Let's Just Vent

We wanted to change our air vent that was above our bedroom door (below left.)

We don't know why the previous homeowner put one above the door as it's an eye sore…

and it'sjust plain ugly.

So with a few tools, some wood and metal…we made a more modern cover (below right.)

What do you think?  It looks so much nicer!

Yard Work Progress Part 1

Before

Our front yard needed some perking up!  This picture shows the bed after some

major weeding, so this looks better already!

After

We added some mulch and things are looking great!

We can check this side of the yard off our summer list….moving on!

Flowers Flowers

We have had some beautiful flowers pop up everywhere in our yard.  We moved in late summer, so we missed what all the gardens had to offer.  Tons and tons of color!

The Weeds Are Everywhere

FRONT FLOWER BED

Before                                                              After

GARDEN 

Progress of trying to find our raised garden bed….

Found it!!!  It took lots of sweat, but we finally found the dirt!

DIY Roman Shades: Part 4

Very easy project and looks great!

DIY Roman Shades: Part 3

Place you fabric underneath your curtain.

To make this look like a roman shade, you will need to remove most

of the slats.  To do this, you will need to remove to plugs that are

on the bottom bar.  They are easy to pop out with a butter knife.

Remember to keep these as they will need to be replaced after 

removing the slats.

Measure you fabric to decide how many folds you will want in your curtain.

Each fold will require a slat.  The photo above shows the slats glued in place with

heavy duty fabric glue. 

Replace the bottom bar with the string and plug.

Glue the 3" extra fabric to the top and bottom metal bars.

For our curtain, I needed to cut slots for the installation pieces.

Let it dry overnight.

DIY Roman Shades: Part 2

Lay out your plastic *cheap* shade on a large work space.

Here's the scary part….

...you will need to cut the "ladder" part of the strings that turn the slats up and down.

Make sure to only cut this part of the strings.  You will need to keep the main, heavier 

string that brings the entire shade up and down.

Remove this completely from the shade.  You do not need this anymore 

for this project.

DIY Roman Shades: Part 1

We picked out these two fabrics for our guest bedrooms.

We measured our window and then I cut the printed fabric.

You will need to add 6 total inches to the height and 2 total inches to the width.

(This will provide 3" at the top and 3" at the bottom.  It will also give you 1" to each side)

I also added a canvas backing to block out more light.  

The canvas is measured to the exact size of my window.

This is a no-sew project---can you believe it??? Yes, it's true!

I used stitch witchery tape for the 1" sides.  Fold the 1" extra fabric over the canvas.

Sandwich the tape between the fabrics and pin.

Now you are ready to iron which glues the fabrics together.

(You can also spray a light coat of aerosol glue on the canvas to attach it to the printed fabric.

I did do this on one curtain and not the other.  So far, I do not see any difference.)

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 9

The backsplash is metal tiles.  They are very cool!

We love looking at our red dishware. 

We are so happy with our new updates to our kitchen.

On a small budget, we really transformed the space.

New shelving, countertops, backsplash and sink.

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 8

We had a desk (top right) at the entry of our kitchen which we never used as a desk.

It ended up being a good place to throw shoes or bags.

After we removed the hanging cabinets from the kitchen, we

thought that we could reuse one of them here...

This worked out perfect and gives us more storage.

This will be a usable space now.  

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 7

For the counters, we over laid concrete on the existing countertops.

It works really great and dries quick.  It has two, thin coats of concrete.

We will also seal the concrete once it is dry.

We added concrete to the other side of our kitchen as well.

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 6

We added open, metal shelving in place of the cherry cabinets.

It makes the kitchen more open and contemporary. 

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 5

Our wall looks much better with a fresh coat of white paint.

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 4

Here's the cabinet…..

now it's gone!

One cabinet down….and one to go!

All of our hanging cabinets are removed and now we just need some paint.

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 3

Our new, sparkling sink!  This looks much better and goes

great with our faucet.

Now on to the countertops soon.

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 2

   

We are giving our kitchen a new look.  Time to break something-grab a hammer

and start smashing.

*Note: Remember to wear gloves during this process.  Once the tiles

are broken, they can be really sharp.  I learned the hard way!