Thinking outside the Bolt
I’m not sure exactly when or how my obsession with repurposing things to meet my needs in the thriftiest way possible started, but I think it had something to do with the day my dad brought home styrofoam sheet insultation that some contractors working on the local high school had thrown out. He cut them into pontoon shapes, covered them with netting to keep them from disintegrating, and attached two camping cots to them to create benches. And voila, we had a pontoon boat. Without fail, every time we took it out on the lake, people in nice boats would come by and ask, “Are you ok? Did you get in a wreck? Do you need any help?” And we would assure them that no, no, this was the way our boat was supposed to look. I must beg my parents to unearth a picture of that boat.
Fast forward a couple of decades and the mindset my dad unwittingly instilled in me by his example began to serve me well in all things related to homemaking. All of the textiles I loved were on the higher end of the price range - ah, champagne taste on a wine cooler budget. My first plan was to save money by making window treatments and throw pillows myself, but I ran into the same problem: all the fabrics I loved were prohibitively pricey, especially for the quantity I needed to make long enough curtains. Pro-tip (which you may have already heard a million times): hang curtains high and wide to make your windows look bigger.
One day while meandering in Walmart, I noticed an adorable linen tablecloth with a medallion print and thought, “I must have that on my windows!” I pounced and bought three in the longest length available: two for the large window and one to be cut in half for the smaller window. I backed them with UV-resistant Roc-lon lining and sewed tabs at the top. Those tablecloths now add a splash of color, warmth, and whimsey to our breakfast nook.
With the tablecloth-turned-curtain idea firmly in my repertoire, I started looking for white tablecloths to turn into curtains for the wall of windows in the living room. I snagged 5 ultra-long white ones from Ikea and sewed tabs on the back of each one. So simple. Bonus: they’re ridiculously easy to clean since they’re meant to take a beating. Bonus bonus: that curtain rod is actually electrical conduit that I spray painted oil-rubbed bronze.
I was now constantly on the look out for unconventional sources of fabric. You know what gives you a ton of yardage for less than $15? Shower curtains from Home Goods. Sure, there are other places that sell shower curtains, but I’ve never had much luck finding patterns I like. The fabric I used for the roman shade and the white and blue throw pillows in the office were from shower curtains I scored at Home Goods. It’s hard to find good patterns that are mostly white at a normal fabric store, y’all! I have no idea why. Pics of our office are rare because it’s a space I have yet to figure out how to optimize. It’s awkwardly long and narrow and serves as an office/guestroom/gym.
The opening of the shower in our master bathroom is half as large as a bathtub/shower combo, so I altered yet another Home Goods shower curtain and had quite a bit left over. In fact, it was just the right amount to reupholster the backrest of this chair.
For the life of me, I can’t find pictures from our first house of these sweet, simple green curtains I hung up in the kitchen. I eventually replaced them with a roman shade once I figured out how to make those, but couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them. My hoarding instinct came through for me: the fabric was an exact match to the green in the fabric I used to cover these chairs and made perfect throw pillows and matching ottoman.
A dear friend asked me to help make her temporary housing situation more homey, so I sifted through my stockpile of décor and textiles. The blue throw pillows with the white geometric pattern were made out of a curtain I found at a thrift store, originally from Target. I fell in love with that pattern the moment I first laid eyes on it, but spendthrift that I am, never bought anything new in it. When I found that single curtain panel at Goodwill, I had to take it home with me. The white throw pillows with the medallion design were made from fabric left over from my dining chair makeover (some day I’ll get around to writing about that adventure) which I stenciled using craft paint and a textile medium. No fabric is too sacred not to be repurposed.
So, there you go: tablecloths, shower curtains, and repurposed textiles. There are probably a million more sources I haven’t come across. If you want to create a unique space that doesn’t feel like it came out of a cookie cutter catalog, just keep your eyes open for patterns you love in unexpected places. The result is totally worth the effort.