets, kids and parties had taken their toll. 

Did anyone else see the pieced burlap pillows on Joss and Main last week? Well I sure did, and I couldn't wait to make a version of my own! I definitely swooned over the mix of nubby burlap paired with rich prints. 

When I spied the red and white print at JoAnn Fabrics, I knew it was the one! It's a great compliment to the Country Life toile that is skirted on the bottom half of our vintage armoire turned china cabinet. Then I got even luckier and scored the red paisley from the remnant bin! Talk about a fabric combination dream come true.

But it gets even better! When I was taking one last swing through the fabrics, I spied this beautiful Kas satiny stripe. In my colors! There was no way I was leaving without some of this.

 

 

Since I was on a roll, I whipped up another pillow using canvas fabric and jute webbing. I added vintage buttons for a little more oomph.

For continuity, all of the pillows were piped and backed in drop cloth canvas. (You can see how I wash and bleach it here.) But here's another tip: Using inexpensive fabric for backing can really save some $$ on your fabric bill, especially when you're buying something that's $40 per yard. 

I have a few more pillows to sew, then cushions to cover, too. I'll show you next week how we built the window seats from inexpensive MDF and hinges, to create a storage and seating area in what had formerly been wasted space.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm joining:

Debra's Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground

Sherry's Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Heather and Vanessa's Inspiration Friday at At The Picket Fence

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Debbiedoo's Power of Pinterest Party

Donna's Saturday Nite Special Special

Roeshel's DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Burlap Owl Pillow, and a Squirrel Too!

When I bought 8 yards of burlap last month, my first purchase ever, I couldn't have predicted getting so much mileage out of 12 or so dollars' worth of fabric. Or how much fun it would be using it! I know, this has been a big trend for at least five years now. Sometimes it takes me a while to embrace something new. But I will say for certain that washing and drying it (instructions here) made all the difference in the feel of the fabric.

This owl template came from the Storybook cartridge on my Cricut. If you don't have a Cricut, there a lots of cute owl templates on the internet. I found one here and another cute one here. It wouldn't take too long to print these onto card stock and selectively cut out details with an exacto knife. Then use this tutorial as a guideline, and you'll be done in no time!

 

See the little peek above of the new sofa slipcover? All I can say is, why did I wait so long? I'll have a full reveal soon.

So while I was it it, I whipped up a couple of cute squirrel pillows too. Cause you know, we're a little squirrel crazy here. I trimmed out all the pillows with a cute brown and green check piping that is perfect for fall. You might recognize this template from Better Homes and Gardens' Cozy Fall Crafts projects.

I threw in another quick project too, wrapping these pillar candles in jute webbing, and adding upholstery tacks to hold the webbing. This was a great idea that I found on Pinterest.

My tip: I just painted one coat of craft paint onto the burlap, because I wanted a vintage feedsack sort of look. If you want a darker, more solid image, just paint a second coat! The craft paint covers over really well, and should be permanent, according to what I read on the label. I haven't tested this, though, but might someday if these pillows need to be laundered.

Just joining me, and looking for more great fall burlap projects? My other burlap projects are here:

Initial pillows

Fall Greetings pillows

Breakfast nook table skirt

Burlap team bow

Burlap Trimmed Patchwork Pillows

Fall Tablescape on the Patio

I'm joining

Kim for Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Yvonne for Tutorials Tips and Tidbits and StoneGable

Debra for Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Burlap Trimmed Patchwork Pillows with Vintage Felted Wools

Since my love affair with the vintage crazy quilt began, I have been thinking about how to bring more of that same fallish warmth to our living room. The other day I stumbled upon my stash of felted wools, packed away in the top of my closet. Since I don't have a craft or sewing room in our litle cottage, things sort of get stashed away and relegated to awkward storage places. But it's always a nice suprise to find something I had forgotten about. 

These felted wools have been gathered from all kinds of places, mostly yard sales and thrift stores. Most of them were acquired for mere pennies, and were nice quality sweaters in their day. Lots of them have designer labels, and are lovely wools, cashmeres and angoras. I guess if you're not a crafter, the uses for a shrunken sweater are somewhat limited. How lucky for those of us who delight in repurposing cast-off, forgotten items.

