Before and After Party! (A drape redo)

Well hello! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I was busy keeping Kleenex in business with a lovely cold. :)

I did get a bit of work done on the basement – I could actually breathe much better down in the cold! It’s going to take quite a bit more time and a ton more work, but I am SO excited about the changes down there. The amount of crap we had has been a bit overwhelming, and getting it out of this house has been such a fantastic feeling!

So onto this month’s Before and After – I am pretty much done with the family room (mini) redo, and I’ll show you that whole space soon. There was one last part that was bugging me – the drapes.

I get a lot of questions about these drapes and I think many go “ARGH!” when I email them back and tell them I actually made these myself. ;) I started with the brown diamond patterned fabric as drapes, and then decided a few years ago they needed a little sumpin sumpin. So I found a coordinating (and much more expensive) fabric in a tan/wider diamond pattern and added it as a panel to the bottom:

I adore these drapes. Lurve. I was contemplating new window treatments in here though, because there were a couple things that had bothered me about them as I reworked the room. The obvious was the diamond pattern just didn’t look right to me next to the new rug. (As you can see a bit in the pic above.)

The other thing that has bothered me from pretty much the day I put them up is they never seemed to hang right. I always felt like they should look fuller than they did. They also covered a little more of the window than I really wanted.

There are two things I always suggest to folks about drapes – hang ‘em high and hang ‘em wide. High and wide gives the illusion the windows are bigger than they really are. I usually suggest hanging the rod far enough to the side of the window so the window treatment will only cover about four inches of the actual window.

This allows for more light, and again, makes the window seem wider. Which is never a bad thing!

Well, my drapes were covering way more of the window than I wanted. Not sure why I did that, or why I hadn’t fixed it yet? But staring at them the other day, I came up with a solution to all my issues. And it was FREE!

First, I took down the drapes and just shortened the rods by five inches. I used my miter saw to do this, but the first time I cut these to 24 inches each, I used my little miter box and saw and it worked like a charm. 

The finials had a brassy tone that I wanted to get rid of, but I didn’t want to have to replace the whole set. So I just taped the brassy sections off and sprayed them with my ORB paint:

I love them all over again! (Like I did five years ago when I bought them!)

Once I got the hardware rehung, I went ahead with my wild and craaaazy idea and just flipped the drapes and hung them with the panel on top. I stepped back to check it out…

And luuuurved it! UH DUH. Why didn’t I do this from the start??

Flipping these did a few things – it made the bottom of the drapes way less busy, and the brown matches the brown tones in the rug really well.

It also made the gorg diamond fabric the showcase of the drapes, as it should be:

  

I love, love, LOVE this fabric:

I would totally wrap myself up in it at night, I love it that much. But it’s not cheap. (I think $40 a yard at Joann’s?) So there will be no wrapping in this stuff. ;)

Then I used my usual tried and true drapery tricks to finish up…

I keep the outside drapery rings between the finial and the bracket so when fire trucks and trains are driven under the window treatments by a sweet little three-year-old, they stay put:

And I hung them from behind with the drapery clips, creating the folds like this:

Try that trick – if your fabric is thick enough and long enough, you’ll never go back to hanging the drapes down from the clips again!

I had to use flash in most of these pictures, so I apologize for the poor quality, but this one shows you how much of the window is covered by the drape. I like to use the window panes (if you have them) as a guide:

Half of one pane is what I typically do. Oh, and please ignore the deck furniture that has been stacked and ready to go in the garage for the past four months, umkay?  :) Priorities people.

Shortening the rods made the drapes hang SO much prettier:

They just “pleat” so much better now!

I. love. it! And did I mention? FREEEEE? All of the updates – cutting down the rods, rehanging them, spraying the finials and hanging the drapes again took about an hour. Not bad at all!

So here we go! Here’s the before from years ago – with the white two inch blinds, wider rods, and the panel of fabric on the bottom:

And here’s the after – bamboo roman shades (from last year), shorter (debrassified) hardware and the panels at the top:

  

You like? I still love them either way, but I love how I made them work with the other changes in the space. I am keeping my beloved drapes! Yippee!

Now it’s your turn! Grab the button if you’d like:

Then make sure to copy the link from your post into the linky (links to your blog address will be deleted). All you need to link up is a before picture – it can be any kind of project you want to share!

