The Wonders of the Clearance Rack

 

My favorite spot in the fabric store; the clearance rack. Specifically, the clearance rack at Hancock Fabrics. In my opinion, it's the best one in town. There are many times when it's a bust, but sometimes (like this time) you find a real gem. 

In this case, the gem was about three yards of high quality upholstery fabric for $3.99 a yard;

Not only is it a beautiful, modern print in a really nice neutral gray and ivory color combination, but let me repeat the price- $3.99 a yard! Every other upholstery fabric that I've ever seen (and liked) is priced upwards of $15-20 per yard. So, this was a no brainer.

It was originally going to be used as a backdrop for our built-in book shelves (since Thane won't let me paint. For, admittedly, good reasons).

Living room built-ins.

But after testing it there and seeing that it didn't create the dramatic pop of color or texture I wanted, it went into what I'll call "craft supply storage"; the top of my heap of random fabrics, frames, ribbon, and other yet-to-be-utilized goodies up in the attic. And there it sat, brimming with potential. And it continued to sit...for months... Until, finally, I figured out what to do with it; make more curtains! And my new odd-end of gray and ivory fabric seemed like a nice compliment to our blue-tiled guest bathroom.

Let's get this show on the road. Since it was one long piece, I folded it in half, ironed down the center (which made no crease), and cut the whole thing in half (lengthwise, of course).

If you thought my kitchen curtain project was a tad unprofessional, check this out; sewing without ironing or pinning. I only wish I could do it this way every time. 

Since the fabric is so thick, I found out pretty quickly that pinning and ironing didn't make any difference. So, I just folded my hem as I went. I can't find the picture to show you, darn! Oh well, we'll just have to skip right to the finished process.

 

Ta-da! Ever heard of "new-sew" curtains? Well, these are what I like to call "no-skill" curtains.

What do you know? They actually reach the floor. That's a first, in this house at least. By the way, the hem is about half an inch around the bottom and sides, and then the rod tab at the top is about three inches.

What motivated me to finally put this great clearance fabric to use? The fact that I was tempted to go out and buy more things with which to start other projects when I have lots of things (like this fabric) sitting at home already. This is my new rule; carry out plans with things I've already bought/already have rather than buying even more. When I've completely run out of projects with what I currently own, then I can start thinking about what moderate purchase I'd like to make next.

Speaking of another project...back to the built-ins for a minute. Since Thane is (smartly) against painting a rental that we'll only be living in for a matter of months, I've been brainstorming ideas for adding a pop of color to these shelves with something we can take with us when we go. In that case, it'll pretty much have to be fabric, and only if I find another great deal on something that would work.

Hmmmmmm... :)

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Liven the Laundry

Hello friends, meet our little laundry room. When we first moved into our home here in Georgia, this little nook was nothing but an empty space. After living in Hawaii on-base housing and being provided a washer and dryer, we wrongly assumed that stateside base housing would provide them as well. It turns out that this is only an overseas privilege, and we'd never owned our own set. So, we reluctantly went out in search of a pair to bring home. Which was both good and bad...bad because we were in no way expecting to make such a large purchase, good because we needed stackable units for the ranch house. (Our laundry room there isn't large enough for side by side units.) So, we swallowed our cheap-ness and invested in these.

And now here they sit! They specialize in Army attire and cloth diapers :)

Function; check. Fun; uncheck. Clearly the space is a little sparse.

In comes this old, single curtain panel that had been sitting in a box in the attic for months. I've seen a few neighbors hang a shower curtain to block the view of their washers and dryers, and it always looks nice. So, here's my version.

I wanted to get the look of a curtain without having to buy one. So, with that in mind, I pulled out this old single curtain panel that I didn't have any other use for (it used to hang over our single half bath window in our Hawaii condo- originally from Ross for about $7. Did I mention that I used to live within walking distance of a Ross? That was a bad idea.)

I originally thought I'd just hang this panel on one side of the washer and dryer in a way that it wouldn't actually close, but would give the look of a could-be-closed curtain. But after doing a little experimenting in Photoshop, it was clear that a panel on each side would look much better.

