Monday, July 23, 2012

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


Painted Pillow


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!


  Avenida Maze Pillow in Pink  Trina Turk want.so.bad.
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.
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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.

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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. 

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So, I dug out some old fuchsia paint and retaped the pillow cover and filled in the spaces with the fuchsia paint. 
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When it was dry and I untaped it, I traced around the edges with a white pain marker. 
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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. 
Geometric Print Painted Pillows (Krafty Kat)

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! 

Painted Pillow2



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13 comments:

  1. LOVE this! At first I did not know it was painted! Fabulous.

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  2. nice upgrade!!! so acrilic paint is washable? I have not used it on fabric...yet

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  3. Great project! I have plenty of fabric paint and not enough ideas. Thanks for the fun idea!

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  4. I love how you outlined it in white. That really adds to it a lot! I have really dark leather, too and it's so hard to lighten up the room. Thanks for linking up at Making Space Mondays. I hope we see you there next week! -Tabitha

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  5. I love the colour combination for these pillows, so happy and fun! They really pop on the dark sofa. It's amazing what can be done with a little acrylic paint!

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  6. Those are FABULOUS! Love the colours!

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  7. These are just fabulous! I've been on a throw pillow kick lately, too!

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  8. Awesome idea! I think they look great- I may have to try this myself.

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  9. Wow, your pillows are awesome! I love the colors, too. You did a fabulous job!!! Now you've added another project to my to do list. LOL

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  10. So cute and looks easy! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Wishing you a grand week. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  11. I love your pillows, and a super thrifty project too! Here from Too Much Time and now following:)

    Hugs, Tanya
    http://twelveoeight.blogspot.com/

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  12. Those pillows turned out great! Nice job. Thanks so much for linking up at One Creative Weekend!

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