Edgar Allan Poe October: A Frugal Table Runner for Fall

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“Deep into the darkness peering,
long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal
ever dared to dream before.” 

Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

Attention Ideal, Patient, and Go-with-the-Flow Parents:  

You may want to avert your eyes from what is about to follow.  

In a moment of exasperation with my toddler, I started calculating what he cost me in repairs this week.  Between broken vases, stained carpets, markered walls, and ruined toilets, I figured that my little man packs at least a $20 daily repair punch.

Most parents wouldn't stoop to actually crunching numbers, but they've never raised "the destroying angel" (as we affectionately call him around here).

So when fall dawned at my house and I started to dress the table, I knew I couldn't invest a lot of money or effort on a seasonal table runner.  Chances were my little man would have the runner off the table and in a light socket within five minutes anyway.

 

So here is what I did.

 

1.  I purchased an inexpensive length (like 2 dollarsish) of felt fabric to span the width of my table.  

2.  I cut notches in the edges of the fabric to give it a squared-scalloped look.

3.  I then scoured my random button collection for all of the orange and orangy-red buttons I could find.

4.  Finally, I hot glued the buttons onto the notched edges of the runner.

Two dollars and ten minutes later I have a frugal runner for fall which may or may not last through Halloween, depending on when my little guy gets a hankering for chewing buttons.

Even if he does, I figure I'm only out two dollars.  

And at the end of the day, I'll just add it to his tab.

It's a good thing he's worth it.

{photo by Samantha Mitchell}

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