There were two things working against me; time travel has not yet been invented, and this panel came from Ross. So, even if time travel was an option, chances are I'd never find a matching panel. (Anybody that's been to a Ross knows what I mean.) But since they didn't need to close and I only needed a thin strip for each side, I borrowed a little idea I saw on another great blog and made two out of the one. All it took was a straight cut down the center and a little bit of hemming!

Alright! Moving along to the curtain-hanging supplies; the only item I didn't already have on hand was the pack of safety pins, and they were about $1.50 from Walmart.



Safety pins? Yes. I'll explain in a minute. I was originally going to use little white hooks that I already had, but they were harder to get into the wall than I thought. Nails worked just as well (if not better) for this purpose.

Here's one half of my curtain. See the little safety pins fastened in even increments down the top row where the rod would normally go? Since the fabric is double layered here, the pins are only poking through the back layer and are totally invisible from the front.

Doing things the conventional way=spending money. It's funny how shiesty you can get when you want to avoid doing that. Here's my anti-money-spending solution for hanging these panels; safety-pinning them to the wall via a nail. The safety pins act as a little loop that slips right over the head of the nail.

Before kicking off this little laundry room makeover, I inched the washer over to the right so that we'd have optimum space on the far left hand side. Now there's room for my mini ironing board (from college, the only one I've ever owned) to hang out here. And I imagine that more than just stray socks will find there way here soon.



After "making" this little bit of storage space, I realized it would be hidden by the curtain panel. Bonus! Didn't see that one coming, but I'm glad it did. And here we are with "After Picture #1", featuring this little functional storage space that's totally hidden from view!

And in the following photo, you'll see a few decorative pillows coming out of storage for a second- or maybe third, who's counting?- hoorah.

There are two benefits to being a pillow hoarder. One; there are always a few extras on hand to go in new and exciting places (like laundry room shelves). Two; okay, I only know one. But who says they can't be just as pretty on a shelf as they are on a couch? I've got a couple on the built-ins in the living room and in our master bedroom. At one point I even had one propped up against the mirror on our dresser.

The tan and terracotta rug was also a cheap Ross purchase. It was sitting in our guest room previously, sort of- but not really- complimenting the peacock curtains. Notice the red and white glass bottles? Those are my new detergent containers. See more about that little upgrade here. And for your viewing pleasure, a tassel. These things go back to the Old Testament priesthood. Who knew? (Me I guess, but not till I idly wondered where they came from.)

And I had to get a shot with the frames... I didn't plan it, but it's really nice how this whole space sort of goes together. The earthy, orangey frames and flowers really compliment the striped terracotta curtains and pillows. I suppose that's the benefit of having certain colors that you tend to like. Over the years, you buy things that compliment each other.



It sure does feel good to get use out what I've had sitting in a cardboard box since October. The curtains went up for just $1.50 (the cost of the safety pins, which I needed to get anyway just for general purposes). The only other purchases made for this space where the two glass bottles, at $2.50 a piece. So, for $6.50 this little space is no longer a plain Jane. And don't forget all of the leftover safety pins that I'll get other uses from!



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P.S. See how to sew simple kitchen curtains (on the cheap!) here, with the start of my "kitschy kitchen" re-do. Updates on this coming soon...

P.S.S. To hang curtains for less (via spray-paint), see this post. To widen your curtains and get more light into a room, see the how-to here.

P.S.S.S. (Ha, last one!)  I wasn't totally crazy when I mentioned tassels being in the bible. Here it is;

"Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God." {Numbers 15:40}

That's actually really interesting, I didn't realize they were meant as reminders to love and obey God. Okay, all goofing aside, I'm going to try to do this every time I see those pillow tassels. I'm a firm believer in using things for what He originally intended! (Unlike the current use of the rainbow, for instance.) Anyway, there are no doubt a ton of ways I also don't honor God, many of which I probably don't even realize yet. But praise Jesus that I'm a work in progress, by His grace and patience alone!

