7:14 PM
Aleesha Nash
Visiting the Nate Show
The Nate Show is all about feathering your nest and making your home the best it can be, but when I visited with Nate, it was a combination fix-up of both a desperately bare bedroom -- and -- a desperately disheartened young woman. You'll see all the details on the show (airdate January 17, check local listings).As many of you know, I am a life-long seamstress. From makingmy own clothes in the old days (you try to buy a wardrobe on $75 a week!), these days I am sewing for the home. I know the personal sense of confidence and mastery I feel from "doing it myself," and I thought that might be a useful skill to pass along to this young lady.
She moved to New York last year, very highly educated, but unable to find a job in her field. Which meant, unable to fix up her spacious apartment the way she wanted. Her bedroom was literally a bed - nothing more. So barren was the room, it made her so sad, she slept on the couch, rather than a room that made her sad to realize how much 'wasn't' happening with her job search. With tears she told me the room made her feel like a failure. She answered a call made by Nate for folks who needed help with their decor.
Nate called me in to help. Our budget was limited, but I knew I wanted both the maximum bang for the buck -- and -- for our young lady to 'have some skin' in the game. I wanted her to help create whatever we did for her room.
Well, we did a lot! You'll see the results of her apartment on the Nate Show, but suffice it to say, she was thrilled -- and this time the tears in her eyes, were tears of joy.
One of my tricks was to take a super inexpensive wool/jute rug ($89 at Ikea!) and 'customize' it by taping a border around the edges, painting it, and removing the tape. We did a black border so it would be more versatile, but it's a great way to bring a custom color into your room.
Another trick, which you see me demonstrating here to Nate, is to take lengths of a fun print fabric and create wall hangings that add color and drama to a room, without blasting a hole in your budget. Here we are at the sewing machine, just as our young lady was earlier, sewing easy-to-do borders along the selvages. Add a casement opening at the top an a hem and you are good to go. This can be hung on a dowl behind a bed (as we did in the bedroom) to dress up the headboard, behind a sofa as an affordable focal point, and of course the same technique can be used to make down-and-dirty curtains to jazz up a drab room.Well, it was a thrill for me to be on Nate's show -- he's such a cutie! And awfully nice. But it was a bigger thrill to see the look on this young lady's face -- both when she saw her room and was in the studio to be on national tv!!
But maybe best of all was the third time I saw tears. That was when I presented her with the handmade pillow I whipped up just for her. Knit on one side, and crocheted on the other ( yes, with Deborah Norville Yarn!), she was so touched by the gesture. I feel all of us need something to snuggle that's soft. As I said, the pillow was made with love and lots of positive energy that I knew she was going to take her successfully through her job search. I can't wait to hear how it ends for her!REPOSTED FROM http://dnorville.com/article.php?id=191
CONTENT NOT WRITTEN BY ALEESHA NASH. THIS WAS REPOSTED FROM http://dnorville.com/article.php?id=191
