Realizing it's been waaaay too long since I turned something meant for a table into something else, I set out to remedy the situation. Remember the last time I talked about how once we had switched the rugs in the family room and brought in lots more graphic black and white, my country-kitsch quail valance (itself comprised of two dish towels) and decor weren't doing it for me anymore? A refresh:

I wanted something a lot more graphic and clean-lined, but still in keeping with the teal obsession I'm so carefully nurturing. So when I found this reversible table runner for $10 at Burlington Coat Factory, I thought I had a winner.

Turning a table runner into a valance is, possibly, the easiest "DIY" project out there.

Cut the table runner to the width of your window. Then, if you sew, sew a seam. If you don't sew, do what I did and fold over the edge, securing with no-sew hem tape. Hang onto a curtain or cafe rod using drapery hooks and you're done-zo.

Weeeeeelll, even the simplest projects sometimes have wee complications, and here was one. The same dual-sided-ness that made this thing so cool (and so perfect for a pillow - FORESHADOWING) also made for some pretty egregious pattern overlap when the sun shown through the curtain. The fix is still super, super simple though.

Here's why I love drapery hooks. They are so handy! I just cut a piece of blackout fabric to size and used the hooks to clip it to the back of the valance.

Worked like a charm. And as for where I got my blackout fabric, I bought some Target clearance blackout curtains about a year ago for less than $6 each. Each curtain is 2 1/2 yards, and less than $3/yard for blackout fabric is a sweet deal. Just like I think tablecloths and sheets are often cheaper (and pre-hemmed) fabric options than buying fabric by the yard, the same is true with things like blackout fabric. I've used the stuff to line a couple curtains now, for cheaper than if I had gone the from-scratch route.

So, let's call that project a $5 one, since I had the curtain hooks and rod on hand. If you needed to purchase those, you'd be looking at closer to $15. Still, not too shabby for exactly what I was looking for, which we all know is the hardest thing to find. But once I had my curtain, I wasn't quite done. I wanted to bring more teal into the family room, to tie everything together a tiny bit - we've got the poufs and another throw pillow (made from napkins) with teal in there, so it seemed like adding one more thing would make that look intentional. Well, just like with my place mat pillows of yore, this was made super, duper, easy by the fact that the runner was already double-sided.

Left with the remaining length the table runner from what I'd cut for the valance, I stuffed the darn thing, thereby transforming it into a pillow. I decided to double stuff it with two identical pillows I had laying around, so I could have a nice long silhouette - I think longer pillows are kind of sleek, and also really nice for a pregnant lady to have around. To finish the edge, I could have hand-sewn the thing, but I opted instead to use Velcro so I could easily access the pillows for future changer-oos. I basically gift wrapped the unfinished edge, carefully adding in a strip of adhesive-lined Velcro while I did so. The end result is really pretty tidy looking, and I'm happy with it.

So now I have the potential for some serious matchy-matchyness, what with the valance and pillow being from identical material. But you can only see the two a the same time from one angle:

And I like it. They match. So what? I bought that table runner because I liked it, so having more of it makes me happy. Go ahead and ignore my dirty dishes (though you may spy a teeny-tiny swatch of brick wallpaper, hopefully coming soon to a blogger near you). And if you're thinking something like, "Didn't you post on both these rooms as close to done, really recently, and now they look different?," you're right. (Kitchen, Family Room, if you care to take as a stroll down memory lane). But that's just the way we roll over here.