Curtain Re-Call

For a lot of our projects, we’ve been playing “catch up” to the action that already happened. We did most of the heavy lifting renovations on all of the rooms as soon as we bought the house (back in June), but because this blog just started up in February (it’s been almost three months already?), you’re just now reading/watching the stories unfold. However, the goal is to get the blog as close to “up-to-speed” as possible so that we can be sharing things as they happen.

And, HOORAY! Today’s one of those “you’re seeing the action as it goes down” posts. Remember our go around with curtains in the family room? I am not kidding you- not but a few days after that post, did our curtain situation change again (and quite drastically, too). So, without further ado, HERE is your massive curtain overhaul play-by-play. This is where we left off (breezy, white curtains to amp up the airiness of the space): 

We were super happy about the way they turned out and loved the color (or lack thereof, rather). However, in the back of my mind, I kept revisiting all of the curtain advice I had read from fellow bloggers, magazines, and online articles: Hang your curtains high and wide! It will make your space seem so much bigger! Up until this point, we had just used the curtain rod that was left with the house and because it was the length of the window and hung on the top edge, that’s what we went with.

But I was curious… very curious. So, when we shipped off to run a Produce Juction/Walmart errand (you can read about the PJ loot here), I asked Mitch if he would give this harebrained plan a shot and indulge me: in buying bamboo blinds. The plan, as we had seen done before (and both liked the look), was to raise the white curtains to the ceiling and hang them wider than the window. The bamboo blinds would then bridge the gap of wall between the raised curtain rod and the top of the window. The goal is twofold: 1. to avoid cutting off any light coming in from the window (see how the curtains in the picture above block about a third of the light?) and 2. to frame out the window so that it looks waaaaay larger than it actually is.

Here are the steps that we took to get our new look, as well as some helpful hints that we learned along the way and figured we’d pass on to the next curtain-hanging adventurer:

Helpful Hint #1: It will always take longer than you think. I am a terrible judge of time allotment and am always optimistically thinking, “don’t worry, we’ll be done in a snap!”. Just take a moment to read our fireplace installation debacle if you don’t believe me. Our advice? Make sure to allot yourself plenty of time to go at your own pace and do it right!

Step 1: Remove existing curtains (and safely fold and store elsewhere… it’s about to get messy in here, folks), blinds and curtain rod/hooks from wall.Step 2: Clean the window and frame! There was quite a bit of dust and soot (we think there was a house fire and a smoker next-door-neighbor here at one point). This step simultaneously made us feel gross and disgusted, and cleaner and relieved.

Helpful Hint #2: This is where the tools and “parts” come into play. Since each treatment comes with its own screws, anchors, etc., it is crucial to keep your materials organized! We always grab a tray or small plate to corral and sort each piece so nothing gets lost and so that we are acquainted with each specific part that instructions will be referring to.Step 3: Hang the new blinds (these are super affordable at any home improvement store… ours were just under $9 at Lowes). I won’t bore you with the details of this step. The packaging is instruction plenty, should you decide to update your own window treatments some day. Needless to say, after what was there before (which actually warrants it’s own upcoming post), we were thrilled to have new sparkling white (and clean!) blinds.

Helpful Hint #3: Know when to step back and take a break. As per Hint #1, projects can often take longer than expected. After awhile, we were seeing multiples, making silly mistakes, and getting frustrated due to sleepiness settling in. Time to walk away. We decided to take a super long break… and start fresh in the morning. 

Step 4: Hang the new curtain rod. We bought a simple, sleek, deep mocha rod for this project. Ours came from Lowes and although I can’t find the exact one online that we bought in the store, here is one that comes closest. Below is the packaging from the actual rod we bought, should you want to hunt down an identical rod in the store: Normally, we’re all about using what we already have, but our previous contender was too short for the look we were going for. Here is the new one, in all its glory:Using our centered measurements from the blinds, we were able to uniformly center the curtain rod. Helpful Hint #4: Double check your measurements, especially if you are using the initial marking as a guideline for the rest of your project! Had our blinds not been centered correctly, it would have thrown off the rod and bamboo shade placement as well.

