HOW TO TURN WASHING THE WINDOWS INTO A MONTH-LONG PROJECT: 1.  Wake up, and check your To Do list. Decide to wash all the windows in the house, with Windex, because you were born with a genetic pre-disposition to Windex based on the habits of your mother and her mother before her. Nothing else will do but Windex and paper towels. Anyone who thinks vinegar and newspaper actually clean windows has not followed such a vinegar-newspaper cleaning with Windex and discovered black ink all over their paper towels (not to mention the black smudges on your white window frames). Meditate on the superiority of your wise choices. 2.  Clean two windows. Notice the eggshell-hued Roman blinds are stained with cat spit and fly juice. 3.  Take down the Roman blinds. Attempt to dismantle them so you can put them in the washing machine, get tangled up, and accidentally rip them. 4.  Decide that the stains wouldn’t have come out in the wash anyway. Reuse the Roman blinds by throwing them on top of the invasive lemon balm that has taken over your garden like an army of shiny green leaves, and vow to suffocate its hidden tentacles of evil.

5.  Notice the other weeds in the garden. Yank a few of them out of the ground. They’re just going to grow back anyway. 6.  Return to your Windex and the windows, and as you kneel on the couch to reach the top of the third window, realize the taupe couch cover is disgusting, having been half-shredded and drooled on by the nineteen-year-old cat who died last year. sash curtain rods home depotChoose to change the couch cover since you smartly purchased a spare at IKEA a decade ago in hopeful anticipation of the cat’s death.the tortilla curtain conclusion 7. Hunt for an hour for the strange tool that fits into the bolts on the bottom of your IKEA couch. lunique curtains

Finally find the tool taped to the bottom of the couch.( You think you’re so smart, don’t you?) 8.  Spend an hour and a half on your back on the floor dismantling the IKEA couch since the only way to change the cover is to break down the couch into eighteen pieces. Put the new cover on. Spend another hour and a half hour on your back on the floor putting the couch back together again.dylon super white net curtains 9.  Pull a muscle in your shoulder as you get up off the floor. curtains lebanon wardeConclude that you ought to wash them down with wine to facilitate the relaxation of your injured muscle.curtains titchfield 10.  Open a bottle of wine with your girlfriend and plop yourselves down on your brand-spanking-new-looking couch.solaris blackout curtains

11.  Sip wine, and take note that you have no curtains in the living room anymore since you ripped down the Roman blinds and threw them in your garden. Engage in a philosophical discussion regarding the potential shades and textures of new curtains. 12. Observe the exposed, chipped window trim. 13. Conclude you need to paint the trim before you hang new curtains. Recognize if you paint the trim, you really should patch and paint the abused walls, too, which have been defiled with one too many waffling nails. Engage in a philosophical discussion with regarding the potential shades of paint for the walls. 14.  Point out all the wall repairs that your girlfriend needs to do before you paint. 15.  Ponder that you might splash on the new couch cover while you paint. Consider moving furniture out of the room before painting. Declare you should wax and polish the floor if you’ve gone to the trouble to remove all the furniture. 16.  Open a second bottle of wine.

17.  Make a list of everything you must buy from Target and Home Depot. 18.  If you’re going to have to leave the house, think about what else you need while you’re out. Make a list of all the other house-related projects that need to be completed, including refinishing the old kitchen cabinets and replacing the bathroom shower curtain. 19.  Remember that washing the windows was already on your To Do list, and that you need more Windex. 20.  Proclaim you will finish washing the windows first thing tomorrow morning. 21.  Finish your wine, and settle in for a nap on the couch. It’s been a long day, and you need to rest up for all of your projects in the coming month.Great fabric is hard to find,  let alone on trend fabric in the colors that you want.  It is such a frustrating design dilemma that I run into every time I make over a room.  The proverbial brick wall in my design life. By the time the fabric I am dreaming up comes into my reality, I am 9 months over it and already given birth to something else.  

Its just the way that it is. So like I always do,  I have found a way to take matters into my own hands. Are you ready for my biggest pillow making secret?!  This is life changing. I dont know why, when everyone else looks at things and sees fashion, I see home decor.  I always think about cutting them apart.  Poor things dont stand a chance.  Its a gift and a curse.  And it happens every time I see a scarf. You can imagine how this puts me into hysterics during my 4x a week Target habit. I have quite the collection building up. Do you recognize that stripe scarf from my Headboard Reveal?  Its a game changer folks.So are you dying to know what the secret is? Scarf fabric is typically very light and gauzy.  I have tried to work with just the scarf and it is a nightmare.  Because there is no weight to it, it is impossible to work with.  And it is see through, so if your pillow form has any sort of discoloring from feathers or children (and lets be honest, we can probably add husbands to that list) then your pillow will always look dirty. 

You need something strong to give it strength and make it pretty. My go to scarf stabilizer is Duck Cloth.  You can get it in a rainbow of colors at Joann’s for $10.99/yd (use a coupon!) All you need is a  piece cut to fit your pillow dimensions (If you are unsure about the cutting dimensions check out this post) Once your canvas is cut to size, sandwich the fusible webbing between your fabric and your scarf. There are about a million different types of webbing. The one bit of advice that I have is to not over-think it.  You probably dont need anything super thick and heavy duty, especially if you are using Duck Cloth.  I gravitate toward the least expensive option (its usually around $2.00 a yard)  You dont  need anything fancy.  Just make sure that it is fusible on both sides,  some interfacing only attaches on one side. With your iron set on high with no steam, press the entire length of your canvas.  Make sure to overlap your ironing sections as you move it down the ironing board so that you don’t get bubbles.

Let the fabric cool completely so that the webbing can fully fuse before you start sewing. Once your fabric is cool, trim off the excess scarf and its time to start sewing! Now for the sewing part… This tutorial is 12 simple steps (with pictures of each step!) to show you EXACTLY how I sew an envelope pillow. And because I know you are dying to ask…the octopus,  sheepskin rug,  and wooden cutting board are from Homegoods.  The table base, chair, copper vase, books, and art are all thrifted. I am heading down to Vegas today to hopefully (fingers crossed!) finish Cara’s office.  Please start your fasting now, it is going to take a miracle to get it done.  We haven’t seen each other for like 3 weeks,  which means that we have a lot of catching up to do, and that seems to take priority over everything else.  You have friends like that too, right? Tomorrow’s Confession of a Pillow Addict is all about The Chop.  So get ready to weigh in,  I am really looking forward to the debate that is bound to happen in the comments.