Floor Pillow Tutorial

First... Thanks everyone! I am so excited to have just passed 20,000 page views!

Remember those cushions I used for my Restoration Hardware Inspired Antique Daybed? Our family friend gets new cushions for her couch every six months and gives away the barely used ones. I decided to repurpose these down-wrapped cushions with internal springs (Hancock & Moore - lux!) into floor cushions. My mother actually did this a while ago and put them in the playroom where my brothers love to sit on them while they play video games. 

These cushions are 30 x 30 x 4 so I needed about 3.5 yards of fabric for both cushions, allowing for 1/2 - 3/4 inch seams. I wanted to do a solid color piping so I just used some white fabric I had around for all 14 yards of piping. 

Next it was time to pick fabric! I decided to go with something fun with the thought that I could easily replace the fabric down the road. Here's the fabric I ended up with from Hancock Fabrics (with sale/coupons it was <$18 for 4 yards!) I got the last bit of fabric off the bolt so i just took the extra 1/2 yard and figured I could make throw pillows or something out of it.  It also happens to perfectly coordinate with my Beachy Glam Chest Makeover!

Next I cut my pieces. I like to make little diagrams of how things will be laid out so I know how much fabric I will need (make sure you have the right bolt width! i.e. 45 vs 56 vs 60, etc. and don't forget to allow extra for piping if you are doing it). If you are new to making cushions here is a little diagram of the pieces I needed.  If you are not putting a zipper in, then you would lengthen the long skinny pieces and scrap the 7x31 pieces. Because I chose a lighter colored fabric, a zipper was a must for easy washing!

Here's the piping all sewn on. I'm not an expert sewer yet so it took me about 2 hrs to sew the piping to the top and bottom pieces (for 2 cushions), on top of the 2ish hours to make the piping itself, so it's not a super quick step but I think it really classes it up and it's worth the time. 

Note: The seam on my piping is not all perfectly the same but it doesn't really matter since it won't be seen. When I attached the piping I was very careful to make sure that the piping was running along the same point in the pattern on the fabric because any deviation is more easily seen on a patterned fabric like this one. 

Next it was time to make the zippered panel. Because my cushions are fat and not very bendable I made this panel to wrap around the adjacent sides by about 2.5 inches so they could be taken off and on more easily (check out any couch cushion and you will find that this is a common thing). If my cushions were just something like polyfil I wouldn't bother wrapping the zipper. 

I used zipper tape which is bought by the yard for custom sizing. I got mine at an upholstery shop but many fabric stores should have it too. I chose to do a hidden zipper and tried my best to do a good match of the pattern.

I attached the side panels to the top piped piece and then pinned the bottom piped piece to it. Pinning is crucial! I did one without pinning and ended up having to take it apart and redo it because I ended up with a gap. It takes a bit of time but do it! Start with the corners and stick a pin in every 6ish inches.

After sewing all around the cushion (try to stay tight to the piping with your seam - it looks cleaner) it was time to flip it right side out and put them on the cushions!

Here is some inspiration courtesy of Ballard if you are having a hard time picturing a fabric on a cushion (I snapped pics from their catalog so my apologies for picture quality):

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Restoration Hardware Inspired Antique Daybed Makeover

Hello all! This is project I've been making slow progress on for a few months now. Between away rotations, interviews, research and more I've only been able to work on my DIY projects in short spurts. 

One of our family friends was redesigning and wanted to unload this daybed. It was her mother's before that. Over the years I think it has had a few coats of paint and the cushions were down to feeling like lead weights, but it was clear that there was potential for a high "cuteness quotient".

  

The design on the front would not be appreciated because of the black paint so when I saw it I knew my first step would be to paint it a lighter hue. My end goal was to achieve a Restoration Hardware style finish with lots of warm depth.

 Montpelier Ashlar Grey (Left, Base Color) & Agreeable Grey (Right, Dry-Brushing Color)

If you've seen some of my other projects you know how much I love these little tester paints - only $3 a piece!

Here is the daybed after 2 coats of Montpelier Ashlar Grey. Isn't the difference amazing?!?! You can see the detail so much better in a lighter color. 

The next step was to dry brush to further highlight the details. I ended up choosing the color Agreeable Grey which is several shades lighter than the base color but not as harsh as straight white. I used the brush above which I found at Lowe's. I found a wonderful video by Shades of Blue Interiors which taught me how to dry brush. It was pretty easy - just make sure you dab off most of the paint from your brush before brushing.  Here are some pictures to show the effect; I think the difference is most noticeable in areas of detail.

 

The next step was to replace the cushions. We have a friend who gets new south cushions every six months (?!?!) so I happily accepted her free barely used cushions. The back cushions are polyfill and the seat cushions are super comfy with springs and down. 

The cushions weren't exactly the right shape so I cut the back ones shorter and added the extra polyfill to the front and back of the seat cushions, wrapped the fill with fabric and sewed it down. You can see below that the gap in the front is now filled. 

I chose 4 yds of white medium-weight denim fabric over linen for it's ease of cleaning (hello bleach!)  Next, I made cording - lots of cording - like 20 yds worth and sewed the cushion covers together with hidden zippers in the back and bottom. The bottom cushions are a tiny bot loose but will tighten up after the first time I wash them. 

The next step in creating my Restorations Hardware-esque finish was adding a layer or wax. I used Briwax in Clear and Tutor Brown and experimented on sample frame.  I didn't want a muddy look (like on the sample) so I combined the two waxes to create a lighter result.  Shades of Blue Interiors also made a wonderful video for dark waxing, which I followed except for applying an initial coat of clear wax because I didn't use chalk paint. 

Note: Wax is typically applied with a wax brush over chalk paint but I haven't bought into the chalk paint hype (and crazy cost). I tried using a wax brush but ultimately I chose to use a cotton rag to apply the wax because the friction created by the brush pulled up the paint below it and I found it easier to apply with a rag.

Below you can see how the dark wax created a much warmer finish (top of the picture) compared to the areas without wax (bottom two rungs on the picture).

Here is the whole daybed after one coat of wax:

Here is the finished project! I'm excited with how it turned out and it was fun to try some new faux finishing techniques. 

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My apologies for the less than stellar pictures. These pictures make the final finish look a bit muddy but thats bot really how it looks in real life. The daybed is currently serving as a couch in the basement bedroom which doesn't have any natural light. I hope to update with better pictures when it moves to a better lit space.