Thursday, June 3, 2010

No-Sew Throw Pillow Makeover

I love to learn about and create inexpensive and creative ways to decorate my home. I'm a total homebody and love for my home to be a place of comfort and peace and a part of that is liking how my home looks. From time to time, I will post about what I'm up to in decorating my home.

I love throw pillows. They can add so much to a room, plus they’re lovely to lay on, lean against, throw at someone without actually hurting them…

What I don’t love is how much throw pillows cost. For the couch and loveseat in my living room, I wanted six pillows. There was a pillow at Target that I really liked, but it cost $19.99. That would be roughly $120.00 worth of pillows for my living room. Yeah, I’ll get right on buying those.

So, I needed another solution. My couch & loveseat originally came with dark brown pillows made out of some rough cloth that was NOT comfortable to lay on:


Dark brown pillows on a lighter brown couch. I’m in awe of the daring of the designer.

While walking around at Walmart, I saw packs of standard sized pillow cases that were sold in packs of two in a variety of colors for around $4.00. And I saw the two colors that I wanted for my pillows. So, $12.00 later, I was walking out of Walmart with six pillow cases hoping they would fit on my existing couch pillows.

Because, you see, I can’t sew. And it’s not like other people in my family can’t sew. My grandmother and numerous aunts sew and probably could have taught me. But then I think about my dislike for measuring things precisely and realize anything I sew would probably look like this:

(Remember this episode? I love The Cosby Show!)

Rather than admit I wouldn’t be good at it, I’m going to blame it on genetics and say the ability to sew skips every third generation. Yep, I’m sure that’s what it is.

Back to the pillow cases. I got home and guess what? They fit perfectly! All I had to do was tuck the ends in at the bottom so you can only see the tuck on one side. I just keep that side to the back and no one is the wiser. Well, now you are, but I trust you won’t come to my house and start flipping my couch pillows over.

And the best part is – besides the fact that I have pillows in the colors I wanted without having to sew or spend an arm and a leg – is that these covers can be removed and washed really easily. Which is perfect for when my cats decide to shed their entire coats over the span of a month.

Yay throw pillows! (And Dixie likes them too!)


4 comments:

  1. Very cute! What a good idea. Washable and pets are always a good combination. Dixie looks pretty comfy.

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  2. Thanks! And, yes, washable and pets are a VERY good combination!

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  3. I could have written your exact post. Well, except for the genius part about using regular pillow cases! I am totally steeling this idea ... thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

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  4. Marie, I'm glad I could help a fellow pillow lover!

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