Cedar Hill Ranch Blog is Texas Living with a French Accent.  It’s about creating a relaxed lifestyle and home that is also graceful and beautiful, a place that embraces family and friends in a comfortable way while making them feel special and celebrated.   The author, Anita, says she thinks of the French life being about family and friends in a beautiful setting.  Cedar Hill Ranch is about creating a home that embraces family and guests with interior design ideas, DIY projects, antiques, vintage dishes, and anything else she finds interesting or helpful.      

It is written by Anita, a professional photographer, who loves interior design, sewing, faux painting, cooking, entertaining, and all things DIY.  Before she owned her own photography business, Anita worked as an engineer, but now stays home.  Between the girls’ activities, the ranch, all of her projects, and now the blog, she doesn’t have time for work (the kind that pays).  She lives in Texas with her husband and two teenage girls. 

Dreamy Daybed Redo with Feedsacks and Linen

I wasn’t going to blog about this project yet, since I have several posts already written and pretty much ready to go, but I couldn’t stand it any longer.

This is what I did ALL of last week.  I will show pictures later of how I made the pillows and the cover for the daybed but here are the before and after pictures.  And this is just phase 1 of a complete redo of my back porch.  Phase 2 will be using Annie Sloan’s chalk paint (click here) on all of the rockers and more, much more.  To see this paint “in action” so to speak, check out Miss Mustard Seed’s post about it here.

First is the BEFORE picture.  I made the cover and most of these pillows for the back porch daybed about two years ago, using outdoor fabric.  The fabric wasn’t really my style, but I wanted an outdoor fabric, because the daybed is OUTDOORS.  There weren’t many choices in outdoor fabrics, so this was the one I thought was the best choice.  Then Mr. Mouse had his way with it.  You can see him in the previous post, Everyone’s a Critic.  Yes I know he is cute, but if you could see what he did with my daybed cover, you might think differently.  I am appalled Mr. Mouse.  Have you no shame?  Did your mother teach you to chew on other people’s things and then treat them like a latrine?  Oh, I guess she did. 

Black and White Cover and Pillows for Daybed

Well Mr. Mouse, you actually did me a favor.  Your selfish actions forced me to recover the daybed.  That’s right, I was looking for an excuse and you gave me one.  BTW, the new bedding will be kept inside when not in use, so you lost your little snuggly place to sleep and … never mind.

So here is my big reveal.  And after sewing 10 pillows and a daybed cover you bet I will be showing more than just a few photos.  To see how I made the pillows, click here.   

I had two authentic, vintage feed sacks sitting around my house that I had purchased at The Round Top Antique Show, Reflections on Round Top.  I purchased one more, some ribbon, and linen fabric for the daybed.  Feed sack pillows typically run around $70-$100 a piece and these cost me about $20 each plus my labor.  Check back later and I will show how I made them.  The daybed cover was also a huge savings since comparable covers cost around $300, and my fabric was less than $100.   

It was a beautiful day, and I spent almost the entire day on the porch enjoying the breezes.

I did a very simple enclosure on my pillows, using ribbon similar to what I saw on Miss Mustard Seed’s header, click here.

Notice that I took the time to fringe the bed skirt.  This was a rustic finish that I thought was very fitting.



After all that work, I decided to relax and enjoy the new daybed.  I curled up with my iced tea and some interior design books.  It was SOOOO NICE.