I know I keep going on about the guest bedroom and you are probably sick of it all by now.  If you are, you might as well skip this post.  It’s okay, I promise I won’t take it personally.  You won’t be missing much to be fair…  I’ll look away and you can quietly slip away.

Hmmhmmhmmmhmmm… (that’s me humming by the way while you make your escape.)

Hmmhmmhmmhmmhmmmhmmm….

Oh!  You’re still here?  Aww, bless ya, you do humour me, don’t you! Well, then, I guess I shall just get on with the post, eh?  (Yes, Red, for crying out loud, get ON with it already.)

Okay, okay, so I teased that I was working on a few cushion covers in my never ending quest to have a cute guest bedroom without spending a lot of money.  I’ve already gone through my inspiration and initial changes here and my further tweaks here.

I had been using some deeper claret cushion covers that I had from long ago but I knew eventually I wanted to replace them with something lighter and brighter.  I had been keeping my eye out for ready made ones in cherry red and white, but when I wasn’t able to find anything I really liked, I took matters into my own hands.

Yep, eBay to the rescue.

I’m sure the admin team at work were starting to question whether I was running a separate business when tiny parcel after tiny parcel were being delivered to me at work every other day.

As I said in my previous post, I really like the mix of patterns in this room and my theory is that as long as the main colour remains white with the accent of red (rather than huge swathes of bright red), it can remain a happy balance without being too overpowering.

So I looked for 3 different fat quarters of fabric with white backgrounds and red as the secondary colour – a polka dot, a stripe and a pattern (a happy chicken pattern which I showed you before).  I ended up purchasing about 5 different fat quarters and then chose my 3 favourite.

Well, here is my little trio of lovelies… What do you think?

I went to town a bit on the last one.  Honestly, it was a challenge because I’ve never used pompom trim on a cushion cover before so wasn’t entirely sure how to do it.

Essentially, I “sandwiched” the trim between the fabric.  Although small and ‘buried’ between the other layers, I just made sure it was directly under the needle as I fed it through.  I have to say, I am very pleased with my amateur attempt and I think it looks really cute!

Total cost for all 3 cushions:  £21.90 and that includes a more expensive white cotton twill I used for the backing and as lining for all three to give them a bit of extra weight.  They are all envelope backed so really simple to do, easy to keep clean (just pop it in the wash) and I can change them out when I tire of them.

If you want to see a really good tutorial on how to do an envelope backed cushion cover, have a look at this video because it’s exactly how I do mine except that I added an extra piece of white twill material to line the cover as the material was quite thin.  All in, however, it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy.

So shall we do a before and after?

Before…

Sad.  Boring.  Booooooo.

After…

Happy! Bright! Yay!

Oh, I also managed to make a small change with a little tin of red spray paint (£4).

This mail holder used to be black wrought iron and I’ve had it for years and years.  I’m pretty sure I got it from Ballard Designs when I lived in the States and liked it so much I brought it with me when I moved here so it’s at least 10 years old!  I spray painted it white a couple of years ago but it was looking like it needed a refresh.

Because it was white against a white wall, it was getting a little lost.  Enter said tin of red spray paint.

Here’s our before…

During…. (looks like a bit of an accident victim here, but I promise the after is better)

And in the finished room…

I use it to hold envelopes, sticky notes and address labels.  Now it really pops against the white wall along with the new red framed prints.

Little changes make a big difference I think…

The next change I make will be a big one though.  As you can see, I’ve been trying to see how the new wallpaper will go with the room.  I’m liking it.

With the kitchen in progress, I’m not sure when we’ll be able to hang the paper but I’m hoping it will be within the next month or two, fingers crossed.

If there was a way I could clone both myself and W, I’d definitely do it.  Either that, or we are going to have to start campaigning for a 3 day weekend because there’s just not enough time to do it all!  Thankfully, clocks went forward this past weekend so it’s staying light until 8pm.  It’s amazing how much more energy that little bit of extra day light provides, doesn’t it? 

So have you ever used pom pom trim on a cushion before?  Went to town with some bright coloured spray paint?  Gave a room a makeover with a few budget buys?  Or maybe you are just tired of me talking about this bloody room already and would like the opportunity to sound off?  Do tell… (but be nice, I’m sensitive like that)

All images my own.