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January 22, 2011 ·

A Sisal Obsession

Ballard Designs· Before/After· Crafts· DIY· Pottery Barn· Sisal· Tutorial

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What is our obsession with sisal, jute, and sea grass?

The sisal in the Sand & Sisal homestead is well represented,

and thankfully, decorating trends for 2011 keep these natural fibers in the forefront.

Sisal rope ball -sand and sisal

Our homes are filled with sisal and sea grass baskets with varying colors and textures.

sidetable baskets

Organized pantry2

Rugs with combinations of sisal, jute, and sea grass adorn our floors.

Pottery Barn has earned it’s fair share from me with my 4 rugs of varying sizes.

PB Sea Grass Rug

I LOVE THEM! They clean up like no body’s business!!

Example:  My little sister Beth-The Stories of A2Z flipped an ENTIRE pan of lasagna onto my dining room 9×12 PB rug,

but it cleaned up so beautifully and it today you’d never know it! (I still love her).

Sisal accessories are covering the magazine pages this season.

Ballard Designs is featuring the fuzzy jute twine pears.

I seriously considering making these pretty pears but I’m not sure I’m that patient.

Jute Twine Pear- Ballard Designs

Adding touches of sisal to your home adds texture and an earthy softness to a room.

A few plain lampshades received a sisal trim.

This only took ten minutes to complete and the results add a beachy feel to the room.

gluing the sisal shade

lampshade

Ballard Designs has this cutie Rope Knot Doorstop, it’s a cast iron ball wrapped in sisal rope.

Ballard's Sisal Ball

Well I couldn’t resist to duplicate it!

I searched the garage for an old ball (having 4 kids, I knew I’d find SOMETHING).

A wiffle will work!

I always have my sisal rope on hand, and glue guns on stand by, so the gluing began.

gluing sisal ball

I started with rows of 3 but next time I’d try rows of 4, alternating in various directions.

sisal ball start

He was finished off with a loop that was simply pushed into an open wiffle ball hole.

Sisal Rope Ball

All materials I already had on hand so no money was spent!

He’s not going to hold any doors open but I love his chunky round self!

So I think it’s safe to say that sisal is here to stay!

Tell me about your favorite sisal, jute, or sea grass item in your home, I love to hear from you.

Kim

Linking up to:

TTJ party satnitenew150w

Sunday Showcase[6]

DIY_Blog_button A Design Story pty

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Comments

  1. Love of the Sea says

    January 22, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    I love this post! Great ideas here. I am going to copy the lamp. That looks great…and your pantry – wow!!!

  2. Beth@The Stories of A2Z says

    January 22, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    I love the rope knot thingy!!! And you handled my lasagna mishap so much more graciously than I would have ;).

  3. Anonymous says

    January 22, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    Love your pantry, Kim! It looks awesome!

  4. chair up says

    January 22, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    I love your knotty wiffle ball, very cute.
    The IKEA jute rug under my dining chair is my favourite – hides a multitude of sins;o)
    Angex

  5. My Cottage Charm says

    January 23, 2011 at 12:32 am

    SO cute, and I was laughing out loud at the thought of Beth dumping an entire lasagna on your rug…just imagining both your faces! Oh Lord! I’m glad it came up, but I bet not as glas as you and Beth were! 🙂

    Have a great day girly!
    Missy

  6. Blondie's Journal says

    January 23, 2011 at 12:58 am

    I just ordered and received a jute rug from PB. It was the only place that carried a round rug that would fit in the corner of my great room with the furniture on an angle. In the summer I like to replace wool rugs with sisal. Can you tell us what you used to clean up Beth’s lasagne with?

    BTW…I love the organization of your pantry and the little ball is so cute!

    XO,
    Jane

  7. Decorchick! says

    January 23, 2011 at 3:24 am

    Kim I love your knot ball, even though that sounds weird. 🙂 It looks just like Ballard’s too. Well done girl!

  8. Haleyuns says

    January 23, 2011 at 5:58 am

    I’ve seen this in Ballard’s catalog and thought of making it too but couldn’t figure out how. Well now I know! Thanks!! Yours looks great!

    Lois

    http://www.auntielolocrafts.blogspot.com

  9. Kim @ Sand and Sisal says

    January 23, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Thank you everyone! To answer Blondie’s Journal’s question. All my PB rugs are made of Sea Grass. Those clean up great. The jute and wool combo rugs DO NOT. When the lazanga flipped over, I immediately scraped up as much as possible, even using a pointed knife to get into the cracks. Then with a wet towel, blotted up the rest. I poured club soda over the tomato stain, let it sit a few min, then blotted it up. I repeated this about 3 times. There is ZERO sign of any stain today. I love the sea grass,it’s so durable, especially with kids and pets!

