Ideas, Inspiration & DIY: Oh, The Things You Can Do With Rope

Get roped into this year’s hottest trend.

Sometimes naughty and often nautical, ropes are everywhere this year – from fashion to interior design. What started with a well-spotted rope entwined bowl by one of our shelter writers, has now unraveled into an all-out search for all things strung up.

The result: we found rope being used for door handles, floor mats, room dividers, containers and chandeliers, in an array of patterns and styles to fit into just about any interior, including the most urban industrial and bucolic country.

Here’s a hefty bundle of ideas, doable DIYs and luxe piles of inspiration for incorporating ropes into your own interior design projects.

Above: surely this is knot-able. But for $100, a knotting enthusiast in Suffolk, England will knot it for you. What it is exactly: a rope knot doorstop via Labour and Wait.  

Rope It Yourself: DIY

From Green Wedding Shoes, a DIY flower vase that combines two of our favorite things: rope and neon.

The Gilded Hare‘s $2 rope project is perfect for the containerized afflicted.

From Stylelist, these coasters, trivets and placemats are as simple to make as they look. Get rope, coil into a spiral, secure with hot glue, serve. Well – allow to dry, then serve.

This welcome mat (a great detoxifier, by the way) looks almost Olympian, but constructing it is not an entirely herculean task. You’ll need some rope, some jute, gardening gloves, thread, needle, tape and a sharp knife. Karen of Karen’s Rope Works will provide more specifics via PDF.

Has Martha ever met a rope she couldn’t DIY? Lemons to lemonade for our dear Ms. Stewart.

Fully Doable Ideas: 

From Remodelista, easy to emulate door handles and pull handles.

From Atelier 688, for purchase or emulation (wiring know-how required).

Straight Up Inspiration: 

Spotting the rope is like a game of Waldo in this room designed by Design Therapy for Traditional Home magazine.

The perfect room divider, via The Brick House.

Two rope swing sofas, via Scrap Hacker.

From Little Blue Deer, we are willing to admit that what we have here is a jar filled with rope. But, hey, the use of natural fibers does the trick: transforming everyday accents into something more extraordinary.

 

K. Emily Bond

K. Emily Bond is the Shelter Editor at EcoSalon and currently resides in southern Spain, reporting on trends in art, design, sustainable living and lifestyle.