Marimekko Makeovers!

If Marimekko makes your eyeballs squeal with delight, I’ve got a treat for you.

If you are unsure what Marimekko is, I’ve got a paragraph copied and pasted from Wikipedia for you:

“Marimekko is a Finnish home furnishings, textiles and fashion company based in Helsinki. It made important contributions to fashion in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for its brightly colored printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women’s garments and in home furnishings.”

Okay, now that we’re all caught up, here are some Marimekko inspired makeovers. Fun for everyone!

 

Claire is a self-professed Marimekko maniac. She has added touches of their iconic designs all over her home, inside and out.

She decoupaged this weather-beaten bench with paper napkins and it’s so darn cute I almost didn’t even notice her equally cute dog. Isn’t he posing so nicely? Who’s a good boy? You’re a good boy, yes you are!

Right. I bet you are wondering how she plans to protect her paper-covered bench. Two words. Yacht varnish. Unofficial slogan: Protect Anything From Everything.

See the how-to on her blog Pillar Box Blue.

 

As for the inside of her home, Claire was looking for any reason to say goodbye to the beige-colored carpet on her stairs. They are the first thing you see when you enter the front door, so she decided to make them worthy of center stage with Marimekko wallpaper.

 

Not only a huge improvement from before, but she smiles every time she walks in her home now. Her teenage boys even told her (without prompting!) that they really liked the new look. She said “I know they maybe a bit over the top for some people. They are what we British call ‘A bit Marmite.’ (You either love’m or hate’m).  So far more people seem to love’m than hate’m.”

I bet they do! Also, I had to look up what Marmite is, and was stunned to find out. Ummm, my British friends, can we talk? WHAT? WHYYYY?? Please explain.

See more on her blog Pillar Box Blue.

 

If you love Marimekko but aren’t ready to make a staircase-sized commitment, here’s a cute little project from Kat at Just Crafty Enough.

She thought she could recreate their most famous pattern, Unikki on a pair of shoes, but her husband thought she shouldn’t bother. It would be too hard. Yeahhhh. Who do you think won that argument?

Kat, of course. “Challenge accepted and accomplished!” She executed it perfectly. Many people have used acrylic craft paint to do something similar, but Kat thought paint pens would give her more control. Unfortunately, she found that fabric paint pens lacked great color saturation. No big deal, she used Sharpies instead, and as you can see, she had no problems with bleeding. They look fantastic.

 

Next, it wouldn’t be the internet without a Mason jar or two. Linda from Mason Jar Crafts Love created this cute Marimekko-style vase from a plain-jane jar.

Girrrl, you are looking SO influential-Finnish-designer now!

I bet you have everything you need to make yourself one of these today.

 

And lastly, the only thing in the cards for this card table was a trip to the dump. It was less ‘Marimekko’ and more ‘Jackson Pollack as angry toddler with a hammer.’

But Stacey somehow saw potential here and brought it back to life with a fresh coat of paint and a yard or so of the Siirtolapuutarha fabric in vinyl. If you can’t find vinyl or PVC fabric you could always use … yacht varnish. On second thought, that doesn’t sound very food-safe, so yeah, maybe don’t.

See Stacey’s step-by-step on her blog Addison Meadows Lane.

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