Stripe Painted Curtain Panels

I'm absolutely in love with this look right now. If I could stripe or chevron everything in my house, I'd probably do it. Cue Elvis' Jailhouse Rock. The simple gray stripes are clean, modern and add a perfect accent to the room. Originally, I couldn't decide between stripes or chevron. To be honest, I decided on stripes because it would be 100 times easier. I took the lazy way this time :). Seeing them hung now, I couldn't imagine them any different.

I actually made these curtains over a year ago. Since then, I've gotten so many people ask me where I got these and where they could get them. I'll fill you all in on my little secret... I made them. These curtains have been one of my favorite projects to date and getting asked about them so frequently is pretty flattering. So thank you to each one of you that has. :) I'm a little proud of them.

So to share my excitement, here's a little tutorial. There are a lot of pictures I didn't find so bare with me. I do have a few, but I'll try to be thorough enough to make this way easy for ya.

Items you'll need:
White Curtains
I bought 2 sets of white curtains from Target. Not too expensive, but if you even wanted something cheaper, check out the clearance sections in different stores and even pick a few sets up from Walmart. No need to splurge here.

Paint
Pick the paint color you want. I actually used several bottles of gray acrylic paint that I had leftover from something else that I decided to use. I picked these up from Walmart in the craft section.

Tools
Paint roller, painters tape and a ruler. I definitely suggest getting a little paint roller for this project. It will roll on much more smooth and leave an even look.

First
I measured the entire length of the curtain and decided about how thick I wanted my stripes. That will determine the amount of stripes I'll have. My curtain length is 84" and divided by 7" for each stripe makes 12 total stripes.

Second
Using my ruler, I marked every 7 inches down the curtain sides. I also did this down the middle of the curtain so that when I laid my tape it would be a straight line going across, no guessing.

 Third
Laid my tape out to mark each section I would be painting. WATCH THIS STEP! Line after line, after line, after line, you'll easily lay it on the wrong side if you're not paying attention. Better to catch it before the paint goes down :)

Fourth
Now for the scary part and point of no return! Rolling on the paint. I only did one coat on mine. I would recommend two coats if you'd like to take the time to. You can see a few areas on mine where the paint isn't as thick and the light kind of shines through. However, that's all up to how you want them to look. 

Also, pull the tape off slow.

Now just hang them up. You'll love them, I swear. It will probably be no time before you start looking for something else to take your paint brush to. Good luck!

Linked up to
I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, Under the table & dreaming, My Little Birds

Chevron Painted Pillow

I've fallen in love with the new Chevron pattern floating around in the blog world and knew I would have to find some kind of project to incorporate it. First something small, those are A LOT of zig zags going on.

So I decided an accent pillow for the couch wouldn't be so scary to tackle.


I started with one white fabric square (cut in half) that I purchased at Wal-mart for under $1.00. I picked up a cheap bottle of gray paint, $2.00, while I was there also. This product is easily under $10 if you include having to purchase the stuffing, tape and brush. Super easy!

I measured the spacing between each piece of tape to 1 inch. Just use a wider ruler if you want thick stripes.

Once I got it all taped off, I dabbed on the paint pretty thick to make sure a second coat wasn't needed. If it dries too thick, then it can always be sanded down a little.

My words of wisdom, let it dry! I always jump the gun on this part and really regret it later when either the furniture, dog or I am covered in little paint streaks. It really never fails. My husband always knows when I've been working on something when he comes home to a paint crime scene.

Stuff it and sew it up!

Heres the finished product. I really LOVE this pattern and intend on trying it on our curtains in the bonus room... fingers crossed!

Living Room: Before & After

Who doesn't love a little before and after? I certainly do! I turn into stalker mode full force when I see before and after. I may or may not even post these to Pinterest. That, my friends, is God's gift to use... my never ending idea board. :) I just love seeing the transformation and creativity that someone else does. So here's a little living room before and after for you.