Have fun and thanks for joining in!

Accessorizing for SYTYCD

  Welcome, to old friends and new guests alike! I'm pretty proud to be included in this amazing group of gals, to show you a little bit about my own personal style of decorating. Thanks Stephanie! And thanks for your visit! Let the fun begin. :) * indicates links shown at end of post 

Once upon a time, *my favorite chair broke, changing my office area forever.  I took suggestions from your comments, throwing in a dash of my *own decorating advice, putting function before beauty.

Because, after trying out the new farm table, it had to stay. It just HAD to. So out came the paint and gone went the old accessories, and the rebuild began.

More on how I got it to where it is later, however today, thanks to SYTYCD, we're celebrating...

~ accessories! ~

Come on in...

... to my new revamped junkin' bloggin' office. :)

Gone are the days in my home when a dining room is used for eating. This area is now my blog office, with a very funky personality. :) Random objects of desire come together, all playing a much bigger part. A little bit of metal, wood, black and white all harmonize, creating a fun, casual environment that would inspire any junk lovin' blogger! Not that we need the extra enticement...

Even the inside of the two doors of the armoire provide function. Although they can close, I'd never want to do that. :) ( I prefer to face space, rather than a wall ) On the left hangs a bulletin board, also displaying an antique clipboard for some layered interest.

The right door houses an old heavy duty metal shower caddy for post it notes and writing materials.

The top row of labeled baskets hide all kinds of office needs.

Punches of white were needed to tie in the farm table top, so the middle shelf holds a white drawer from a dresser, one of the best paper catchers EVER. (groups an entire year of school paperwork before it goes into the year end scrap book)  The office sign was created from bits and pieces of this and that I had laying around. The surface of the sign was lightly roughed up to give it a chalkboard appearance.

Have you noticed *the backing on the armoire? A chunk of metal clad siding, complete with rusty details gives this area a kick of unexpected industrial charm! If that doesn't make you smile, not much would. :)

Inside the armoire, old jars, plates, platters and an antique sewing machine drawer do double duty for useful office storage. A few fun things just to look at are also thrown in the mix. Can you guess what that spoked wheel thing is? (hint... laundry)

The white, the dark and the metal all flipflop, taking turns at being center stage. The rounds really draw in your eye much like a bullseye.

I'm not sure where these wire bowls originated from, but I always see them in the local thrifts. I need another. This one use to hold my bananas and sugar container on the counter and I miss it. :)

My little FJI buddy from *Denise, sits perfectly perched up on top..

.. of this productive yet fun vignette. All the galvanized goods create a  home for non office DIY helps as well. 

The fluted can happily holds twine and string, patiently waiting for that inspiration to hit. (I have a twine thing) A hidden clothespin simply clipped to the edge of the can holds up the small ball of twine, creating a great spot to stash easy to grab scissors.

The old coffee perk displays a touch of the great outdoors, while the old pot lid becomes the perfect pin drop.

Grouping these like minded objects together created a theme that highlights the contents, rather than fights them.

No blog office is complete without a good 'ol antique meat grinder holding up those pens and pencils. (Look, it even has a number on it. Cool.) Not only does this little addition make me smile, the raised elevation keeps the desk tidy, as well as the clamp keeping the works from being knocked over by 2 cats and a 10 yr old boy.

My brushes sit right in front of me, attempting to reel me off the blog, and into project land. Sometimes they even win. :)

The new revamped blogging office is all about the things that inspire me, just the way it should be. Thank-you favorite chair, for breaking. :)

After you're done here, head on back to SYTYCD to cast your vote for your favs!

* Offshoots from this post:

~ The death of a chair ~

~ Metal clad siding tutorial ~

~ 5 top tips on setting up a room ~

~ Denise the bird maker ~
~ A how to on the office sign ~

Next up: tutorials on the office sign, labeled baskets, and what I did with the table to make it work.

How about you? Is your 'blogging' office uniquely you? Have a link to it online? Feel free to share the url in comments. I'd love to see. :)

So You Think You Can Decorate - Week 1 Challenge - Accessories~

Welcome to Week 1 of So You Think You Can Decorate! I'm so excited to be a part of this amazing competition!

This week's challenge is accessories. It's amazing what accessories can do for a room. Case in point, my little boy's room.

Because we are currently living in a rental home, we aren't able to paint. When I put my boys' beds in their room, it was just blah! Can you say, "BORING BEIGE"? I knew that accessories were going to play a major role in bringing some interest to the space.

But I needed inspiration. I have a collection of vintage sock monkeys that I inherited from my mother, and I knew that I wanted to use them in my little boys' room. So I chose a sock monkey as my inspiration accessory. I decided to use the colors found in the monkey as the color scheme for the room: chocolate brown, tan, and white with touches of red for an accent. In the photo below, you can see how I brought these colors into the room with the fabrics I used on the accent pillows.

Here's a pillow hint: King size pillows work well on twin size beds...They are the same width as the bed, so they are very substantial looking. (Compare the before picture above with the after pictures to get a real feel for what I mean.)

Then, in order to visually seperate the headboards from the wall (since both are essentially the same color) I decided to do two things.

First, I extended the curtain panels behind the headboards. I made the curtains using a tan and white ticking fabric that was both boyish and created visual texture. They were so simple to make. I had to sew two lengths of fabric together to create the width I wanted, but then, since I wasn't sewing a curtain rod pocket, all I did was hem the edges all the way around. And since I wasn't using them for light control, I didn't need to line them. Straight line sewing. Simple.

The second thing I did to create the visual separation was that I added a row of brown nailhead trim along the top of the headboard. This allowed me to create a sort of border between the headboards and the curtains behind, and to bring in more of the chocolate brown color.

And if you'd like to know how I made the headboards, I talk about it here.

In the photos below you can see that I chose to make the curtains stationary by suspending them from curtain rings and more brown nailheads. A circle motif is repeated in the rings, the nailhead trim on the headboard, and then in the accent pillows on the bed with a stitched circle pattern in the large brown pillow, and polkadots on the smaller budoir pillow.



I also added a personalized piece of art from one of my favorite online shops, Sarah and Abraham, above each of the boy's beds (the art features a silhouette with each boy's name). I made the art appear to be hanging from the curtain rings above by attaching a chocolate brown ribbon to the back and clipping it to the center ring above.

The dresser in the room is an heirloom piece that we inherited from the hubby's grandmother, so I wanted to take extra care how I accessorized it. I added another sock monkey, as well as a vintage shoe stay and a barn star tied to a lamp with red checked ribbon. I added an additional punch of red with the cute "giggle" sign, and finished off the grouping with a vintage-look world globe.



As I mentioned before, the room is shared by my two youngest boys (aka the toddler demolition team). I decided to accessorize each of the beds in the same way to create a sense of symmetry and add to the visual appeal of the space. But to add individuality, each of the beds has a monogram, and of course, the art above each bed is personalized as I mentioned previously.

Now here's a little bit of information that you probably won't care about at all, but which I think is very clever. Mr. Three's bed originally belonged to my oldest son. Now, the monograms (which are made from white felt) on the bed are attached with fabritac which is not nearly as easy to remove as hot glue. So, you may ask, how did I change the monogram? Luckily Mr. One's monogram is BHE and Mr. Three's is BHL...so I very carefully cut off the two horizontal lines at the top of the "E" to create an "L". Pretty quick thinkin' huh?



Overall, a great start to this room!! Can't wait to finish accessorizing the other three walls. ;-)

Shopping Resources:


Brown polka dot fabric on budoir pillow: Brown Dottie by Moda

Stripe fabric on accent pillow: Wanna be a Cowboy by Samantha Walker for Riley Blake

Brown circle and square accent pillow: Walmart

King Size pillow case: Better Homes and Gardens for Walmart

Osnaberg fabric on headboards: JoAnn's

Tan and white ticking fabric: Walmart (believe it or not, I scoured the internet to find this fabric to no avail, then happened upon it at my local Walmart for only $4/yd. Serendipitous, no?)
Personalized Silhouette prints: Sarah and Abraham


Hope you enjoyed this little project as much as I did. If you liked it, I would love to have your vote over at So You Think You Can Decorate!

Have a great day~

Winner!

Hello all! Thanks so much for all the funny and sweet entries for the Dimples and Dandelions giveaway! They were SO fun to read. Kids are adorable. Good thing, eh? :)

Anyhoo, the winner of the $50 gift card is Jude from Dolce Cape Cod! Jude, please email me (thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com) and I’ll get you connected with the Dimples and Dandelions folks.

I know I promised you all a post on the stairs this weekend, but I was hit with a lovely cold yesterday and it’s getting worse by the minute. I cross my heart, stick a needle in my eye promise I will share the how-to on the stairs early next week. For now, I must drink hot chocolate. And make soup. And sleep. ;)

Don’t forget about the monthly Before and After Party on Monday! (I’ll probably have the linky up late Sunday night.)

Have a great one!

SNS #19 brings you - one junkin' laundry room

Intro

Welcome to Sat Nite Special # 19!

If you're new here, kick off your shoes and join in! The theme is always a  DIY themed anything goes, so feel free to post your project, past or present that you're proud of so we can clap along with you!

Party starts at Fri night and ends Sunday 11pm, so you have all weekend to join.

I LOVE to highlight inspiring posts during the event on the sidebar, so make sure you check in several times over the weekend. You may be next. :)

This weekend's DIY feature

Have you met Beth over at Patina White yet?

She's a real life junker. The real deal. She is the blonde version of me. IF I knew half as much as her that is.

She loves rust.

She makes cool metal stuff for her seasonal store. (not online)

She loves all the kinds of stuff that I love. LOVE.

I've been following Beth's blog for some time now. Her organic rustic style totally has me riveted to every single creative post of hers. She's a true junker and knows what to do with it. She makes me realize what I personally LOVE. How does she know better than I? I don't get it.

Anyway, when she posted about her new laundry room makeover, I knew right then and there that I had to have her on board HERE. You'll soon see why.

Oh my word... vintage and texture wherever you look. Every square inch of this room totally speaks to me.

Beth says,

"I added a burlap skirt to the wood counter to provide a rustic cover & create a storage nook. the ship-lap counter was stained ebony which made for a rich mocha hue on the former new pine. and i am so tickled to have the commercial sprayer faucet for stubborn stains + rinsing! now...do you remember the peek at the weathered bleach sign? well you can now see it in it's full glory above my folding station! let me tell you...it is quite a luxury to have a spot to fold clothes! (other than the random tables and beds around our home!)"

Beth, I missed the sign. How could I miss the sign?!? I LOVE this thing.

This galvanized bin (with real rust attached! swoon!) holds the cleaning supplies. I love Beth's quaint way of labeling with a stamp and simple card stock. A homespun element but in a pro way.

And this wire mesh basket wears multiple coats of sealer as it's reserved for the clean items. Groan...  

Wimper... What do you think of this 'radiator belt rack'? I love things that have a story attached to them.

I'm dyin'...  Beth's laundry room post in it's entirety is HERE.  Beth, I need to be your best friend because when I copy your laundry room one day, I want you to realize it's a compliment, not a copyright infringement, k? xo

OK one more.  This drying rack is being put to excellent use as the perfect stage for other fun things. Beth just really knows what to do with her 'stuff.'

I could just totally take Beth's whole blog in html mode and cut and paste it and be happy and content. I'll let you go wander over there yourself and snoop around.

Beth, thanks so much for allowing me to feature this very cool room! If this doesn't start the inspiration passion, I don't know what would.

Sunday Nite Vote Madness!

Heads up! SNS will be off the main page earlier Sunday night due to

I have to have my own post up and running Sunday night. SNS will continue to run until 11pm as usual so just scroll abit lower for it.

Sunday night 11pm pacific is the deadline to add your workshop before and after. Please stay tuned shortly after for the voting poll to arrive on the sidebar!

Interested in a giveaway?

Click the workshop button, and make a label kinda comment and you're entered!

Blah blah rules for the SNS linkup:

1. Please link up your intended  post, no your main blog. (post, then click on title of your post, cut and paste that url)

2. Please put a link in your post that leads back to the party so others can see what's up! (scroll button on sidebar if you wish)

3. I've allowed 75 characters in the link title area, so go ahead and tell us your blog name AND project description. There's room. :)

*4. This party is geared for *DIY type projects we can all attempt to make ourselves. Items for sale may be linked up IF your entry is posted on your blog and in tutorial style (unless making the item is self explanatory).

Bring that junk'o yours on!