You
walk through the fabric section of a craft store, and inspiration can just jump
out at you. All those bolts of fabric
are home projects all wrapped up and ready to measure and cut. Whether you are a crafty sort that can sew
anything you desire or the perfect delegator willing to turn over large and
small projects to someone who can, fabric has the power to really dress up your
home.
Let’s
start big. Reupholstering can be a big
and pricey project depending on what you want to recover. You can take a sofa or a side chair with good
bones and update either with a contemporary fabric. You can take a dated headboard and do the same. You can build a new headboard with the right
wooden structure and padded look you want for a bed and customize it with
fabric to coordinate with your bedding.
This scale of project is well suited for a professional, but there are
plenty of smaller jobs for a weekend DIY project enthusiast.
If
you can work a sewing machine and a needle and thread, pillows are something
you can crank out pretty handily. Throw
pillows made from fabric selections you love can take a seat on your sofa,
occasional chairs, or atop every bed in the house. Pillow shams in both the standard and Euro sizes
can round out the look of your bedding with a custom touch. You can also add a matching throw blanket to
the end of the bed or over the arm of the couch.
If you can never seem to find a tablecloth or placemats you love, you can take fabric by the yard and create your own look for the dining table. If you think that’s doable, making coordinating chair cushion covers would not be a stretch. Measure for your own custom window treatments, and a simple hemming job can produce window panels ready to hang from ring clips. To turn one of your selections into another decorative element, frame sections of fabric to create wall art or cover the base of a wooden serving tray for a visual upgrade.
There
are countless ways to use fabric by the yard to update the look and feel of
your home on both a large and small scale.
For both the do-it-yourselfer and the hire-a-pro homeowner, a little
yardage can go a long way.
DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star January 27th.
