So talented. It's beautiful.

Wow! I want YOU for my mom! You should have a tv show about decorating on a budget. It's fabulous.

Thank you! My post should read 'college apartment', not collect apartment... We moved her in yesterday and I am more than a little tired :)

I am so impressed! You are so creative- it looks fantastic.

Why, or Why can't I sew !
You guys did a GREAT job!

Great job...that mirror is stunning!

She may be a Princess but you are the Queen of how to trick out an apartment on a budget!! Fabulous job - I hope your daughter knows how fortunate she is to have a talented mom and learned some tricks from you through all the projects.

It looks great!

Love it! HGTV needs you.

Bravo!!!! You did an excellent job!

You are hired. ;)

I second the TV show idea. Do you have a blog? How artsy and creative!

Super job...so creative and so much fun!

Well done and great mother-daughter effort...enjoy the time you have together...I know my mom and I did!

What a great project for you and your daughter to share! I'm so impressed by your creativity (and sewing skills!)

Wow, what an amazing job! That was clearly a lot of work, but I hope you both had fun together seeing it all come together. I agree, you need to start a blog or something!

Creative, inventive and impressive, especially done on a very limited budget. Obviously your talents, especially the sewing, are a great asset - the drapes and all the pillows really 'finish' the space.

She is one lucky woman to have such a loving and talented mom!

Lucky daughter... so much talent, I'm jealous!!

What a wonderful job! A great lesson for her too on how to make do with what she has without feeling deprived. You always appreciate all the more what was worked hard to achieve and you end up getting a measure of uniqueness that can't be bought - a little creativity and elbow grease can do a lot!

I love the pillow fabrics you used, and you fit the patterns to the pillow shapes so well! They're just perfect!

I've seen references to using a painter's drop cloth -- did you have to wash it several times, or use fabric softener or anything to make it work for curtains? Or was it not stiff when you bought it?

Great job, Sugarplum! I bookmarked instructions for the mirror when you posted it a while ago. Obviously you're much better at follow-through than I am! Your daughter sure is lucky. Sorry to hear about the door rot : (

Thank you, thank you, everyone! My daughter and I did have a lot of fun with everything. She doesn't sew (at all), but she did help by ironing out everything, pressing seams, etc. while I was sewing. She did all the painting (the mirror, several bookcases, lamps) and she is getting handy with the staple gun :)

About the painter's drop cloth drapes... I bought 6' x 9' drop cloths from Lowe's. When I took them out of the package, they were stiff as a board, and stunk with that chemical-y odor. I washed and dried them once (just a regular cycle), and the smell was gone and they had softened up quite a bit. They have a slightly nubby, linen-like finish now. I didn't even iron them, just pulled them promptly from the hot dryer and smoothed them out. I like that they are a bit heavier than linen, since I didn't line them.

A funny about the pillows. Mid summer, I stumbled on a sale at Tuesday Morning where everything on clearance was an additional 50% off. They had feather/down pillow inserts on clearance for $6.99 (18") and $9.99 (26"), so I got them for $3.49 and $4.99. I bought all they had, 3 of the large 26" and 8 or 9 of the 18" size, since I can't even find poly inserts on sale for close to that price.

When making the pillows for my daughter's apartment, we used the 26" inserts for the large floral pillows, and then I wanted the yellow ikat pillows to be larger than the 18" form and we wanted two oblong pillows also. So, I made new 'form cases' and opened up several of the 18" pillows to stuff the new shapes. Luckily, I had sense enough to start this project outside. Even though my daughter and I were careful, bits of feather and down went everywhere -- and my daughter and I were laughing about feather/down bits stuck in our hair, on the dog, etc. When my husband got home, he looked out to the patio and asked if the neighbor's cat had gotten to a bird out there!

Daughter just called... she said her roommates LOVE everything... I am so glad that she is happy!

lovely! that is so wonderful. reminds me of my DDs college house days.I am going to send her the pics-more good ideas!

What a joy to share with your daughter. Your love shows in every stitch. She is learning a greater lesson from what you do together now than she will learn from anyone at anytime the rest of her life. You are a great Mom. c

What a talented mom you are!!!

That mirror is particularly impressive.

You lucked out getting all those downy inserts for so little! I've often thought it would be worth looking for down jackets at thrift stores, to use for pillow filling.

Here is a link to the instructions for the sunburst mirror that we made. We left the shims the full length, so our mirror is quite large (I think about 42" in diameter). The mirror in the link is made from shorter shims, because the blogger had to fit a smaller space.

The mirror wasn't hard at all to make, just a little time consuming to figure out spacing, etc. It makes a great impression for minimal $$$ !

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunburst Mirror Instructions

Great pillows! What a nice job. And whether she admits it or not, it will all be such a nice reminder of you.

Everything looks fantastic! I especially love that green and white pillow!!!

Wow! Can I hire you? :) So creative. Everything came together nicely. And what a far cry from my first digs.

Love your window treatment using a drop cloth. I had slipcovers made using drop clothes for two Ethan Allen chairs that my friend's neighbor was planning to leave out for bulk trash (cat peed on the seat cushions, but I had new cushions made). Now I just need some colorful pillows for them - how much do you charge for pillows? ;)

Maybe your daughter will eventually have the desire to learn to sew. My mother was very talented when it came to sewing but despite her efforts to teach me when I was younger, I had no desire. A few years ago I bought my dd a sewing machine so she could fool around making pillows and costumes, whatever else. A friend who sews told me she'd help me make panels for my living room. With her guidance (I did all the work) I made four lined panels for my living room windows. My mom almost fell over when she saw how nicely they turned out! She couldn't believe that *I* had made them! I now am interested in taking some sewing classes but so far, haven't had the time yet.

You are very talented!

How wonderful-- what fantastic pieces, all made with love!