Renovate
Fabricating a Renovation:
How to make your room look remodeled only using new fabric
By: Kelly Goldthorpe
Remember when you thought that making your living room look like a greenhouse by using entirely floral prints was a good idea? Or maybe you liked the crisp look of white but now your children have smudged every piece of upholstery in the place. Using only fabric, you can easily (and cheaply) give your room a makeover.
First, start with the couch, where turning over the cushions just isn’t cutting it anymore. Create your own slip cover! You can use bedroom sheets for a cheap solution. Typically two king size flat sheets will work. Sew the sheets together to make one giant piece of fabric and then overlay it on the couch, tucking it in where needed. This is a “quick fix” method. If you’re more confident with your sewing skills or have more time to invest, actually cover the cushions individually.
To recover more formal chairs is even easier. You will first want to pop off the cushion from the chair base which will serve as a template. You can either take off the original fabric, for an exact pattern, or leave it and just cover over it. Either way, you will want to cut the new fabric to be a few inches more than the size of the chair. This will give you extra material to work with. If you don’t cut enough you may be short, and that will result in wasting the whole piece. Better safe than sorry with this! Once you have placed the fabric on the cushion, just staple the fabric into the wood underneath. Pay attention to the corners when you’re doing this to ensure they look crisp and neat.
Next up are the drapes. If you already have blinds or are using the drapes simply for decorative purposes you can really use any style of fabric. However, choose a heavier style fabric if the drapes will actually be used to block out sunlight. Cut the fabric to the length that you want the drapes to be, plus an additional four inches. You will use the extra overhang to loop back and create a tube, for the curtain rod. Sew or glue the fabric and then simply slide the rod through. This is a very simple solution. For a more professional approach you can add some extra overhand at the top, creating a layered appearance.
Other ways to integrate fabric into your room are in the accents. Create a table runner, redo pillows, or design wall art by covering canvases with fabric.
You can effortlessly update the look of a room without actually doing much. Fabric can easily create the appearance of new furnishings and living room décor while avoiding the costly expense associated with big purchases. In fact, wait until you find the fabric on sale and then purchase all you need at once. This helps you maximize the sale, while ensuring you will have enough fabric of the same pattern in case it goes out stock. You also have more options by using fabric – not limited to store selections.
