Drop Cloth Curtains

Since we moved into our house 4 years ago, my living room and dining room windows have been bare with the exception of the blinds we put up the week we moved in.  I am really horrible at decorating and have just always felt like I had no idea what I was doing.  So, when we moved in, we had blank walls for months, dare I say over a year maybe? I just didn't know what to do, and these windows were no exception.

After all of my pinterest pinning and blog reading I came across another use for those awesome Home Depot drop cloths.  Curtains!  So, off to Home Depot I went again, and purchased more drop cloths, even buying the last one they had in the 6ft x 9ft size.

I threw them into the wash with some detergent and fabric softener. I figured that at some point in the future I was going to want to take them down and wash them, and wanted to see how the fabric was going to act after being washed. Once they were washed and dried, I got to work on hanging the rods.  Ok, Ok...Ike did most of the work with the rods, but I was the supervisor and screw holder.

I found the cheapest, decent looking cafe rod that I could find, which happened to be at Target. Since I wasn't planning on sewing the drop cloths, I also bought the curtain rings/clips. I just held the drop cloths up to the rod to see how long I wanted them, then just folded the top of the cloths over so they would hang at the right length, and clipped them onto the clips.  Did that make any sense? Ha!

Anyway, I think these pictures of the finished product will clear things up.

First up is the living room:

Now for the dining room:

I couldn't be happier with how these turned out!  I love them! They really have changed the whole feel of my living room.  I really wish I had taken some before photos, but I completely forgot.  My dining room still needs some major help in the decorating department, but at least I have curtains! I do have some ideas floating around my head for the dining room, but just haven't really decided on anything yet. I have a large open wall that needs help, as well as that corner shelf. I had big plans to paint it to match our trim in the house, but haven't done anything with it yet.  I also have some chalkboard paint that I plan to use to spruce up the canisters that are on the shelf, but I need to do a bit more research on painting glazed pottery before I attempt that.

Next up: Emma & Madeline's bathroom gets a facelift! Check back later this week for those pictures!

Dining room chair makeover

For months now, I have been staring at my dining room chairs and wishing I could recover them. Children, a cat and white/cream upholstered dining room chairs just don't go together. See how nasty they were? Yuck!  I was embarrassed for anyone to come over and sit in these nasty things! I tried cleaning them before, but nothing really worked as well as I thought it should have.

I'd looked for fabric to recover them before, but the decorator weight fabric that I needed was pretty expensive, and with 6 chairs to cover, I just couldn't spend the money.  So, after reading tons of home decorating blogs and seeing slipcovers being made out inexpensive drop cloths, I had an idea.  If they can make slip covers out of drop cloths, then I'm sure I can re-cover my chairs with one!  So, off to Home Depot I went. (They have the best drop cloths, since theirs don't have seams and are already hemmed on all 4 sides)  I bought a $10 drop cloth, a staple gun, and some staples and got to work. 

First I took the seats off the chairs and measured them to see how big of a piece I would need for each chair seat.

Luckily one 6ft x 9ft drop cloth was enough to cover all 6 of my chairs.  I got to working measuring and cutting out the pieces.  I was able to get 8 pieces out of the drop cloth, so I had 2 extras that I saved in case I need them later. The cutting wasn't too bad, and I folded over the fabric to make it double layered, so I could cut down on the number of cuts I had to make.

After all the cutting was done, I took each piece of fabric, and "wrapped" each seat with it. I used the staple gun to staple the fabric to the back of the seat. Sorry I didn't take a picture of this part.  I was on a roll, and totally forgot. 

Once they were all wrapped and stapled, I took each seat and screwed it back onto the frame. 

 Ta da! 

I am so pleased with how they turned out, and can't believe I hadn't thought of this idea sooner.  What a cheap, quick and easy fix! It took me about 2 hours from start to finish. Now I just need to figure out how to decorate my un-decorated dining room. Anyone have any suggestions for the big empty wall behind the table? The one with the light switch right in the middle of it? ha!

Stayed tuned!  More home decorating projects coming this week!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! Thank you to all of those who have or are currently fighting for the freedom we enjoy.  Here are the girls are decked out in their 4th of July attire thanks to my mom.

We had a pretty easy going day and went to visit Ike's mom, then did some grocery shopping. We decided not to go to the fireworks, but we did a few sparklers in the backyard with the girls once it got dark.  They had a great time.

Look for some posts this week on a few home decorating projects that I have been working on.  Thanks to Pinterest and many, many home decor/crafting blogs, I have seen so many neat decorating ideas lately, so I decided to try my hand at a few of my favorite ideas.  So, make sure to check back this week to see what all I got accomplished.

Happy 8th Birthday Emma!

It's so hard to believe that 8 years ago today, I gave birth (without an epidural) to a sweet little 6lb, 9oz baby girl that I named Emma June. She has grown so much and seems to be more and more like me everyday. We are celebrating with her today by taking her to a movie this afternoon, and her cake is cooling on the stove. 

I thought it would be neat to do a little flashback to see how much she has changed over the years.

2003 - Just a few minutes old. Yes, I know I look terrible...ignore that please! ;-) 

2004 - 1 year old - Sears Studios

2005 - 2 years old - Sears Studios

2006 - 3 years old

2007 - 4 years old - Connell Studios

2008 - 5 years old - Portrait Innovations

2009 - 6 years old - The Bond Between Us Photography

 2010 - 7 years old

 2011 - 8 years old - The Bond Between Us Photography

Wow!  How could a little girl be any cuter!  Happy Birthday Emma!  I love you!

Happy Friday!

I'm not sure about you, but Friday is my favorite day of the week! I'm not sure if it's the fact that my hubby gets off work early or that I know the weekend is coming. Either way, I love Friday's.

Today is shaping up to be a lazy day around our house, and we really don't have anywhere to be. The kids are playing together nicely, and I am actually getting a chance to drink my coffee and watch the Today show. It's really the simple things that make me happy!

This weekend is gonna be fairly relaxing too, and the only "official" plans we have are to attend the wedding of my old friend Leigh tomorrow. Leigh is the one responsible for me and my hubby meeting. She introduced us in August of 2000. We got married 9 months later. Here's a picture of us with Leigh on our wedding day.

We just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary last month. Here is a picture of us then and now.

I owe her a lot of thanks for introducing us! So excited for her. Happiness has been a long time coming! I know in a way, tomorrow is gonna be tough for her, since she lost her mother to cancer a few years ago. Here is a great picture of the two of them together in 2001.

Leigh, if you are reading this...I am so happy for you, and I pray you have many happy years full of blessings!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Almost

Here is a picture of me with my girls at my birthday party last week.  They just had to help poor old mama blow out the candles. Also, please ignore that number on the cake.  I think my mom must have put the numbers on backwards.  There is NO way I am 32. LOL Ok, ok...maybe I am 32.   ;-)