DIY Roman Shades - No Sewing

I had the itch to do something creative around our house, as it has been a while, so I thought about areas in the house that could use some attention.  The one area that came to mind, was our front porch.  I really had not done much in there since we moved in and I have been meaning to do something with the windows or walls, but had not really settled on anything that I fell in love with.  But with the urge to do something again, I revisited the ideas, I had going in my head and decided to focus on the windows and what I can do to add a little more life and color to the space.

Here is what the room looked like when we bought the house (Sorry it doesn't give you a good view of the windows.  Some how I lost my 'before' picture I took of what the porch looked like right before I worked on it):

The walls are painted white and there are white mini blinds in the windows.  I had pinned several diy roman shade ideas on Pinterest that I wanted to try someday, so I figured why not try they out now, with the current mini blinds.  Romans shades is the best application for that space, as I have six windows all in a row and I didn't want any rods running the whole stretch, or curtain panels hanging all the way to the floor.  So, I looked through all the tutorials I pinned on Pinterest and decided on {this one} for this project.

Avery and I went off the the fabric store and spent some time looking at all the different colors and patterns they had to offer.  I wanted something that would fit well with the current color pallet I have in the house, while still giving me some flexibility of still working with any changes that I want to make in other areas in the house, in the future.

The fabric we ended up coming home with is a Sunbrella material which is suppose to not fade as fast. 

I wasted no time in taking down the blinds and getting started on them.  I cut the ladder cords, but saved the main pull cord.  I took off the bottom rail, so I could slide off the vanes I didn't need.  Put the bottom rail back on and retied the string at the proper length.  Then I switched my attention to the fabric.

I cut the main decorative fabric slightly bigger than the opening of my window.  Windows were 25"x45", so the fabric was cut to 28"x48".  The extra 1" or 1.5" is what is used to turn over on the other side.  Then I cut the lining fabric to the exact size of the window.  I glued the perimeter of the liner, with special fabric-tec glue, centered on to the back of the decorative fabric.  Then I folded over the edge on one side and glued it in place.  When I went to the opposite side, I made sure that when I turned it over as well, it would measure the 25" that I needed for my width of the window.  Next I folded over the top and glued it down.  Then did the bottom side, again making sure it measured the 45" that I needed.

After I let the glue sit for a little bit, I proceeded to glue the mini blind to the shade.  First starting with the head rail, then moving down with each vane, measuring each one as I went along.  Because I didn't have super tall windows, I only had 3 vanes that I glued along the blind.  Finally, I glued on the bottom rail.  One some of them I has to adjust the bottom rail a bit, as where I have tied the strings, it left them still a little long.  But that wasn't hard to do.

Last, but not least, I hung up my shades and smiled at how much more color they bring to the front porch.  Even Andrew, who doesn't like change, commented that it is so different now anytime he steps up in there!

Well, there you have it!  Super easy, no sewing, roman shades!  The most expensive part of the whole project was the cost of the fabric.  Even on sale, it still adds up quickly!

Have you tried these before?  How did yours turn out?  I would love to see them!

Chevron Yellow...LOVE!

See my black sofa here?

See the black pillows on there well? You can hardly see then because they blend in so much and there is so much dark going on!

Well, I decided to make an end of all this blackness and add some necessary color!  I went to Field's Fabrics to have a look around and see what would screen out to me.  And this is what I found.

I LOVE the pop of yellow and the Chevron pattern.  So I purchased the the bit of fabric and hurried home to get working.  Now my pillows are complete and this is what my sofa looks like now!  Don't you just love the added color?  And how about that cute little center piece? 

Here is another one that I just couldn't resist showing you as well. :)

Away with the Salmon!

You may remember my Craigs List find of these really cool mid-century modern chairs and loveseat set from a long time ago on a previous post [HERE].  If not, I don't blame you because it has been quite a while.  Well, I frankly didn't care for the salmon color, although it is original, and so decided to recover the cushions to my taste.

I spray painted the legs black and found some fabric for a really good deal at Field's Fabrics in their summer tent sale and set to work recovering.  I had 95% of it done a while ago, but then put everything on hold when I had Avery.  Now I have finally completed it and can show you all what it looks like!  This set is sitting on our front porch and so is the first thing you see when you walk into our house.

Pinterest pulls through for Baby Room!

I had been contemplating as to what to do in the baby room for a light fixture, as it had an old 'ugly' flush mounted gold colored thing with a glass globe.  That was TOTALLY not my style!  So, over the last several months, I had gotten hooked on to Pinterest (if any of you don't know what it is, just click here) and came accross some fun ideas.

First, here are the supplies you need:

Coffee Filters (packs of 100 for $.99 @ Meijer)

10" Lantern (World Market for $4.99)

 Pendant (Menards for $15)

 

Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

Then, you glue the center of the coffee filters to the outside of the lantern.  You can make them as close together or far apart as you want, but for the look I wanted, I had them glued about 1 inch apart from each other.  It took me 3 packs of coffee filters for the size of lantern I had.  After spending time gluing it all together,  this is the result that I now have in my baby room!

Before:

After:

Don't worry... I will try to have some actual baby room pictures up soon for you all as well. :)



Here is the link to the site I got my idea from: http://www.saucyglossie.com/home-diy-try/

A Fresh New Look!

My dad does maintenance at our church's local elderly manor and came home with this beauty!  Apparently it didn't work anymore, so the lady had him hang a new light fixture in its place.  So he brought it home to see if anyone wanted to use it or play around with it.  When I saw it, I immediately asked if I could have it!  A can of paint, some new wire, a new chain, and bulbs brought this light fixture a long way to looking much more appealing!

Before:

After:

A Change of Headboard

Here is a view at my painting project that was started in the fall, but then it got too cold to be working in the garage, so was put on hold till now. I finally have been able to complete the headboard and am currently working on the matching nightstands. White spray paint, glazing tinted with black and lots of sanding with a fine sandpaper is what transformed this piece of furniture.

Before:

After:

Jewerly Creations

Ever wondered what you could do with all your jewerly or how to organize them more?  Well, I was too!  I decided to hunt down some ideas and see what I can find cheap and easy to do myself, without having to spend $100 or more on a fancy jewelry chest!  You will see what I came up with.....

First, I found this treasure at Goodwill for $1.99!  What do you think?  A Beauty?  I had to laugh when Andrew first saw this picture.  He paused, looked at it, then looked at me, then back at it, and I could tell he wasn't sure what to say or if to say anything at all!  I reassured him not to worry about the poster but only the frame.

Here is the designated location for the frame.  This dresser top has two different jewelry cases, a silver container and pink bag with all my earrings and necklaces!   My goal was to organize this dresser top and find a creative way to organize all my jewelry at the same time!

I took the frame and pulled out the glass and poster.  Then I put staples into the back of the frame every 3-4 inches down each side, making sure that the staples were exactly across from each other.  Next I took a decent gauge wire (bought at Micheal's for $2.99) and strung it across from one staple to the next and then back.  I twisted the two wires together, to add extra strength and to give me holes or loops for my stud earrings.

Also, in the process of cutting down trees in our back yard, I found a nice looking branch that I kept and put into a vase with sand to hold the branch in place and give it strength for the necklaces.  The sand came from our back yard, when we dug the holes for our fence posts.  I didn't have enough room to fit all my necklaces on the branch but it will do for now, until I think of another idea. :)

Here is the end result!