The windows in the living room have been looking pretty bad. I decided to go with yellow on the curtains but I was having a hard time figuring out how to jazz them up. I knew that I wanted some kind of print fabric to bring out the colors in the room but after searching both online and in the stores, I couldn't find the perfect fabric.
So, I turned to cork coasters.
I don't remember how the idea came about, all I know is that I'm glad to finally have a funky (and cheap) solution for my windows!
First, I went shopping. The square coasters come 12/pk from Ikea ($1.99) and the circle coasters were 24/pk from Bed Bath and Beyond ($4.99).
After buying a gazillion coasters and explaining to the cashiers that no, I wasn't having a big party, I got out leftover paint from other living room projects and added some much needed color to the coasters. I found it that the best way to get the paint on was to give it a good slathering and then use the paint brush to dab the paint around.
After the coasters dried (it doesn't take very long) I used 1" S hooks to connect them together. Since the cork is rather fragile, you probably dont' want to go bigger than 1" with the S hooks or else you're likely to rip the coasters. Another option is to use binder rings (you can find these at office supply stores like Staples) to connect the coasters. Just poke them through a hole in the cork and you're done!
Since I wanted there to be distance between each piece, I looped the S hooks together and then used pliers to close the gap and permanently link them. Jerome can tell you from experience that connecting 300 S hooks with pliers is NOT fun or easy on the hands. It will probably be awhile before he helps me on another project!
In the end, you're left with this:
Please disregard how bad they look in the picture; it doesn't do them justice. Not only am I horrible at taking pics, but I was trying to make sure the picture didn't show any other parts of the living room since the whole room has turned into one big messy project!
Anyway, I still have to redo the actual curtains and fix some things up in that area, but I'm well on my way!
Tomorrow's project: the blue and green chairs you see in the picture.
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