There comes a time in just about everyone’s house where you are so tired of looking at it, but you don’t want to spend a whole bunch of money or time on changing things that aren’t broken. I was challenged with doing such a thing… Given only $35, I needed to pick a room in my house, and give it a refresh by buying or making something for it.

I chose my living room to refresh, and I knew exactly how I was going to do it.

We have had our couch for several years. It’s probably 4 years old now, and the pillows are snagged and they just look so drab against the chocolate brown couch. I wanted something that would brighten the room up just a bit. The girls and I set off to our local Walmart store, where we have a brand new fabric section! YAAY!

I told my girls what I was looking for and set them loose to find something they’d like as well. They found these two coordinating fabrics that were excellent in price! I got 6 yards total fabric for only $22! I couldn’t wait to see how the pillowcases turned out and made the room look!

 

I decided to make these pillow cases for the throw pillows that we already had, and I wanted to make them so that it would be easy to change them out, remove them for washing, and not have to worry about parts, i.e. zippers and buttons, breaking off. Sounds easy enough. Now to make a plan.

The first step is to measure the pillows we already have so that I know what size cuts I need to make. Ideally, you’d measure before you buy the fabric so you know you buy enough… but I forgot to do that 🙂

I have two different sized pillows. One set are 17″ square and the other pair are 20″ square. For my pattern, I created a rectangle and split it into 3 sections… Two 17″ or 20″ sections and one 5″ section for the fold over flap. I added 1/2″ for my seam allowance. My sketch looks like this:

It’s easier to do…  I promise.

Next steps were to measure how high we needed to cut. So, we needed to cut 20.5″ of the paisley fabric, and 17.5 ” of the green. I used the width of the fabric, so, I only had to measure up for this cut, and I was able to layer and cut two at a time.

Any extra of the width was measured and cut off the green fabric.

Next steps… Fold over and hem the two shorter sides, if needed. Measure the square part, 17″ for the green and 20″ of paisley and fold over so that it’s inside out. Take the extra and fold that over, tucking it under the square, so that it creates the flap you are going to tuck over to cover the pillow end and close the case. Sew up the two sides, going over the edge of the flap a couple of extra times for reinforcement, since that will be where the pressure is when you fold it over the pillow.

Once the two sides are sewn, that’s it! Turn the case right side out, and put the old throw pillow inside! Fold the flap over the end and that’s it!

Here are the before and after of the pillows on my couch.

I really like them, and they were done in less than an hour… Probably closer to 45 minutes for all four of them from measure to finish! What I really love about how easy and fast they are, is that now, I can make these to change with the home decor for the holidays! I don’t have to spend $12-$20 for a new throw pillow! I can spend a quarter of that and with just a little bit of time, make something new for the house! I can’t wait!

What room would you like to refresh in your home? What type of items would you buy or make to do something new to refresh your home?

Check out your local Walmart store for more awesome ideas!