Design Fail!

Not all ideas work out. I have one thats been rolling around for awhile and I decided to implement it.  It needs more thought! The teacher in me thinks it is helpful to share failures as well as successes so in the spirit of learning from my mistakes I share this little experiment.

My goal was to add just a punch of color to the living room -but it was a goal that had some requirements.  

• Speed
• Cost
• Storage

My living room is a peaceful room in blues, browns and wood tones. I frequently add flowers for color and I thought it would emphasize the color if the pillows on the couch could reflect the color. All the design blogs recommend repeating a color in three locations for good balance. It would be easy (and costly plus a storage nightmare) to have a set of yellow pillows for daffodils, fuchsia pillows for the above blooms, red for poinsettias, etc. My thought was (and still is - I haven't given up) to find a way to quickly dress up my standard pillows to match the changing flower colors or seasons. I am thinking of accessories for my pillows that can quickly be added as seasons/flowers change.

Experiment 1 is a failure.  I thought elastic headbands stretched around the pillow in striped patterns would fit all three requirements. Yes they are cheap, quickly added and easy to store when not in use but they are ugly!

Just looking at this poor pillow makes me feel like I have on jeans that are too small.

Although I like the punch of color and still like the concept I have removed the headbands.  They are too small for the job both in diameter and in width.  I am going to try some ribbon ideas next and see if I can salvage the idea. Just think - a wardrobe for my pillows!

©2011 Ashbee Design Marji Roy