Tricky trompe l'oeil pillows

These photo-realistic throw pillows are whimsical and fun. I'd be curious to see how the three dimensional illusions hold up in person, but they look very cool in photos. Maybe we should try a DIY version– take a photo, print it on transfer paper, and iron it onto fabric. Or for higher quality, print the fabric at Spoonflower and sew it into cushions.

1. Succulent by Plantillo.
2. Chesterfield sofa by Morondanga
3. Oak tree by Nicklas Gustafsson
4. Geogami by Snurk
5. Art deco detail by Tammy Winand
6. Pug by Benwinewin
7. Leaf by Plantillo

Gorgeous felt pillow tutorial

Looky! These felt flower pillows at The Purl Bee are completely lovely. You can make some yourself by following the instructions right here.

(Image from The Purl Bee)

How to make a ruffled felt pillow

I was delighted to see this felt pillow tutorial on Etsy's blog. Orange plus felt rosettes? What's not to love? And very trendy, since fabric flowers and ruffles seem to be springing up everywhere these days. The tutorial is from Anne Kyrrö Quinn's new book, Felt Furnishings.

Orange from abroad

Designers Claire Eglizeaud & Paul Moreau wrote from France to introduce their cool new shop, Bonjour Mon Coussin. They've created a line of graphic pillows (and it looks like they have a penchant for orange.) Have a little fun browsing right here.

And then if you need some more orange to kick off your week, watch this nutty advertisement for a Dutch supermarket giving away soccer mascots (right?). I can't understand a word, but it made me smile.

How about beige?

Just kidding. This is what our guest bedroom looked like after we packed up the airbed and acquired our neighbors' used futon. As awesome as this looks, I decided we could do better.

Ta da! Here's our new "den," as we shall call it. Still functions as a guest room, but now we can use it for other things besides storing an enormous queen size Aerobed.


Here's my freehanded wall art. I learned it's enormously scary to stand in front of a freshly painted Japanese Maple wall with a loaded paintbrush in your hand. I used a white pastel pencil to make tiny marks for the top, bottom, left and right edges of where the tree should go, and then I held my breath and hoped for the best. The little canvases are 5"x5". Their design might look familiar...

I love this Ikea fabric I bought to make pillows and the wall art (I'll tell you next time how to stretch it.) And this bookcase, also from Ikea, is cool because you can put in drawer units, cupboard doors, or wicker baskets as you like. I've got a mix of drawers and baskets for crafty stuff.

Here's a little reading/writing table. And that concludes your tour of this enormous 10'x13' room.

[P.S. Remember when I was going to paint it orange? I changed my mind at the very last second and made it a dark color, just to see what it would be like. I think I love it.]

[P.P.S. To clear up a bit of confusion: the paint color on the wall is called Japanese Maple. I didn't mean it's a Japanese Maple tree. I don't know what kind of tree it is. It's just a tree.]