More Window Treatments...

Now that DH's old office is turned into a library/guest room I decided to tackle the window. I knew that I wanted drapery panels to the floor but I didn't want to completely cover the window. The compromise??? Dummy panels with a valance.

I love the feel of this fabric and the way it hangs but I seriously underestimated the difficulty of matching the repeat on the valance. Luckily, there were only two seams to do.

And believe it or not - DH suggested the dangle trim! He's catching on nicely, isn't he? LOL.

Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

Gerry

Hand Made Roman Shades

Yes, I've been HOME-DECORing AGAIN! Not complaining....I do love it so. LOL. Besides, why would you pay designer prices for custom work when you can do it yourself?

One of my latest projects are these little beauties that I made for the four windows in the basement. They are called Top-Down, Bottom-Up (TDBU)Roman Shades and are offered by Terrell as a free project on her website. She also has a fabulous blog that I follow.

Terrell gives fabulous step-by-step instructions, provides a supplies calulator, and offers very reasonable prices on the hard to find supplies.

I did make a few alterations/modifications in my shades but that was only to suit my needs/wants for the space. I opted for inside mounting shades, which are 45W x 46L finished, including the piping/trim at the bottom. The valance is 45 1/2 W by 6 1/2 L and is lined, mounted on a tension rod, and does an nice job of finishing off the window as well as hiding the mounting hardware.

I love these shades because of the flexibility they offer. And even though we get great light in the basement, looking at the silver, metal in the window wells is not attractive at all!

Here we get to see the outdoors instead.

Here we can make adjustments to what we see.

As you can see, there is a header board which holds the eye screws and lifting/lowering strings.

Here you can see that the shades are fully lined and how they are strung.

The lines you see in the folds are plastic battens, which are used to not only lift and lower the shade but also to hold the shade's shape. I also like that the lining darkens just enough to filter and not to black out the light.

See how easy that was???? Please let me know if I've inspired you to make your own TDBU Roman Shades.

Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

Gerry

On The Home Front...

DH and I have been busy with home improvements - AGAIN! Or should I say, still? Luckily, this go around instead of construction and demo, we concentrated on cleaning up the drywall dust and mess from previous projects. Trying to keep on top of the dust around here became an exercise if futility. Needless to say, I lost my sense of humor about it and the clean up began.

We had our air ducts cleaned out on a Wednesday, and the carpets shampooed on Friday. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the first time that the ducts and carpets had been cleaned in this house since it was built. Gross and disgusting doesn't even begin to describe what was hauled out of here. But it's gone now and no longer a problem!

The only thing left to do was to go room by room and clean EVERYTHING in the house. And I do mean everything! Every room, closet, drawer, cabinet, you name it. Soap and water became my best friend for three solid weeks. And in the end...we are now nearly dust free!!!!! The side bonus is that we did a major purge (of clothing and stuff) and are now a lot more stream-lined and organized.

When I finished doing my HAPPY DANCE through the house I decided it was time to tackle another couple of rooms: First, turning DH's office (an upstairs bedroom) into a library, and second, moving his office downstairs into the study.

So, while DH was out of town, I made my list and I was off to buy paint and supplies to paint those two rooms (ceilings, walls, doors, frames, and baseboards).

(DH's side of the room)

(My side of the room)

Then we turned that spare bedroom into a library. Painting the walls a grayish blue was quite the stretch for me because I'm not a blue fan! But after we got the loveseat sleeper set up, the books on the shelves, DH's beloved "Wolf Picture Collection" displayed, and a little extra color spread around I was okay with it. In fact, I actually like it!

Of course both rooms still need window treatments which will come in time. Especially since I still need to make the window treatments for the basement windows. I'm hoping to get those started next week.

I share these photos with you because I'm am so very happy that I was able to get some of my dolls out of the closet and boxes during my cleaning spurt. I love this little girly room!

Well, that's it for now. Have a great weekend and thank you so much for stopping by!

Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

Gerry