Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Dust Ruffle...

(which is really a bed skirt - who knew???) is finished.  And boy am I ever glad!

Using the directions garnered from do-it-yourselfer extraordinaire Gina, over at The Shabby Chic Cottage, I managed to stitch together a lush king-sized bed skirt for $20.00.  It would have been way cheaper if I hadn't over-scrunched the material when I was sewing it together necessitating adding another sheet plus 1/2 of a 5th sheet, but I love the lush over-done look.

It took 4 1/2 twin sheets which cost $4.00 each at WallyWorld.  I had a bed skirt on the bed that cost $2.00 at the thrift store so I used that for the base and simply stitched the new folded over fabric right on top of the old stuff (which was ugly) and only had a 14" drop.  My bed has a 16" drop plus I wanted some extra fabric to puddle on the floor.  I was shocked at the cost of decent looking bed skirts online.  Even Pottery Barn was in the $90.00 range. 

Rather than reinvent the wheel, Gina has fabulous instructions here.



It's a bit like sleeping on top of a wedding cake...


The left over fabric will be used to form a ruffle for the footstool...




The top cover for the footstool will be the fabric that is being used to recover two more of my ugly "dentist office chairs" (which seem to have bred like maggots. These are the other two of the ones I already re-covered for the dining room.) It appears like the fabrics don't match but they actually match perfectly...


About the cover on the down comforter ...

Many years ago I bought a very expensive duvet cover.  The down comforter was always slipping around inside and it was a hassle to remove and wash.  This is the first time ever we have not had a couple of dogs but we still have two cats.  The "fur-people" crawl all over the bed and therefore I'm not going to spend a gazillion dollars on a duvet cover that is inconvenient and can't be easily cleaned.

I love old sheets.  They are soft and nicely faded due to years and years of washings.  King sized flat sheets are readily available at the thrift stores.  Bottom sheets not so much because they are the first to wear out.  For years I've scarfed up old king-sized flat sheets, purchased a good coordinating fitted sheet and, voila, a king sized set for about $20.00 bucks.

For the comforter cover I simply throw a king-sized sheet over the comforter and fold it over the top of the comforter.  It comes off every week and is washed along with the sheets.  Simply and cheap inexpensive.

Another vintage sheet I use...


I've linked to Gina for Transformation Thursday.  Visit her at The Shabby Chic Cottage for more wonderful ideas...

I've linked to My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday, too

6 comments:

Lola said...

Answer to a prayer!

I am always hoping to find a pretty update for the bedroom and this it!

What a lovely and thrifty solution.
Now I won't feel guilty about getting my hair done.
------------------------------------------
BTW, Adrienne, do you color your hair at home or do you go to a professional? I have Medium Ash brown to light Ash brown hair. Should I go ahead and go RED? Or just put my hair (and I do believe a good stylist is worth every penny) in the care of Professionals?

Adrienne said...

Well - if I colored my hair at home, I would be going to a professional since I am a hairdresser. I don't color my hair because God gave me perfectly integrated silver hair with my dark and no color on earth could compete. (Thank you, God!)

As for red? I LOVE red and would do it. I think it would be fun. Red is tricky so you want to go to a good colorist.

Susan said...

Wow, Adrienne. Great job! Susan

Lola said...

If I don't go red, I'll be going silver! ;-) I just went to the salon and the colorist told me to go with a purple red, not an orange red since I'm ashy. I am almost giddy with just the thought of it. I'm sitting on the idea for a week.

I just love the sheet as topper idea. Too easy but golly it looks pretty.

Lola said...

Thank you Adrienne!

La Vie Quotidienne said...

Great job...it looks super! I love using sheets to decorate with. It seems that they used to have prettier patterns so I haven't done it is a while but it sure is cost effective.