Before:

After:

The color in the picture is a little off from the real thing, but it's Sisal from Ralph Lauren. I fell in love with it over at Thrifty Decor Chick. She used this through her entire house. I got into DIY mode and decided one weekend I was using this in the living room. Spend the entire weekend, but I got the living room, hallway and hall bath all in this color. It's a great neutral color that you can accent quite well with. 

I recently made the curtains hanging up over there on the left and made custom curtain rods for the baby window. You can see that little post here. 

{Fireplace Repainted}

One feature I love about the house is the gas fireplace. The only thing, it had a brass finish. What were people thinking! lol... I wasn't going to opt out for getting a new one, I'd be nuts so I researched painting it. I found that I could spray paint it (with good ventilation!) fairly easily. If you plan on doing this, make sure you purchase the high heat (pictured below).

Our fireplace hadn't been used in quite awhile so I wanted to make sure all dirt was removed and the paint would stick. I would advice roughing the surface up a little with some sanding and then cleaning up a bit so you're working with a fresh surface. Of course, be sure to tape off ALL areas around the painting surface. And this stuff DOES travel. I had some on the floor, but my steam mop got it right up.

I let the paint sit and dry before I started removing any of the tape and paper. I did NOT want black all over my walls... accidents do happen. Here's the before and after pictures. We've gotten a mantle for it recently and I'll post those up soon.



Don't mind the shadow on the bottom : )



{Half Wall Makeover}

When we moved in, there was this fantastic "in the way" half wall as you walk in the front door... hehe. I prefered not to have it there, it added dead space to the living room so when we decided to remove it, started with the baseboards and turns out the hard wood was only put down to the halfwall, so guess what.....  you got it, it stayed.

It had a wooden ledge on top which of course was the wooden finish and was just an eye sore to me. It was the first mismatched thing you saw when you walked in the room. Well maybe it was just me : ), but that counts right? 

It didn't blend in with the room so I wanted to do something. Here is how it looked before...

So I used the color of the trim to match it up and here's how it looks after...

I love it!! It looks so much better and I don't have this big mismatched wall staring at me every time I walk in the room.

Give yourself a pat on the back Ashley.... : ). It's a miracle how just some touch up paint can make something look 10 times better.

What do you all think?

{DIY Curtain Rods}

Let me first start with.... Bay Windows are the devil! : ) If you've had to find or make curtains for them, you know it's a hassle to deal with. When we moved I thought, "Awww how cute and comfy it makes the living room feel".... and I thought that up until I had to put curtains up. Ok... done with my ranting : )

All bay windows are a little different so for some of you it may not be that difficult, but mine, the windows were pretty close together leaving no room for the ends of a curtain rod (#1). My other option was to do the connecting rod system (#2) for all 3 windows but they're hard to come by and can be expensive when you find what you want, especially the type I wanted (wooden). And again, the spaces between my windows were so minimal, the curtains would have blocked a lot of the light. And being the pale ghost that I am.... I need my sunlight : )

So my final option and choice I decided on.... framing curtains outside of the bay window. A little scary and different, yes it was, but I did a little googling and found some pictures that looked really good. Now, this decision brought on it's own challenges, of course... shucks, I never think things through : )... The curtains would be more of a decoration piece instead of a privacy detail. So there was no need to put a 10 foot curtain rod across the entire window.

Since I wanted wood, my plan was to purchase a 4 foot wooden rod and measure (#1) to 2 feet then cut in half.(#2)  I owe a BIG thanks to my handy-dandy dremel for quickly cutting the pole in half - maybe not even but that was an operater error : ). These would be placed on both sides of the window.

Now, since the holes for the finials didn't go all the way through.... can you guess? ..... yep, I had to drill those at the ends I cut too (#3). Not hard at all and just gave me another reason to play with a power tool. Then I just put up the brackets, slipped on the rings and screwed in the finials (#4).

Now that those are done... I ran into another problem with finding curtains wtih the correct length, so it was a simple decision to find material I liked and just make them. I'm sure I've said enough already, so I'll leave that post for another day. But for now, take a look at the before and after pictures.