  10. Trisha @ The Sweet Survival says

    January 23, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    This looks exactly like the on at Ballards. Great job!

  11. coastal femme says

    January 24, 2011 at 12:53 am

    Oh Kim, i just love your rope knot..I’m definitely going to try it! I also like the sisal trim you put on your lamp. I’ve used sisal to wrap around my candles.I wrap it around about a third of the candle and use a straight pin at the beginning and the end. Even if I didn’t live near the beach, I would still love the “beachy” feel and texture sisal gives to everything. Good post!

  12. Rene says

    January 24, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    Wow! You have been the busy one. I love all of your beachy touches Kim and I’ve always wanted one of those knots.

    -Rene

  13. Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming says

    January 25, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Kim – Love the natural element of sisal jute and sea grass – fabulous updates. Love the ballard knot. Genius to glue the roping on! The monkey fists just look way to hard to figure out. This is perfect! Thanks so much for linking to the Sunday Showcase – I greatly appreciate it. I’ll be featuring this today. Hope you have a wonderful week ~ Stephanie Lynn

  14. Bethe says

    January 25, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    OMG! I just saw the rope ball in the Ballard catalog and was thinking so hard about it. But just could not justify the cost! What a clever girl you are!! Thanks.;)

  15. Lindsay says

    January 30, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    I love. Love. Love. Great way to use your inspiration from the catalogs! I love sisal too… my home is beachy and naturals are they way to go!

    Thanks SO SO MUCH for joining my linky party! We have the Sunday Blog Parade every sunday, so stop by, link up and spread the word!

    Lindsay@ A Design Story

  16. Seaside Style says

    February 26, 2011 at 9:49 pm

    Great Post! So nice to have another sisal obsessed person! I have sisal, seagrass, and jute in my entire house, it is everywhere! I made monkey fist key chains, but haven’t tried the large one yet, it is on my list. Well Done!

  17. Susan says

    March 13, 2011 at 12:13 am

    Hi Kim…love your projects AND your blog! Where do you get your sisal rope??

  18. Kim @ Sand and Sisal says

    March 13, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    Hi Susan! Thank you so much! I buy my sisal rope at Home Depot or Lowe’s. They both have a variety of sizes to choose from.

  19. Erin @ Wrap Around My Head says

    July 10, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    Hi Kim,
    I am loving things sisal and jute too! I am on the search for an inexpensive sisal rug for the living room, and I just did a project using jute string a couple of weeks ago. Turned out great! Check it out here: http://wraparoundmyhead.blogspot.com/2012/06/weekend-re-hash.html
    Thanks!

  20. Kelly's Cove Girl says

    April 4, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    Love these ideas. I have decorated our home in coastal style since living 2 blocks from the beach (lucky us!). I too have liked the Ballard rope knot doorstop, but thought the price too high.
    I’m going to attempt a DIY on that project…off to Home Depot I go 🙂
    BTW, just bought yards and yards of burlap online and am going to make my own pole top curtains. I’ll use rope for the tie-backs and for the holders I have black cast iron anchor design holders.
    LOVE decorating in coastal style…it makes me so happy and relaxed.
    Ahoy!

  21. Helen@MrsBomb says

    August 29, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    I love your website and all of the beautiful beachy touches 🙂 i just tried to make a door stop out of a tennis ball and manilla rope; it came out beautiful but is a paperweight rather than a door stop! Oh well… I still love the texture – it looks a lot like your rope knot here! (http://mrsbomb.com/1400/weighted-monkeys-fist-knot)

    • Kim Wilson says

      August 29, 2013 at 1:22 pm

      Hi Helen! Thank you so much! I just hopped over and checked yours out! You did an amazing job on it. I wish I had done more research on how to make it more authentic, but oh well, next time! Thanks for all your kind comments and support! I appreciate it! ~ KIM

  22. Suzanne Sheppard says

    February 27, 2015 at 8:50 am

    I seriously love your ideas and posts. I did the pears and painted them green. They came out great. My next project is the seaglass mermaid but on a smaller scale. Keep up the fantastic posts.

Trackbacks

  1. DIY Sisal Shade says:
    March 20, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    […] you like working with sisal you might like this post where I show you how to make a monkey fist sisal ball as seen in Ballard […]

  2. 15+ Easy Rope Crafts says:
    July 17, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    […] Sisal Rope Ball by Sand & Sisal […]

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Kim WilsonWelcome to Sand & Sisal: where love of home and sea meet! I share tutorials in DIY, decorating, crafts, gardening, & recipes.  [READ MORE]

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