Designer Inspired Geometric Print Pillows (For Less Than $1!)

I have become bored with my current color scheme in my living room.  There is a whole lotta brown (brown leather sofa, dark brown wood on the furniture, and hardwood floors).  I wanted to punch up the color a bit with some throw pillows but the pillows I want are out of my price range.  I love Trina Turk and her bold geometric designs.  I especially love this Avenida Maze Pillow in Pink but they go for about $150 a piece!


 
It’s really sad when you have designer taste on a dollar store budget.  But, if you get a little creative, you can have a new designer inspired look for next to nothing.  I have some plain pillow covers in a natural toned woven fabric so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a fifty-seven cent bottle of orange acrylic paint.   I knew I couldn’t recreate the same pattern on the Maze pillows but I could still have a similar look.

I taped off a simple criss-cross type pattern with masking tape on the pillow covers.  I unzipped them and placed cardboard inside the pillow to protect the pillows from any paint bleeding through.



First I painted on the orange acrylic paint.  When it was dry, I put the covers back on the pillows.  I  could have easily stopped there.  They looked pretty good like that  but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. 


So, I dug out some old fuchsia paint and retaped the pillow cover and filled in the spaces with the fuchsia paint. 



When it was dry and I untaped it, I traced around the edges with a white pain marker. 




Although the pillows that inspired me had a lot of brown, I didn’t use brown because they would be going on the brown sofa. 


I didn’t use any fabric medium with the acrylic paint but you could.  The fabric does feel painted but not overly stiff.  It is still washable and should be fine.  I will post an update after a few washes just to let you know but I have painted t-shirts with acrylic paint before and never had any problems. 


I love my pillows!  They give a nice pop of color and add a touch of modern style to the room.  I especially love that this was so inexpensive and it didn’t take any real talent or skill, just a little patience. I will probably be painting some more pillows in the future and maybe even some other things! 





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