Harlow & Thistle - Home Design - Lifestyle

I've had the idea for a DIY Tassel Lampshade in the back of my mind for some time now. When I first saw the tassel chandelier from Anthropologie I knew I wanted to take a shot at making some version of it myself. Fast forward to last week when I was sourcing sconces for our new AirBnB and a light bulb went off... tassel lampshades! Since it's an AirBnB I like to have fun with it and these tassel lampshades fit the bill perfectly. They are the beachy tassel earrings to my fireplace so to speak. Keep reading for all the details on this DIY Tassel Lampshade (Anthropologie inspired of course).

Here are the things you need:

- Sconce light fixture (or any light fixture really)

- Bell shaped lamp shade

- Gold spray paint

- Thin gold wire

- Ivory yarn

I had these two gold plug-in sconces I picked up from Ikea a year ago. I original used them in my son's room but then we moved and they didn't work in his new room. The next tricky part was finding the right lampshades. They had to be bell shaped with a full wire frame. I searched every thrift store in a 30 mile radius and finally found these two shades. Now, they're not 100% identical but close enough for what I needed.

Next I ripped off the original shades. If you try this at home be sure to give the shade a good clean and shade before ripping off the material, they can be really messy with the dust, cracking glue and what not. After I had the shades ripped off completely I spray painted the wire frame gold to match the sconce finish. Then I flipped the frame upside down and used some gold wire to create two more tiers to hang the tassels off.

Then came the long and grueling part, the tassels. Oh the tassels. I made approximately 6 tassels for each line in each row. I had 6 sides with 3 lines each so it came to about 108 tassels ... per shade! Aghh what was I thinking. My hand cramps up just thinking about it. It's a good thing these shades ended up looking cute.

If you're not sure how to make a tassel here are the Coles notes or you can check out this DIY tassel blog post. Basically you wrap yarn around your hand 20-30 times, cut it, tie a piece of yarn around the middle, fold it in half and tie another piece of yarn around the top, trim as necessary. That's it! So easy, right? Now just repeat that 216 more times and your done. I joke, I joke, no seriously, it takes forever.

Then I tied each tassel onto the wire lamp shade which took a bit of time err... forget I said that. I don't want to discourage you completely.

I love the way these turned out. They really are the most beautiful earrings for this fireplace. The most delightful surprise (pun intended) is the pretty light they give off at night. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

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10:17:00 No comments

Are you in love with fringe patio umbrellas as much as I am? All winter I was searching for a fringe umbrella for my patio, partly because I was longing for patio season and partly because fringe umbrellas are the perfect modern twist to an outdoor decor staple. Boy was I surprised at how expensive they were - upwards of $300. If you know me you know I have a hard time paying for something that is excessively marked up because of a trend. So I did what any good DIY design blogger would do and I made it myself. You guys, this DIY fringe patio umbrella is one of my favourite DIYs ever. Not only did it save me tons of money but it looks super cute and adds a beachy vibe to my patio.

DIY-fringe-patio-umbrella-harlow-thistle-1

I picked up a patio 7ft umbrella from my local home improvement/sporting goods store. I had to pull out my highschool geometry knowledge to figure out how much fringe I needed. I multiplied the diameter of my umbrella (7ft) by 3.14 (pie) to get the number of feet I would need of the fringe. Then I headed to my local fabric store and checked out their fringe selection (Note, be sure to check the clearance rack for sale fringe (it is often on sale). I purchased some three inch off white fringe (the white white was too bright and I knew it wouldn't weather well).

Originally I had planned to use hot glue to adhere the fringe to the umbrella but I was a little worried my husband wouldn't like the look so I needed a plan that wouldn't ruin the umbrella completely. I decided to do a light baste stitch of the fringe which took a bit longer but makes it easy for me to replace the fringe down the road.

I love the beachy look of this DIY fringe patio umbrella. It is the perfect addition to our little beach house AirBnB (which we will be renting soon).

Stay tuned for more beach related DIY projects. I also have a short video showcasing this fringe outdoor umbrella in action. Follow me on Instagram for up to the minute projects and design inspo.

