Tag Archives: tassels

4.28.2014

Katie’s House: brightening up the upstairs bathroom

by Katie

A few weeks ago I set out to brighten up our upstairs bathroom. Fortunately the previous owners had done the hard (and expensive) work for us – they hired terrific local contractors to add the bathroom to the house in 2006 – so I didn’t need to tear anything out or build anything up (which, considering the piles of construction debris in our laundry room and guest room right now, was a huge relief).

The bathroom with its original yellow paint job

The original paint was called ‘Suntan Yellow’ which is among the worst color names I can think of. Sunshine Yellow, yes. But Suntan? Pretty sure if your skin is this color it’s called jaundice, not suntan.

The angles of this bathroom, with its window seat and skylight, are beautiful. I really like the materials they used in the room – the slate has lovely texture and color variation – but the combination of grey tiles with the fir built-ins and trim made the room skew pretty masculine and serious, and I felt like the yellow walls competed with the color of the wood and tiles.

The skylight is north-facing and the window faces west

The skylight is north-facing and the window faces west, so though there is natural light it’s pretty diffuse

My goal was simple: to make the space lighter and brighter without spending much money. The first thing I did was polish up the cabinetry and trim with my favorite combination of neutral Restor-A-Finish and Howard Feed & Wax. Then I painted the walls white (Mountain Peak White by Benjamin Moore), which brightened things up immediately and really highlighted the beautiful clear grain fir woodwork.
This room was a bear to paint. The high ceiling and multiple angles meant that my wildly optimistic estimate of a half day project (which impossibly included dry times, mind you) extended out to two and a half days. By the time I was finished my painting hoodie had Mt Peak White on every side because I couldn’t seem to turn around (or move a ladder) in that room without brushing up against a freshly-painted wall. It took three coats of paint to cover up the yellow, and even now I obsessively run my eyes over the walls looking for any hint of that ‘suntan yellow’ trying to make its jaundiced escape.

wide view of windowseat
window seat close up

We have a lot of plants in our house, if they ever go all ‘Day of the Triffids‘ on us, we won’t stand a chance. Laughing in the face of danger, I brought a number of plants into this room too. I love plants in a bathroom! It’s easy to water them and they bring such a fresh and vibrant feel to the room.

I got the two hanging planters at a thrift store, but they are originally from Ikea

I got the two planters hanging from the towel bar at a thrift store, but they are originally from Ikea

Oh those tassels! If you remember, I had fallen hard for this Anthropologie shower curtain that I couldn’t afford. My version lacks the elegance and *ahem* uniformity of the Anthro curtain, but it’s festive and playful – just look at those riotously colored ghosts marching cheerfully along – and that suits me fine. My shower curtain knock-off – after purchasing the plain white curtain and the embroidery thread – rang in at about $30, a savings (spend to save folks, spend to save) of almost $90.

from behind pink curtain

long view of room This room has plenty of storage, so it’s nice to use the open shelves to display a few of my favorite treasures, relatively safe from the destructive and ardent affections of Fat Bunny (Dean) and Tiny Tiger (Carl). The little clay box is vintage, my friend John carved the raven for me and those are shells from a gumboot chiton taking wing up the wall The little clay box is vintage, my friend John carved the raven for me and those are shells from a gumboot chiton taking wing up the wall The striped planter, the little yellow vessel and the fish plate are all vintage from the thrift store. I have mixed feelings about the fact that one of my favorite vignettes in our whole house is on the back of a toilet. The striped planter, the little yellow vessel and the weirdo hand-painted fish plate are all vintage from the thrift store.
yellow ceramics

sink

succulents and turtle goddess The succulent planter is from a thrift store and the turtle goddess was a gift from my mom when she and I took a trip to Crete together last year.window seat curtain I sewed this curtain from a curtain I hijacked from our guest room which in turn was made from a shower curtain we used at our previous house. Who knows what its next incarnation will be? Probably something with tassels.