I picked my favorite fall colors to use, cut squares measuring 5-3/4 inches, and sewed them together in 1/2 inch seams. You can see that I added in a few plaids too, from vintage Pendelton wool skirts that I have picked up here and there. These were not as thick as the felted wools, so I backed them with a piece of craft felt. The finished pillow is the perfect size for a 20 inch down pillow form.

I also wanted to bring in touches of red, just like the crazy quilt. Although I have multiple mason jars full of buttons, a large cookie tin full, and even a couple of gallon ziploc bags full, I couldn't come up with 18 red ones. But oddly, I did have 3 different half-used cans of red spray paint. So yes, I painted 18 odd assorted buttons with spray paint! It only took a few minutes, and worked out great. Buttons this size are 2/$3 at the fabric store, so I saved a bundle, too. But best of all, I used some of my stash! See, there is a reason that I keep all of this stuff.

I have been eyeing the jute-trimmed pillows at Pottery Barn, but haven't been able to find any trims like that here locally. So once again, I made use of some of the yardage of burlap that I had on hand. I cut a 4 inch strip, ironed it in half lengthwise, then ironed the cut edges in half to meet the center crease. It was a little challenging to sew through so many thicknesses of wool and burlap, so I switched to a heavier machine needle and just sewed slowly. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

 

Here's a tip: when I find a good quality felted sweater, or one that has the potential to become one, I use this method for felting from Craft Stylish. And my secret to storing all of these sweaters? Space bags! It's amazing how many can be stuffed into one, and how small it becomes once the bag is sealed up. 

I'm working on a BIG project in my living room! Yes, I'm finally making a new sofa slipcover. Wish me luck, and hopefully I'll have photos for you soon!

 

Love to all, Andrea

I'm joining Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Nita's Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Susan's Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Debbie's Newbie with a Twist at Debbiedoo's

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Fall In Love WithSpray Paint Party

My Fall 2012 Kitchen Shelf Vignette

We had such a wonderful rainy, drizzly, overcast and cloudy day on Saturday, it was the perfect day to tweak and decorate a few more spaces in our little cottage. 

I can't imagine what I did to decorate our kitchen before we put up these shelves. I'm enjoying them a lot, since I spend so much time in this room! Also, this wall can be seen all the way from our living room, so it's nice to have it decorated to tie in with the rest of our seasonal decor. 

There were enough burlap scraps left from the Fall Greetings and Burlap Initial Pillows to make this flirty table topper for our chippy vintage table. Seriously, I just can't get enough of burlap this year. It definitely helps that I washed it (instructions here), because it's soft and fresh smelling now. The color works with everything I'm doing for fall this year, too.

As usual, I just grabbed items that I already had on hand to do this vignette. The only new items are the green leaf plates from BH&G and orange bowls from Dollar Tree. Some tiny white and orange pumpkins and pine cones helped fill in, and they're the perfect thing to bring in a woodsy, fall feeling.

 

Faux spider mums in a mercury glass votive. Isn't the color great?

 

A few more blossoms brighten these vintage pewter goblets. 

See how easy it can be to add a little more seasonal cheer to your home? I hope this inspires you to grab a few items from around your house, and create a fall display! 

I'm joining

Susan for Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Nita for Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Marty for Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Brenda for Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Kim for Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Debra for Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground

Courtney for Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy for Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

  

 

An Early Fall Tablescape on the Patio

A cool down in the weather this weekend calls for a relaxing dinner on the back patio. The Adirondack chairs made way for this small round table, perfect for dinner for two.

The green and ivory on the salad plates is such a fresh combination. These plates say fall, without the usual riot of reds and yellows. It was love at first sight, in the Better Homes and Gardens section at Walmart. Simple pearl handled flatware and vintage napkins keep the soothing, almost-neutral theme.

So pretty with my green stemware, which I noticed is back in stock at Dollar Tree, for those of you who might like to pick up a few.

