My phone rang earlier this week. It was a good friend.
"Kari," she said urgently. "I need your help."
"Need me to babysit?" I asked (because that's generally how I help her out).
"No...I need decorating help. Today."
Turns out, my friend was having her husband's business associates over that night for dinner. She was panicked because her dining room did not have anything on the walls, and that's where they would be spending the evening. It was the room in her house that she had not decorated because she had run out of ideas. (Can you relate to that? Don't most people have a room in their house that's not quite right yet?) On top of being out of ideas, she was on a very strict budget and couldn't spend much at all for wall art. I love being asked to help a friend with decorating or party planning. It never feels like work to me---just fun. (And I don't get asked to help much by my female family members because they don't need help. I have a sister {Jill} and a sister-in-law {Meagan} with impeccable taste and I like to steal ideas from them!)
I went over to my friend's house and we began rummaging through what she already had in her garage. We came up with some fun old frames (we spray painted them high-gloss white) and then began to hunt for something to put in them. We kind of came up short.
"You know what I think would look fun?" I asked.
"No...please, tell me!"
"Framed fabric. Do you have any great pieces of leftover fabric somewhere?"
"Framed fabric? I've never seen such a thing," she said, doubtfully. "I don't think I have anything laying around. You wanna go to the fabric store real quick? I trust you..."
So, off we went to the local fabric store, and in the bargain bin was a fabulous vintagey print that had all the colors we needed. We took it back to her house, put it inside the frames, and hung the frames on the wall. (I wish I had taken a picture, but because of the urgent nature of her call, I had not thought to bring a camera.)
"That's amazing," she breathed. "I cannot believe we did that ourselves! It's perfect."
"What did you think when I said 'framed fabric?'" I asked. "You seemed doubtful."
"I thought it would look hokey," she admitted. "but it's fabulous. And it was so cheap! Can I do this in my bedroom, too?"
This is a great trick if you need inexpensive art. I guess I had taken it for granted that everyone out there knew you could stick some leftover fabric in a frame and call it art! But, if you're like my friend, it may be news to you. Here are some photos that show examples. Above is my favorite example because it looks high-end (and, in fact, high-end fabric was used, so this isn't a great example of a low-budget solution, but it is framed fabric, so you get the idea!) The photo above came from my new favorite magazine's website, Canadian House and Home. (P.S. If you miss Domino magazine like I do, you might find that Canadian House and Home helps fill the void at least a little. There's a lot of similar style going on there.)
The photos below are from blogs & sites that offer tutorials in framing fabric. You're all pretty smart and I know you could figure this out yourselves, but in case you need to see more pictures, you can link to these sites:
1. From Real Simple
2. From Craftpad.com
3. From Dwellings and Decor
4. From How About Orange
Perfect weekend project! Also nice about framed fabric is that it can be temporary or easily changed out. You can change it to suit your mood, reflect the seasons, or match your party color scheme! Have a wonderful weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment