French made - bedroom update - Brief Article

CosmoGirl!, Dec, 2001 by Alison Stebbins

Mark Montano gave Tamara a taste of Paris--and we don't mean croissants and in cafe. Although that sounds pretty good too.

"I've always been a little embarrassed of my room," says Tamara. "Not that it's messy, it's that I have Disney characters on my wall!" So, Mark brought her some sophisticated French style. 1. Red (Benjamin Moore, #2001-20) and cream (#2165-70) stripes on her walls look just like store awnings on the streets of Paris, and the red on the bottom is just sexy, oui? 2. A black and white striped canopy (about $5 per yard) is stapled to the ceiling above her bed, and Mark made matching pillows, too. 3. The black swirl design on the wall matches her new Pier 1 Imports furniture. 4. Contrasting lace fringe on pillows gives her bed that boudoir feel. Now she doesn't need to worry about running into Mickey--unless she hits Euro Disney!

words of wisdom

Pick a fun French phrase (ours means "life is beautiful") and pencil it onto your wall in script. Then use a small paintbrush to trace black paint over the words. Et voila! (Don't write that. We're just practicing our French.)

espresso yourself

Get an espresso cup and saucer (at a 99[cts.] store) and drop a small tea candle (six for $2 at Kmart) in the cup. Place it on the table closest to your bed. But don't mistake it for a real cup of French cafe because...ouch!

how shelf-ish

This wall shelf is actually a drawer! Search your attic or a tag sale for an old dresser. Take out one of the drawers, place some red and white striped fabric ($3 per yard) facedown on the bottom of the inside, mark the fabric with pencil at the corners of the drawer to size it, then cut out the marked square. Flip the fabric over and staple-gun it to the bottom of the drawer. Hang it by nailing each corner of the drawer to the wall.

macaroni & cheese!

To make this exotic-looking frame, cut a 9-by-11-inch piece of cardboard and glue about 23 pieces of uncooked penne pasta ($2 per box at a grocery store) vertically along the top and bottom. Then glue two rows of five on each side. Spray-paint the whole thing black, cut a photo so it fits inside the pasta square, and hang!

paris lights

Wrap a piece of black and white striped fabric around your lamp shade; mark it to fit, then cut the fabric. Dot paper glue along the top and bottom of the shade and wrap the fabric around it. Glue red ribbon around top and bottom, and black fringe (about $4 per yard) around the bottom only. (For safety reasons, use only 60-watt or less bulbs.)