I love it when you’ve read a blog post here and are thoughtful and felt inspired by it enough to contact me sharing something related… Like today what Marianne from Noces de Coton in France contacted me (thanks, Marianne!) after reading this post about how I make my home cozy for fall. She left a link to a project she tried at home to give her space a more seasonal feel. It’s lovely! Here is what she does to warm up her home for fall…

“I’ve given my living-room a Fall look with pillows, scented candles – I have one that smells like wood fire! Almost as if we had a fireplace in the room! And blankets, and also with a little super simple piece of DIY art with a deer head shape in a fake wood vinyl paper on a canvas. You can check it out here. Hope U like it!“

Yes Marianne, I like it very much!

Marianne’s deer DIY was crafted simply by cutting a deer silhouette using faux bois vinyl sticky paper (like the kind you use to line drawers) and by painting the surface (not sure if it’s wood or canvas but I’m guessing wood would be the best choice as it’s smooth and bump-free) with gray Farrow & Ball paint – N°91. Easy and beautiful!

(images: noces de coton)

Okay so I was sitting on my sofa the other night looking at the artwork on my wall thinking about my frames and how I’d love to do something with them. I’m not in the painting mood. And then I thought about decoupaging the frames. No, not feeling that idea either. Then I thought about Japanese tape and the whole obsession with it lately and how I could easily use it on my frames because it is creative and commitment-free. As I looked at the rolls I realized their width is nearly the same as the frames, so I grabbed a few frames, placed them on my table, and got started this morning with a 5 minute DIY project that I’d love to share, minus detailed instructions because it’s quite straight forward. It involves tape, a pair of scissors, and a frame. :)

The best part is, you can change them as often as you’d like because the tape leaves zero tackiness behind, it is super easy to remove, and you can use it over and over again. I imagine this being a hit with students, in work spaces at home, and for teenagers in addition to those of us who are just a bit kooky and enjoy being creative at home with our art supplies. It also does not lift the paint from the frame. It’s the perfect tape for this project so if you try this ONLY use the masking kind made with Japanese washi paper since anything else may be a problem. Also use frames they are nearly the exact width of the tape (3/4″), mine are all from IKEA. You can use the tape on the natural wood frames but since some of it is semi transparent it seems to work best on those painted white.

Fun idea, right? Of course, you can glue lace, ribbon and everything else to them instead but I wanted to do something extremely easy and inexpensive to my frames and this was the quickest solution I could find. Plus, I mean seriously, there are so many cool things to do with this Japanese tape that I couldn’t resist thinking of something new.

Tip: Select tape in colors and patterns that enhance the artwork or photos inside, for instance the grid pattern above really brings out the lines and colors of this Mississippi riverboat print by Jennifer Davis.

Here’s where you can find the tape I’ve used: Ginko Papers, Origamisan, MissMacau, washimatta, lovepetitzakkajapan, felt cafe, Pretty Tape, and the HeyDay Shop to name just a few!

Additional DIY Tip: You can use it on your shelves at home, just tape around the edging and there you have it – fun!

Have fun! (images: holly becker for decor8)

I had this idea to show you a DIY tutorial demonstrating how to turn tea towels into cafe curtains but it looks like Selvedge magazine has an even better one and beat me to it — transforming tea towels into curtain panels. Love this. You’ll have to pick up a copy of their current issue (#29) to obtain the how-to details or subscribe to their digital issues (via exact editions), but it’s pretty self explanatory really — you just take your favorite tea towels, stitch them together either by hand or using a machine, and then use clip hooks along the top and place it on a rod. Easy!

Looking at this I imagine you could even make a tea towel shower curtain, or even something using pillowcases. My tea towel idea is simply to take a few tea towels and use them as cafe curtains — I’ve done this in the past in kitchens when I was single living on a very fixed budget unable to afford anything fancy and loved them. My mother showed me how to use a grommet maker and once I learned how to do that I was punching holes in everything. Clip hooks work just as well, or you can sew in a rod pocket fairly easily, too.

Thanks Selvedge for the constant stream of inspiration!

(image: selvedge magazine, issue #29)