The dappled, slanted sunlight that moved across the table today really felt like fall. 

These pretty roses are right at home in a simple mason jar.

Visitors, again! Thank goodness these two won't be nibbling much :)

 

 

I'm joining

Susan's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Fresh Paint and Another New Burlap Pillow

You know how it goes: if you paint one single thing, everything else around it will need to be painted, too.

After Maurie painted the house trim this weekend, the outdoor furniture looked so shabby, and not the good kind. I couldn't stand it, and spent yesterday giving most of our front yard and porch pieces a fresh coat of white paint. It was awful out -- 95 and really humid. But I was soooo glad when I walked outside early this morning and saw fresh, clean furniture!

I rewarded myself by making a new pillow for our vintage bench and doing a corner vignette.

 

These pieces won't be staying here, but the other side of the porch is still piled with painting supplies, until we get completely done with the front house trim. I'm looking forward to arranging our porch differently this fall.

 

I used the same technique as the burlap initial pillows to make this.

 

Given this week's unseasonal heat, I guess it was wise to choose kalanchoes rather than mums for the front porch.

Many of you asked yesterday about what was nibbling our pumpkins. Here's the culprit: Marvin!

Our spoiled squirrels are so tame that they come up and tap on the kitchen window when they want to be fed. This one follows me around the yard and eats right out of my hand.

I better go grab my little pumpkins before they get munched. Thanks for coming  by to see my front porch vignette!

Want to follow along on Instagram? You'll find me here!

I'm joining

Kim for Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Sarah's Easy Fall Decor at Thrifty Decor Chick

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Fundy Junk Interiors

Roeshel's DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff

Our Fall Back Patio, and a Painted Initial Burlap Pillow Tutorial

All through the dog days of summer we wait for the weather to turn crisp and cool, when we can start enjoying fires on our back patio. This year I decided to change up the seating, move the vintage iron sofa elsewhere, and use a couple of our Adirondack chairs out here.

Curling up in a comfy chair, with a roaring fire and a cozy blanket, what could be better?

We built this patio after installing our pool in 2000. All of this brick was reclaimed from a house that was being leveled down the street. Maurie hauled it load by load, in the trunk of my old 2-door Acura. We started this 10 x 10 patio without really knowing if we even had enough. Good thing that we made it, because we found out after that these antique bricks go for over $1 each, and we were recovering from unexpected expenses that happened while building the pool. I think we finished with only 10 bricks left over. There are over 500 in this little patio!

But on to the pillows! You will want some of these for yourself once you see how simple they are to do.

I bought a good amount of burlap at JoAnn's when I had a 60% off coupon last week. I wanted it to be soft, so I washed it. Yes, I did! With laundry detergent and some baking soda to help with the burlap-ey odor. Soaked it for a while then spun on delicate. I laid the length of fabric outside to dry, then tossed it in the dryer for 10 minutes, twice. It kept balling up so I had to shake it out a few times. Do this outside, believe me. Also, I did hem the cut edges first so they wouldn't fray like crazy. I'm so happy with it now, it's super soft, and doesn't have a bad smell at all.

This "H" was cut out of card stock with my Cricut. It would work just as well to print your initial using a font that you like, then cut around the outline. I pinned it on and traced around with a black Sharpie.

Then filled it in! I had a really complicated way of picking the paint I used -- it was in my stash of craft paint. I painted the edges first, then filled in the rest. It dried in about one hour.

A quick stitch and I was done! Easy, easy. I did use another piece of burlap to line the front piece so the pillow wouldn't show through. No fancy piping for these pillows, though. The squirrels will have them nibbled in no time, along with my pumpkins, so I made this as simple as I could. 

Unfortunately we won't be able to be outside without our citronella yet. I gussied up this pail with a little more burlap, tied on with jute twine.

 

I sure hope you will try some of these initial pillows for your patio! Enjoy your beautiful fall days, and evenings, where ever you may be.

 

I'm joining Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Rhoda's Outdoor It's Fall Y'all Party at Southern Hospitality

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Roeshel's DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff