Chair Love
Fell in love. Immediately. Swoon.
I can’t get over it. Love the curtains too. Hope it brightens your day like it does mine! 🙂
Spring Changes
Spring feels like it is here! I am so ready. My house, not yet. One thing that needed a quick change up was the curtains in the upstairs hallway. If you recall from the tour, one side of the hall had a silky striped curtain, and the other side had sheers that matched in style and color, but they had leaves on them. I never liked that the windows didn’t look the same. Plus, with the warm weather and the windows being opened, this was happening:
So, after brainstorming a while I decided to layer the two different curtains and then tie them back. I used a tension rod for now, which is held up on the main rod. It worked like a charm!
What do you think? The tie backs now hold the curtains from whipping in the wind and I think the whole layered look is more cohesive for the hallway. Super easy and I love the results. I love a project like that!
I feel better about the little thing done! Now on to tackle the yard. Six acres of lawn that the previous owners never, ever weeded. We have high hopes, and little time. I have started on the rock gardens and things are looking up. I will give you all a peek when we get some thing planted. Here is a shot of our back door area. There is a rocky, weedy disaster going on back here that we plan to take care of asap!
It is looking pretty bad back there, so I can’t wait to show you all what it turns into!
Kitchen Curtains
I don’t sew. I wish I could, but I am just not good at it. I hope to start practicing and at least be able to make a basic straight line someday, but for now, I don’t sew. So, when I am on the hunt for new curtains and all of the pretty options are out of my price range, what do I do? I get out the iron and the hem tape and I “fake glue” myself a pair.
Remember these kitchen curtains?
The valances above the windows were here when we moved in. They were fine. Actually, they were god quality and in good shape. Just not our favorite color choices. The curtain on the door was brought from my old house. I used it to cover the window temporarily, until we could figure out what we wanted in here. Now the floral curtain is on the door window just beyond that, which leads outside. After all these months of looking at these mismatched curtains, I finally wanted to get busy. I knew I wanted something more neutral, as we plan to paint in the near future. I liked the shape of the valances, and I didn’t mind the deep red roller shade (for now?). Then I happened upon the perfect twist of fun stripes and neutral colors…
Ticking fabric. A little rustic and old school, yet funky and fresh as curtains. The cream/tan combo will go well with the new colors to come. And I tied the faux roller shade with twine.
And I did all of it with iron on hem tape, even the tab tops! What do you think??
More projects to come 🙂
No-Sew Curtains
Every room of my new house has needed curtains. But, wow! Curtains are expensive! I always see other people’s fun curtains and think, “I can do that!” But then I get started and realize, oh yea, I can’t sew. At all. My mom suggested using iron-on fabric hem tape and making faux roman shades. Light bulb!
I have a little mud room, where the dog kennels and laundry live. These blinds were broken and grimy. I thought this was the perfect place to try this experiment out on. Its a small room, so it can take a bright punch, plus we aren’t in there all the time, so if they aren’t prefect on the first try its no big deal.
So, after reminding myself that the situation couldn’t get much worse, I set forth. I bought a few yards of a fun, floral fabric for each window. I used tension rods, and used these to mark the width of each window. Once I had the width I used the hem tape and ironed a hem onto each side. Then ironed a hem to the bottom and a pocket at the top. I hung the curtains, rolled them up, and tied in place with matching ribbon. Viola!
The bright fabric ties in the red antique table I use for folding laundry, and the fun towels I bought for next to the sink. You can see here that the whole little room needs some work, but for now at least the curtains are fun!
What a simple technique with big impact, no?
I love this big old sink, even though it needs some work too. Here you can see the little purple and yellow picture that I hung too. You can also see the antique expandable mirror.
I think this experiment turned out pretty well and will definitely use this to make me braver for my next curtain project!
Bamboo For The Home
My dad brought back from his recent trip to Hawaii a bamboo cutting board for us! It is not only functional, but really pretty. The brand, Just Bamboo, says that bamboo is harder than Maple and is a natural antimicrobial.Â
This got me thinking about the other ways I have heard of bamboo being used in the home. Bamboo is now used in flooring, rugs, window coverings, and even sheets and bedding, towels, and other furniture and decor items! Bamboo is growing in popularity because it replenishes itself much faster that trees. Here are a few lovely pictures I uncovered while checking out the bamboo wares:
 The bamboo floorings come in a variety of colors and finishes. I love this dark one!
These cabinets are made of bamboo.
These sheets are made of bamboo. The bamboo keeps germs away! This set comes from Bed Bath and Beyond- isn’t that color gorgeous!?
In the right room bamboo shades look great. I had them in my childhood room and loved them!
And who wouldn’t love a soaking tub like this??
More Curtains!
Last night we finished hanging curtains in the living room. I am so excited to not have these flowery old lady curtains any more:
I really wish I would have remembered to take specific before shots of these. They even had poufy, paper-stuffed valences!Â
I’m not too sure about the new curtains we chose, so I need your opinions and suggestions. They are, no doubt, better than the before, but not exactly what we had in mind. We wanted to stay inexpensive for right now, so we got these at WalMart (no Ikea near us!). We originally picked a charcoal color, but when we got home we realized that the packages we grabbed were all black! They do need some steaming, but here they are:
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I think it is a huge improvement, but it still feels a little off. Tony likes the blinds on one window (this is the previous family’s doing- not mine!) but, I think the small window should have sheers as well so the two match. What do you think?Â
Either way, these are much more our taste, style, and colors, and best of all- no foofy grandma curtains! 🙂
Oh, and I realize that we really need a rod that is meant to be showing, but we aren’t going to spend the money on a custom length one right now. So, the white bar has to stay and we just have to deal with it for a little while!
Make Mine Eclectic 
