I love floor poufs.

There, I said it.

They are cute and practical and just such a fun way to bring some pattern and color into a room. They are also expensive! If you have no idea what I'm talking about....here are some adorable poufs:

Via

Cute, right? I really wanted one to put in front of our glider in the nursery, but could not justify spending $100 or more on one. I didn't really want to add another DIY to my list, but DID want to choose my own fabric and save money...so DIY it is.

I found a lot of blogs that raved about the Better Homes and Garden's pouf tutorial. They also said it wasn't too hard and I found that to be very true. In fact, I think pretty much anyone could tackle this tutorial and be just fine. It only took me a few hours and I was so pleased with how it turned out! 

I bought two coordinating fabrics from Hawthorn Threads, one yard of each for about $20 total. One of my fabrics was not cut very well and did not equal a whole yard, so I was a bit disappointed about that, but it was still enough to make my pouf. They have a great selection of fabric on this site and it was fun to go through and decide which ones I wanted to use. 

I didn't have enough fabric for the hexagon shape that BH&G used for the top, but just had to google how to sew it closed instead. It's not perfect, but does the job. I used a bunch of old clothes to fill it up and then bought one bag of fiberfill at Michael's for about $5 with coupon to use along the sides and the top. 

I'm tempted to make another one for the living room, but maybe use fabric that is all the same instead of alternating panels. If you've been tempted to buy a pouf, but can't afford the price, MAKE ONE! If I can do it, you can. Mine cost about $25, but you could definitely do it cheaper if you get a great price on fabric. 

Best of all, it covers the ugly glider base of my chair quite nicely :)

DIY Ruffle Curtains

Well, only a few more weeks until my due date! I thought I would use them to reveal some of the DIY projects I worked on in the nursery. We are obviously trying to save as much money as we can, so this experience reminded me of our wedding...DIY projects galore.

One of the things I finished up just before Christmas were the curtains. When I thought about curtains for our baby girl's room, I wanted something pretty and feminine. I decided on ruffle curtains and I loved Pottery Barn's version:

But at almost $100 a panel, I was not feeling it. Instead, I started trolling the internet for a DIY version...and boy did I find one! I was excited to discover I could make my own ruffle curtains for $10 a panel. Um...yes please. I used this tutorial and it was pretty easy to follow...but also very time consuming for this beginner. It basically consisted of buying two twin flat sheets from Walmart at $5 a piece. That is for one panel, so it ended up costing me $20 total to make two panels for the nursery. MUCH more desirable than $200! I wanted them to be an off white instead of a true white, and thankfully the sheets came in just the right color (ok, truthfully they are a tad too yellow, but I'm not gonna complain).

I won't go through the whole process, you can follow the tutorial I linked for that, but just be prepared for a lot of work. I think the first panel took me around 8 hours, and the second one about half that (it's easier once you get the hang of it). Still, I'm pleased with how they turned out (not perfect, but not too shabby) and REALLY pleased with how much money we were able to save. Here is the final result...and excuse the horrible coloring, it's such a hard room to photograph!

And there is a sneak peek at the next tutorial coming up...a fabric pouf!