Toward door

All the light fixtures and hardware in this room were installed by the previous owners and are from Restoration Hardware

I’ve been coveting these towels for a while, for reasons both aesthetic and ascetic. You see, because we’re cheap (thrifty) – and also because most of our living takes place downstairs – we pretty much refuse to heat the upstairs of our home. Now, I can bravely soldier on through brushing my teeth while standing on glacial tiles, but I can’t abide a towel that doesn’t dry out all the way between uses. These Turkish towels – called peshtemals – are, despite their thinness, very absorbent, yet they dry really quickly. They aren’t inexpensive, but we’ve been using them about a month now and I’m a total convert.
window seat with curtain

Thanks for reading this post! Have any of you given a room a little facelift recently? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

4.21.2014

Forbidden [shower curtain] Love, or Why I Tied 100 Tassels (and how you can do it too)

by Katie

Two weeks ago I found myself inspired by Mera’s cheerful bathroom update, and I set out to do a little bathroom makeover of my own. The first thing I did was buy a gallon of paint. The second thing I did was fall in desperate, blind love with a shower curtain (I had no idea it was possible either) that I couldn’t afford.

Look how pretty it is! Those colors! Those tassels! I wanted it so badly I called both Mera and my mom from the Anthropologie store (they have really comfortable chairs and the salespeople loved me sitting there talking on my phone) asking them to talk me out of buying it. That I chose to call them is telling – I actually wanted them to convince me to buy it of course; to say that if I loved it, it was worth it. If I had truly not wanted to buy it I would have called Cameron, the frugal pragmatist, who would have asked whether – with a price tag of more than a hundred dollars – the tassels had a utilitarian function, like reducing shower steam or deploying as little tub scrubbers.

Alas, the tassels' only function is looking really really really good.

Close up view of the Anthropologie shower curtain. Alas, the tassels’ only function is looking really really really good.

Ultimately my own frugal pragmatism prevailed, and I came home determined to make a tassel-bedecked shower curtain I could afford. I took advantage of a family trip (and my nimble-fingered family) to get everyone on board with making tassels. Once I worked out some of the production kinks, tassel tying became addictive. It’s the perfect mindless busywork, similar to knitting or crocheting but requiring less skill. Best of all you can do it while watching crappy television and at the end you have a pile of shiny little darlings to show for the hours you spent, instead of just self-loathing.

It's an addiction

I am unstoppable. I’m considering an art installation in which I cover my entire house in tassels, just so I can keep tying them.

I’ve put together a tutorial for tying a two-tone tassel like the ones I made for the tulip chair pillow last week. Remember those?

A coy little tassel playing peekaboo

A coy little tassel playing peekaboo

Let’s get started:

Tools of the tassel tying trade

Tools of the tassel tying trade

Supplies:

Embroidery thread or yarn

A chopstick (a bamboo skewer or knitting needle would work well too)

An embroidery needle (with a big eye)

An index card

A fine tooth comb (optional)

wrapping string

Step One:

Fold the index card in half. The length of the folded card will be the length of your finished tassel. Put the loose ends of your threads at the folded end of the index card and continue wrapping (I used about half a skein of thread per tassel)

inserting chopstick

Step Two:

Turn the card so the open end is at the top and gently insert the chopstick so it is under the thread

tying and wrapping

Step Three:

Gently slide the looped thread off of the card (but not off the chopstick) and tie a knot right under the chopstick and then give the thread a few more tight wraps

tying the knot

Step Four:

Cut the thread and use an embroidery needle to push the thread up through the neck of the tassel, then tie a knot and bring the needle back down through the neck to become part of the tassel

Does everybody's thumb bend back like mine??

Everyone’s thumb bends like mine, right?

Step Five:

Use scissors to cut the looped ends at the bottom

combing the tassel

Step Six:

Use your comb to separate the threads (combing the tassel hair was my favorite part). If you don’t have a comb you can use the needle to separate threads, but it’s neither as effective nor as fun.

tassel trimming

Step Seven:

Trim tassel to desired length

Ta-Da!

Ta-Da!

I’ve used tassels on a pillow, a shower curtain (which I’ll show you next week, along with the updated bathroom) and on my cat. What else should I be-tassel? Are you planning to do any projects with tassels soon? Let us know in the comments!