Friday, January 4, 2013

The Cubicle Makeover

I knew I wanted to transform my brown cube

because it looked like this...

Cubicle Makeover: Before 

As you can see, it was very brown. 

Brown walls, brown desk, brown cube walls, brown carpet.

All that fine and dandy for an office setting but

personally, I need color.

 

 

Thrift stores are often a box of puzzle pieces. 

Luckily, I'm a person who enjoys solving problems.

This fun, bright curtain was clearly the answer.

Curtain, $3, Target brand, Goodwill where Beechmont and 275 meet.


 The vertical pattern appealed to me.  
Who doesn't want their space to look taller?




 

Before

 For Christmas, my family gave me a heavy duty sewing machine.

It's sort of magic. However, I am not yet magical at sewing.

 As you can see my cube has panels.
I cut the curtain into four equal pieces and hemmed all the edges.
  I thought this would be an easy project. 
While it wasn't too difficult pinning the hem did take patience, a skill I'm still acquiring.




 After

 

Before                        After

 



Color energies me and lets the creativity flow.

 

The cube walls are a cork-like material.

The ease of attaching anything to the walls was the source of inspiration for this project.
Sliver thumb tacks were used to adhere the fabric and gave it an upholstered look.

Thumb tacks, $2, Michael's


Cubicle Makeover: After www.CincinnatiThrift.com 

 I did visit a fabric store during the search,

and similar prints were 4-10 dollars a yard.

I'm waaaaaaay too thrifty for that. 

While sitting at my desk,  I wanted to feel inspired not think to myself

was it worth the money?




It took about four different thrift stores trips to find the right fabric.  
Of course thrifting is a hobby of mine, so it didn't feel like work.
I suggest making thrift lists so you don't feel like you're finding nothing.

Bonsoir à partir Cincinnati Thrift!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Green Military Sweater: Part II


 So I decided to dye my green sweater. 

When I found this sweater at Goodwill in Florence, KY, I loved the fit but wasn't crazy about the color.
See the previous post in the series here: The Green Military Sweater

Dyeing thrifted items has been an educational experience.

Problems I thought I would have, like even coloring or looking homemade, haven't been issues.
The challenges has been shrinkage (I'm guessing something to do with the chemicals in the dye)
and not achieving the total color. 
This was the issue with this dye. 


Believe it or not, I put the sweater on the left in black dye. 

As you can see, it came out dark green. 
The dye was for cotton and wool, so all polyesters, like the zipper and thread, did not dye.

You can see the zipper contrast better in this close up. 

Frankly, I'm glad it dyed dark green instead of black. That contrast would have been too harsh.

To read more about my different dyeing activities click a link below:


From Cincinnati Thrift, have a very happy New Year!