Bromeliad

Monday, August 9, 2010

Squeezed

The neighbor's Morning Glory has made its way over to our balcony. It grows an inch an hour. You can watch it grow. It's creepy.

Today it squeezed through the slats of our side table.

We are locking the windows.

Make a faux capiz chandelier with Brenna at Design Sponge with wax paper, clothes iron and a flower basket.

If you don't care for the ribbon strands, Monica Ewing at Crafty Nest shows you how to use thread instead.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Inspired in August - Lush botanicals

Show us what's inspiring you in August by adding a link below.

Images: Arjan Benning; Stella McCartney Resort via The Vamoose; Pierre-Joseph Redouté; Arjan Benning; The Other Sister; Jennifer Causey; Anthropologie; Arjan Benning; Need Supply via Say Yes to Hoboken; Simrin Botanical Napkins at Velocity Art and Design;

New feature - Inspired

Announcing a new monthly feature at Bromeliad Living - Inspired.

Hopefully here is where I - and you - can share what is inspiring us:

interiors
fashion
photography
art

Or what we've been inspired to do:

a room makeover
DIY project
refashion
Anthropologie knock-off du jour
pretty picture you've taken
pretty anything

Link up to your blog and let us see it and get inspired, too.

I'll be adding to my inspirations all month long, (which will include some posts of yours where you inspired me.)

We'll see how it goes. It may be one of those blog parties where it's just me, a couple of prescription med discounters and some crickets.

In other news, DIY Wednesday will be replaced with DIY randomness, which means I'll post my DIYs when they reach the point of not causing me shame rather than on a particular day of the week. I also will feature more DIYs from around the blogosphere since I can't have all the good ideas.

Images: Brandi Strickland via Slipcover Your Life

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Not quite "new" newish IKEA products

Unless you've been living on a desert island with no wi-fi, you know that IKEA's new catalog is out. It's 376 pages of affordable home design fun.

Every year, IKEA touts some of its new products, but, as you who regularly stalk ikea.com know, new stuff comes out all the time.

Here are a few of my favorite "under the radar" products - new but not brand new stuff that crept out there at one time or another. Like the Tobias chair, above. For $99, it's the poor man's Ghost chair, and almost half the price of CB2's Vapor chair. Here's hoping IKEA goes nuts with Lucite.

Wouldn't this $100 Expedit shelf look great on its side?

Get the industrial/farmhouse/schoolhouse look with the Dalfred bar stool for $40

The Expedit coffee table for $70 (it also comes as a side table and sofa table)looks sleek and modern and avoids water rings with a glass top.

I have no idea when the Linarp desk showed up ($120) but I love it in China red.

I also don't know when the LACK series evolved this open vertical shelf, but it gives a look not too far off from the $200 to $300 Sapien bookcase at Design Within Reach. And it's only $50.

The Koldby cowhide rug is $250 compared to $750 for a similar rug at DWR. (Dear IKEA, could you please issue this in a zebra print? Thank you.)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

DIY Wednesday: Make fabric roses

I was hoping for a juicy home decor DIY this week, but, sorry, you're getting yet another fabric flower tutorial. I'm on a roll.

There are lots of fabric rose tutorials out there. What makes this one slightly unique is that you'll get some tips for dealing with upcycled fabric, which is to say stuff that frays all over the place or is too thick and is thus not cooperative with standard sewing machine ruffling techniques.

The shiny roses came from the remnants of a thrift store blouse. The darker ones are from a piece of thrift store fabric.

First you'll see how to machine sew a rose from fraying fabric. To start, cut strips of fabric about 12 inches long (vary the length to vary the size of your finished rose) and about 2-3 inches wide.

Fold the end of the strip under and then fold the strip in half. Put a little fold every inch or so and pin. Machine stitch a seam along the raw edge. You'll have a ruffle without fraying problems.

Trim off the seam allowance. Start rolling the strip, putting a dab of fabric glue every inch or so. When you're done, pin to hold until dry.

Your rose will look like this from the front.

Here is a variation for the problem of thicker fabric. I tried machine sewing the "pleats" but they looked too stiff. So, here is how to hand-sew. Knot your thread and run a stitch using long stitches. Pull the fabric down the thread until it is about half its original length. Knot the thread at the end. Proceed as with the first flower.