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Let the {Light} In

This is one of my favorite verses. Isn't it beautiful? It comes from the gospel of John, my favorite book in the bible.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." {John 8:12}

Speaking of light, our guest room (that doubles as an office) has one oddly placed window. It sits in the very corner, all by its lonesome. I thought that putting my peacock curtains up in this room would improve it a little, but it was just the opposite. The window looked just as odd, if not more so once extra attention was being drawn to it, and the curtains didn't look great either. Not only do they not hang to the floor- this old house has high windows and needs the long 95" inch curtains- but they did this funny "balloon" thing where they looked skinny at the top but large at the bottom. Kind of like the bottoms were fanned out. But what else was there to do? I was too busy working on Asher's nursery at the time, so just getting them hung was an accomplishment in my book- awkward and balloony or not. (Excuse these really terrible, grungy photos.)

But I've turned a new page since coming back a couple of weeks ago. In case you couldn't tell, I'm in the oh-my-gosh-we-live-in-a-real-house-again so let's spiff-it-up! mode. Needless to say, I've really learned to appreciate the freedom to customize our own space after living in the hotel for four months. With the exception of painting (sigh) it's been such a treat to put some new life in this old place!

Anyway, back to the peacock curtains. Light has always been a problem with the front side of this house. The sun doesn't naturally rise (or set) towards the front, and we have a huge tree that blocks what light we do get. The guest room/office is no exception, and our dark and lovely peacock colored curtains weren't helping. So the wheels on the bus (I mean brain) started turning, and on comes the bulb. Why not lengthen the rod so that the curtains could be pushed farther apart, so that they weren't blocking any of the actual window anymore?

The problem; the rod is already installed, and the brackets don't move without starting from scratch and totally redrilling new holes. (Which was not happening, these walls are a weird mixture of plaster and concrete, except in totally random patterns making it impossible to know where you can drill and where you can't. And that equals one heck of a rod-hanging-nightmare. For Thane anyway, ha! Thanks honey...you're the best!)

But wait a minute! What if we don't close these curtains? (Which we don't, they're too high and difficult to close and we have blinds that work for privacy.) If they don't need to close, then it doesn't matter where the bracket is, as long as the rod is lengthened so that the panels can hang on the other/outer side of the bracket!

So, that's exactly what I did. In about five minutes or less, we went from having light-blocking curtains that made our window appear smaller to non-light blocking ones that showed off the full size of the window!

Here's a before shot...

And after...

We have light!!!

You might have noticed that I also did a little re-arranging. The bed moved, and the little night table came out of our living room where it really wasn't being utilized. The lamp has always been in this room, but now that it sits on the new night table in front of the curtains, it draws attention away from the the fact that they don't hang to the floor. And you can't really see the balloon effect anymore. Lastly, I'm pretty sure the new furniture arrangement makes the odd placement of the window appear not so odd as well.


So there you have it, possibly the easiest yet most effective little improvements ever. All done in a few minutes time. Well, the rearranging took longer, you know how that goes.

Going back to the verse I mentioned at the beginning, I wish I had something interesting to say about it other than just that "I like it". But I guess it's alright to keep things simple. After all, Jesus did. Which (here comes something, haha) reminds me of the story of the criminal who died next to Him on the cross. I admire that story because it shows the true simplicity of Christ's saving grace. Here was this lowly man that lived a life of sin and rebellion against God. Yet all it took for him to be saved was the simple acknowledgement that he was a sinner deserving of death and the trust that he put in Jesus when he asked Him to "remember him". What a perfect picture. Here we see a man's faith, repentance, and salvation, all at once. And you might even say that the confession he gave before the crowd at the crucifixion was similar to the public confession we make when we follow Christ in baptism.

But there's more that makes this story great! Think about this; even though this man had no time on earth to yield any "fruit" after being saved, (something most Christians are worried about) God has been telling us his story and showing us his example for hundreds of years since. And what is that? Fruit! Another proof of how it's He who works in and through us by the power of His Spirit, totally apart from our own efforts.

So anytime I hear alternate (false) doctrines or disputes between Christians that have to do with minor issues, I think back to this story. It's so silly to try to add to, take away, or even dispute God's Word and His provision for our salvation. He makes it so simple...all praise to Him.

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Hang Curtains for Less

Who's hung curtains lately?

When we moved into our Georgia home last fall, one of the first things I noticed we'd need was curtain rods. And if you've looked lately (or ever) you know that they ain't cheap. Not the decorative ones, at least. And with more than a panel or two to hang, we were looking at hundreds of dollars for standard decorative rods.

