Easy and Clever Home Improvement Projects for Labor Day Weekend

Living in the Midwest, fall has always felt like a special time. Cooler nights become warm with the smell of wood burning fireplaces and brilliant hues of red, yellow and orange fill the trees. With Labor Day signaling the end to summer the three day weekend is a great time to give your bedroom a seasonal update. Here are my top five home improvement projects for Labor Day weekend:

1. Dish Towel Throw Pillows

Refreshing your bedroom with throw pillows is an easy way to add fall colors, but decorative pillows can be costly. Using inexpensive dish towels or fabric napkins with simple coordinating cotton fabrics you can sew your own.

Materials Needed:

One dish towel or fabric napkin per pillow
Fabric for pillow backs
Sewing machine
Sewing scissors
Needle and pins
Pillow forms to fit size of finished covers or fiberfill to stuff pillow cover

Instructions:

1. Measure your fabric and towel adding 1/2' to the finished size for all edge measurements and cut two pieces - front and back.

2. With the right sides together, line up the edges of your fabric and pin in place.

3. Begin sewing in the middle of one side edge, using 1/2' seam allowances.

4. Turn at each corner and stop stitching on the side you started sewing, leaving an opening wide enough to stuff your pillow cover.

5. Turn the cover right side out and insert an existing pillow, pillow form or fiberfill.

6. Hand stitch the opening closed

2. Fall Foliage Art

Hanging new art makes a dramatic statement and it doesn't have to come from a gallery. Inexpensive frames with scrapbooking paper and fall leaves can look like custom artwork at a fraction of the price. You can even use existing frames and spray paint to a new color or mix and match for an eclectic design.

Materials Needed:
Photo frames of various sizes
Scrapbooking paper
Fall leaves (real or faux)
Double sided tape and/or glue
Optional - Ribbon

Instructions:

1. Mount your scrapbooking paper to the back paper of the photo frame using double sided tape or glue.
2. Add decorative leaves with glue or tape.
3. Place art back into frame.
For more decorative elements, you can secure a ribbon to the frame to hang from or run the scrapbook paper through your printer to add a beautiful quote before gluing to the frame back.

3. Refreshed Flower Arrangements

As plants grow dormant and the leaves fall, the changing seasons should bring a change to the floral arrangements in your bedroom too. This arrangement works wonderfully to fill a corner of your room or provide drama behind a chair or low table

Materials Needed:

Galvanized steel pot or decorative planter
Twigs, vines or cat tails (real or faux)
Pinecones
Decorative straw
Block of Styrofoam

Instructions:

1. Place the Styrofoam block in the bottom of your container and insert twigs and branches into the foam to create your arrangement

2. Cover the foam with decorative straw but do not fill to the top of the container

3. Add pinecones to the straw to complete the arrangement

4. Updated Lighting

With beautiful fall colors in your pillows and art, updating lamp shades adds the final touch to the changes in your bedroom. For a simple change, wrap decorative wide ribbon or trim in a rich fall color to the top and bottom of the shade or hand decorative beads from the bottom. For a more dramatic look, consider gluing multiple colors of faux leaves all over a shade or wrapping with a beautiful fabric that coordinates with your new pillows.

Materials Needed:

New or Existing Lamp Shades
Hot Glue Gun
Fabric, Ribbon, beads, decorative trim or faux foliage of your choice

Instructions:

1. Select materials to use
2. Glue materials to lamp shade
3. Replace shade

5. Homemade Potpourri

Fall is full of as many smells as colors and although this final decorating tip will not change the look of your room it will create an amazing smell to warm you all season. Use in your own home or give as a gift to guests and visitor to your home.

Materials Needed:

Cloves, cinnamon sticks, orange peel ribbons and star anise
(Optional) bay leaves, dried orange and lemon peel
Glass jar with cork lid

Instructions:

1. Mix equal amounts of cloves, cinnamon sticks and star anise along with any of the optional ingredients.

2. Fill the glass jar container with the potpourri to store.

3. When ready to simmer, place in a shallow pan and cover with water. Simmer on low and refill water as needed.

So this Labor Day weekend, instead of mourning the end of summer, celebrate the arrival of fall. Each of these projects takes just a few hours and by the end of the weekend you will have a cozy bedroom ready for the cool nights ahead.