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!

Kitchen Re-Do: Part 1

The sink that came with the house was just wore out, so we decided

to get a new sink for the kitchen.

Old and dirty

It's gone---on with the show!

The Power of Color

We had a blue guest room for a while, but we wanted to give it a boost!

Time to bring in some color!

We are loving the yellow!  I painted the large painting above the bed which

really adds a big pop of color to the room.  Looking good!!

We bought some art in Savannah, GA which we will be hanging

in this room soon.  

Signs of Spring

    

    

Spring is finally here!  Since we moved here is July, we didn't get the chance

to see all of the flowers and plants that are on our property.

It has been fun to see what pops up throughout the yard. 

We are having a great, colorful spring!

We also planted 200 tulips this autumn and all have come up!  Yahoo!