Step 5: Hang the bamboo Roman Shade. Again, we used the center marking of the white blinds and the curtain rod to help determine the spacing for the bamboo. Excuse the bowed look of the rod in the picture… camera angles can make things look funny.Helpful Hint #5: To make our window feel as tall and expansive as possible, we hung the bamboo blind directly under (with almost no space between) the curtain rod. 

Step 6: Attach the rod grip (we love this cordless feature!), roll up the bamboo shade to desired height, and secure the rod. The “rod” is the device that allows the shade to go up and down by twisting it one way or another and needs to be secured so the shade doesn’t move once in place.

Helpful Hint #6: We choose to keep our bamboo shade all the way up (see photos below), so that the bottom edge just grazes the top of the window, to allow as much light as possible to come through. When we want the window covered, we keep the bamboo shade up and just use the white blinds, because it keeps the room feeling less cave-like. 

Step #7: Hang the curtains and make adjustments. Ours hang about 18 inches wider than the window on both sides. It sounds like a lot, but the effect on the room is amazing.Step #7b: Adjust the length of your curtains so that they reach the floor! Since we were not originally intending to hang the curtains as high as we did back when we bought them, the length of the panels are not quite long enough for this project. For now, the furniture blocks the view, but someday I’ll get around to adding some length to them (and will share the details as it happens!).

Step #8: Stand back and watch your room double in size! We were so shocked at how much of a difference this made, that we just sat on the couch and stared at it for awhile. The change is so drastic, that it feels as if we instantly added square footage to the room. The wall looks larger, the window feels almost like a bay window, and the ceilings seem so much taller. Oh, and the amount of light that floods the room (because there is virtually nothing blocking a single square inch of that window) is like night and day, compared to before. Pun totally intended. Just take a look and see what I mean…

Here’s the before:And the after:

The white blinds tuck up nicely under the bamboo shade. When they’re not in use, no one’s the wiser that they even exist! Here’s a shot with the blinds down:

You’ll notice that we had to take down the mirror that used to be to the left of the window, now that the curtains come over further (you can see how the mirror was getting cut off if you scroll up a few pictures). We’re in the process of deciding if it will go back or if we’ll be giving it a new home and putting something else in its place. Details to come when we figure it out! And how about one last shot to round out the curtain extravaganza?

Now, I’m on a window buzz. I have already bought new blinds for the Youth Room (yep, we’ll be stepping outside of the Thomas house for this one!), and have plans to put up new sparkling white blinds in our bare- windowed Master and Spare Bedroom. Oh, and their curtain situations may need to be tweaked as well. We’ll keep you posted on the progress as it develops (yay for up-to-speed postings)!

Thinking about your own curtains yet? Anyone else taken this approach? Or maybe you have other helpful advice to share with the crowd… We looooove reading your comments, so keep ’em comin! Happy Hanging 🙂

-Leslie

Happy Belated Earth Day (Part 1): Go Green!

You would think that, working across the hall from a Nursery School class, I would have known it was Earth Day last week. Whoops. Better late than never, right? No reason we can’t celebrate now! In honor of Earth Day, we’ve green-ified our house by bringing some of the outside in.

For awhile, I’ve been hankering to buy some ferns and other greenery for inside, as it seems to liven up a room and can also help to freshen the air! Bonus: We wanted to start bringing some green hues into the family room, so this turned out to be a perfect place to start. However, we weren’t really interested in spending a fortune to do this (surprise, surprise), so we kept putting it off. That is, until Produce Junction got the better of us last week… here are some of our finds (each under $5, so if you’re in the mood for some green without spending a whole lot of green, you’re in luck!):

Our coffee table friend (it’s tag says it’s called Warneckii Dracaena) rings in at $3.50: I love the multi-tone beauty of this one. As we are trying to incorporate some greens into the room, this plant gives us permission to use a whole host of shades and I’m thinking it will go a long way in tying them together.Armchair buddy (it did not come with an ID tag and I know I should know what type of plant this is… but I don’t), also $3.50:

