DIY Headboard and Throw Pillows

~ This post is a long time coming! I want to start featuring more home decor on the blog, because honestly, interior design/ home decor is really a secret passion of mine! Back in high school, I loved decorating my dorm rooms and I think any ounce of teenage boarding school homesickness was poured into decorating my new room each year. Back then, my two favorite magazines were Vogue and Domino, and I still have all of the first Domino Magazine issues saved at my parent’s house back home (they STILL have the best eye for decor!).

* Important note: I rounded up my FAVORITE current bedroom decor items below! If you have no plans for DIY projects (it’s totally cool if that’s not your thing), feel free to scroll down! 

My motto here in Italia is “if you can’t find it…make it!” This ranges from Paleo bread to wall art to my couch slipcover to my DIY headboard and no-sew throw pillows! Milan is still very behind in A LOT of areas. My first few weekends here I searched high and low for fabric stores with beautiful eye-catching patterns before learning that there really wasn’t any stunning fabric for interiors available here. I know…you are probably thinking I’m crazy, but I’m serious! I even reached out to a dear friend who owns an amazing linen store (and carries Italian brands) to confirm…as far as buying fabric by the yard, you’re a bit SOL here in Milan.

My tiny flat here in Milan is a studio and the interior was newly re-done before I moved in. This was totally lucky because NOTHING in Milan is new when it comes to old charming apartments. But, I seem to have found the best of both worlds (with the sweetest landlord, too). However, the brand new bed needed a bit of sprucing up. It’s grey color was glaring at me every day and I simply couldn’t wait another second to do something about it. My DIY tufted headboard was the first thing I made here in Milan and I think it made SUCH a difference in the overall space. More (below) on how I made it. I think I might have chosen a different color and a thicker texture if I were back in the states, but I found this blue top sheet for 10 Euros and made it work!

The pillows I had to wait on. I wanted great patterns and I found the fabric on sale at Jo-Ann Fabric back in the states over Christmas break. I’m really glad I waited, though! I think the bright yellow pattern brightens up my couch and the blue ikat just works perfectly on my bed with my throw blanket from Zara Home. 

My DIY Tufted Headboard

I found the DIY instructions on Pinterest for both the headboard and the pillows. Thanks so much to The Sweet Teal blog for this awesome DIY Headboard How-To post, which I used as a guide and then modified based on the materials that I could find here in Milan.

Here’s what I used for the headboard:

~ A blue top sheet (though, if I could have found thicker, more appropriate fabric for upholstery, I would have used that instead!)

~ Batting 

~ Cardboard Boxes (Sweet Digs Blog used a nice piece of wood from Home Depot…if I could have I would have!)

~ Stapler (staple gun is best, but I couldn’t find one here! I used my crafting stapler…it wasn’t easy)

~ Make Your Own Button Kit (mine was from Tiger, a European craft store, I got 2 packs and increased the amount of buttons). I loved making the buttons! It was fun and easy. I used the leftover fabric from the sheet for the buttons.

~ Needle & Thread for buttons (I then stapled the knot on the back to reinforce it and make it look more tufted)

~ Twine, Electrical Tape, Duct Tape, Glue…let me explain this one haha. I basically had to go all Bear Grylls on the back of my headboard to get it to hang nicely on the wall. I braided the twine, knotted it, measured each side to make sure it would hang evenly and at the perfect height, and then stapled above the knots on each side. Well, that didn’t hold (*though let’s keep in mind I used a CRAFTING stapler…I think that was why). SO I then re-did the staple job, but put tough glue (a Krazy glue equivalent) on top of the staple job with a piece of scrap fabric on top of that. THEN once it dried I stapled the string/glue/scrap fabric again. Then I used electrical tape and then Duct Tape for good measure. That string is never coming off the headboard now!

My DIY No-Sew Pillows 

~ AH I love how these turned out! Definitely follow this DIY word-for-word. My only adjustment was using hem tape from IKEA instead of fabric glue because I couldn’t find fabric glue here ANYWHERE! I guess everyone’s Nonna teaches them to use a sewing machine in Italy?!

What you need for the pillows:

~ Fabric (follow her diagram in the post! ) The only adjustment I would have is that I definitely couldn’t get 2 pillows out of 1 yard of fabric like she suggests. It’s better to have more!

~ Fabric Glue

~ Pillow Inserts (I got mine for under 5 Euros at Ikea!)

What I’m LOVING Right Now!

Maybe it’s me, but the ONLY thing curbing my post-graduation anxiety is the excitement of laying down roots somewhere and really NESTING! You know…finding a ginger jar you love at an antique market and buying it to keep forever?! I miss that about being here. I don’t know if I will be here past graduation and that means having to say “no” to all of the home decor that I see and love. But, it also allows me a lot of space to DREAM about where I will live and how I will decorate. I have always dreamed of decorating a place out west, using warm colors and collecting antique treasures! I’ve also dreamed of creating a “Lilly Dream Bungalow” if I ever live anywhere warm! I always tell my mom this…Lord help us all if I end up somewhere tropical year round…it will be hot pink with gold bamboo accents everywhere! Haha BUT, I still love to see what’s available back in the states, and maybe I can live vicariously through you all and you can decorate your homes with these perfect and pretty things?! (if you are reading this in your inbox, head on over to the blog!)

Gratefully with love,

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo Rhiana