10:14:00 No comments

If you're like me you have a couple bunches of pampas grass throughout your home and if you're like me you've found it tricky to keep these billowing beauties from shedding all over the place. Since my love for pampas grass doesn't seem to be going away any time soon I decided to try a little faux version of my own using yarn keeping all the beauty of regular pampas grass without the mess. Here is my DIY faux pampas grass with yarn tutorial.

These are fairly easy and inexpensive to make. Here are the things you will need:

6ft bamboo stakes or 8ft bamboo stakes

Beige fur yarn

Wood stain finishing cloths (natural)

...and if you'd prefer real pampas grass click here.

First I stained all the dowel rods to add contrast to these faux pampas grass and make them look more real.

Then I cut the yarn into thousands of arm length strips.

Finally, I adhered the fur yarn to the dowel using a simple macrame knot. This knot makes it easy to move the strips up and down the dowel as necessary and helps add the required thickness to make the pampas grass seem fluffy and real. I suggest adding a few dots of hot glue to the top and bottom knots just to ensure nothing pops off by accident.

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If you liked this post be sure to check out this post on painted pampas grass.

Be sure to follow me on Instagram to see what I'm up to.

See you again soon.

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11:19:00 No comments

Maybe it's nostalgia of the swaying palms from our last beach vacation or the memory of the dried palms in my parent's living room when I was a kid but I can't get enough of them right now. I went on a hunt to purchase a few dried palm fronds to add to my boho home decor but they were hard to find and expensive. So until the market catches up to my dried palm frond hankering I thought I'd make my own DIY dried paper palm leaves.

These are fairly easy to make. All you need is some brown paper (Kraft paper works best but it depends on your desired thickness), scissors, hot glue, a marker and a wooden skewer. You can make these of different sizes and colours if you'd like.

To start I folded the paper in half and drew a half of spade sort of shape. Then I cut it out and accordion folded the paper diagonally towards the center. I used hot glue to secure the skewer (say that three times fast). Finally I wrapped a small strip of the paper around the bottom to cover the hot glue around the skewer.

That's it! So cute and easy. I love these dried paper palm leaves as party decor or just for everyday home decor. I recently used them in a boho tablescape I made for a backyard barbeque. Honestly you could use them everywhere.

Let me know what you think in the comments below and be sure to following me on Instagram for more fun stuff.

08:11:00 No comments

Starting a One Room Challenge in the middle of a pandemic adds another layer of challenge, no? Nothing says challenge like stores closed, borders closed and delayed shipping. I suppose the silver lining is that we have nothing but time. We moved into this house just under a year ago and these two bathrooms are the last rooms we need to update (well not including the patio, basement and dining room lol). As usual the One Room Challenge Spring 2020 makeover motivates me to get it done in a tight timeline (six weeks to be exact).

If this is your first time hearing about it, the One Room Challenge is a design event that takes place twice a year (Spring and Fall), where designers have six weeks to makeover one room in their home and blog about it along the way. I have participated in the One Room Challenge six times, one time as a featured designer and four times as a guest participant.

Previous One Room Challenge Reveals:

Kitchen - Office - Dining room - Laundry room - Patio - Another Laundry Room

The Rooms (That's right I'm doing two yikes):

Room #1. Main Bathroom - Let's be honest, there is nothing majorly wrong with this room. The only problem is that it doesn't match with the rest of house. Since it's one of the most used rooms and our kids pretty much own it I decided to give it a makeover. Nothing fancy. We're going to refinish the cabinet, add a new counter top, new mirror, new light fixture, new faucet and a wall treatment.

One Room Challenge 2020 - week 1 the room

Room #2. Master Bathroom
This little nugget of a room has some serious nostalgia. If my husband would let me I'd keep the wallpaper. The pink tube of a shower has to go though. The previous owners literally painted the pink tile white and it wasn't proving the test of time. Similar to the main bathroom we are going to refinish the cabinet, redo the shower with a glass door and pony wall and add a new mirror, light fixture, faucet and yes some sort of wall treatment.

I will be sharing the plans for these two rooms next week.

Be sure to check out the official designers participating in the One Room Challenge and the guest participants at Calling it Home.

Also, follow me on Instagram to stay up to date on my progress and fun quips.

One Room Challenge 2020 guest participant

20:47:00 No comments

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