My favorite part about this guy is that he’s still so young! Just check out these baby blooms, ready to grow into full-sized leaves:If you’re wondering what he’s standing on, well, let’s just say it’s a makeshift plant stand. Originally, he was sitting on the floor, but I didn’t like the idea of a possibly wet-bottomed plant directly on the carpet. We had this turquoise glassed piece, so I flipped it upside down and used it to house our new green friend until we can find the real deal. Actually, the colors look great together, so it might become a long-term fix…

And, a few smaller cuties (again, forgive me for not knowing their names- if you do, leave a comment!) that we snagged for $1 a piece. Can’t beat that! The first lives in our bathroom. Let me refresh your mind about what used to be there:

And since we’ve “gone green”:Another has a home on an end table in the family room:

And finally, we picked up a few green-with-hints-of-pink-and-red to keep things interesting. Here’s one on the desk in the Spare:

This ended up working out great, as we have pops of coral-y pink in this room anyway! And those boxes it’s sitting on? Those are the start of a fun, office “spruce-up” coming your way soon… stay tuned for the details!

I think that about wraps up our tour of the greens goods. If you’re looking to get a few of your own, we highly recommend Produce Junction (or another fruits/veggies/plants/nursery in your area if you don’t have one nearby) as opposed to the grocery store. In our hunt, we found that the prices were remarkably cheaper at PJ than our local Giant, Wegmans, or what have you. In total, we spent:

$7.00 ($3.50 for each of the bigger plants) + $4.00 ($1 for each of the smaller plants)= just $11 for a greener, fresher home! Gotta love getting the green without dishing out tons of (the other) green.

Got any house plants or ferns of your own? We’d love to hear what has worked for you! Or maybe you know the names of some of our new planty friends… do tell! Happy Belated Earth Day!

-Leslie

 

Thrill(s) of the Week: A Petite Pair

Time for the thrill of the week! Thrills, that is, because we have a 2 for 1 this week- a pair of adorably small white lamps!

This find came from our local thrift store (2nd Avenue, if you’re wondering and in the area… they might also have other locations so Google them!) and cashed in at about five buckaroos each. We have a lot of larger lamps in our house, so these tiny treasures will be helpful in lighting some of our smaller spaces. The plan is to give them a home in the Spare Bedroom (you can check out the progress of this room here and here). We already have one bedside table and have been meaning to hunt down another, so this should be good initiative to get moving!

Eventually, we’ll find some lampshades petite enough to match their small stature, but one thing I was sure of was that they may be good candidates for a color change (even if not a color change, they’d need to be freshened up to cover the marks and spots). As we have a lot of color going on in the Spare, I didn’t want to do anything too crazy or patterned in the lamp itself or our future shades. I also bit back the urge to paint them yet another shade of teal (we already have two happening in that room), figuring that it might be a bit too busy. A pink might compete with the color of the side table, which we didn’t want either. Yellow or any other color would be super bold (which is not a bad thing), but might make the room feel sort of rainbow-y. In the end, I landed on… GOLD.

Yep, a nice subtle color that likes to hang out behind the scenes. Not. However, I thought that a gold would add a bit of flair, without seeming like we were adding yet another color to the palette of the room. So gold it was. In the end, the color was perfect- not to shiny and brassy, but enough glam to add something special to the room. Here’s a teaser of how it turned out:

In an effort not to get spray paint on the cords, I rigged up my own contraption of sorts. Essentially, I poked them through the bottom of a plastic bag, wrapped up the cord and tied the bag closed around the bundle. To keep it from sliding, I used a bit of masking tape to tape part of the bag to the cord, as close to the lamp as possible.

A few coats of spray paint later and we have a couple of glamour girls to add to our Spare!

For a test run, we stuck them in the room to see how they looked… the color is great and stands out, without competing with the other colors that are already there.

So about those shades… guess we’d better get on the ball.

And there you have it… how to:

Anyone else have a thrill of the week? Do tell!

-Leslie