Well, you know me. When it comes to cash, I don't drop it like it's hot. I'd much rather hold onto it until it's burned a whole in my pocket. And because we'd need at least nine rods to hang curtains in the main parts of the house (living space and bedrooms), that would add up quickly when you consider that the cost of one rod is about $20-30. The longest ones can even get into the $50 range. But for the sake of the discussion, let's just say they're $20 a piece. $20x9 rods=$180. And that's just way to much to ever conceive spending.

So, I racked my brain for a way to hang our curtains without breaking the bank. And then it hit me; spray-paint!

Well, spray-paint + cheap rods. I can't remember how the idea struck, but Ross- the discount retailer- was the first place I went to make it happen. If anybody was selling rods at a deal, it was them. I'm a bronze fan when it comes to hardware. I like the rich, warm, antiqued feel of it. (You might have noticed that the spray-paint top and the actual rod in the first photo look black, but they're actually a dark metallic brown). Anyway, Ross' big chunky rods weren't much less than the ones at Lowes, but they did have quite a few thinner ones in a variety of finishes- silver, brass, black, etc.

This is where spray paint comes in. These thinner (but still very nice) rods were only $6 a pop. And it didn't matter that four were silver, two were black, and three were brass. With a little Rustoleum spray paint and a couple hours time, they were all bronze and ready for hanging!

So let's talk cost: $6x9= $54. Which admittedly still seems like a lot, (to me at least), but it's much less than $180. And, I have the long-term in mind. I've counted up the number of windows, hence rods, we'll need for the ranch house when we move there. And we almost have enough! These here are definitely going with us, and it's nice to know that we'll get years and years of use out of them.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures from the day of the undertaking, but here's a tip I gleaned from the experience. If you lay the rods out on a large piece of cardboard, you can easily paint the rods and hardware at the same time by poking the screws into the cardboard so that they're standing up. You don't want a silver screw standing out against a bronze rod.

I was so excited to stumble upon this creative way to save money. Have any of you guys had a similar light-bulb-on! moment lately?

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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:17

Kitschy Curtains & Shoddy Sewing

Let's talk kitchens. First- big news- we've ordered the ranch house kitchen! Installation is scheduled to happen during our upcoming trip next month. We're going to attempt it ourselves, which means a cabinet-installation-DIY-post is coming your way.

But until then, there's another kitchen that's in need of some love. You guessed it, our current one in the Georgia house. What's wrong with it? Nothing, functionally. (Other than the bad light switch placement and burnt out bulb.) So how do I say this the nice way... Basically, she's getting along in years and her two most predominate features are blue speckled linoleum flooring and orange slab cabinets.

I like to pretend these unmatching tiles are a kitchen sink rug.

And these over here get hidden by a real rug.

Thane slapped a big VETO on any sort of painting or flooring. (Flooring in a rental, you say? Our neighbors laid carpet down in their kitchen, and it looks amazing! Not happening here though.) And here's the thing; not only are we talking blue speckled linoleum flooring and orange slab cabinets, but we're talking GRUNGY blue speckled linoleum flooring and orange slab cabinets. No amount of sweeping, swiffering, scrubbing, and/or sweating will put a dent in this kind of dinge. So, what's a devoted stay-at-home-wife/mom to do with the shabby heart of her home?

The bible says that a good wife is like "a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house" {Psalm 128:3}*. In comes the beginning of my little makeover. Hopefully the "fruit" of my efforts will indeed bring some new life to this little space. (By the way, the rest of the verse talks about little vine babies...do sweet peas grow on vines? Hehe.)

So anyway, we'll dub this my "Kitschy Kitchen" redo; from dingy and outdated to funky and eclectic. Or that's the goal, anyway. If it can't be fancy (and who wants a stuffy kitchen anyway?), we might as well make it fun!

First up- curtains! If we can't hide the not-so-chic features of our little space, we'll do the next best thing; divert attention elsewhere. To something bold and fun, like red geometric flower print window treatments. I found this fabric at Hancock on clearance. (And what do you know, it's got coral- pink- in it.)

Now for the shoddy-sewing portion of this post. I have the most basic, rudimentary skills when it comes to using a sewing machine. Which means I can make anything as long as it doesn't require a pattern. This is how I got my valence, crib skirt, bumper, and decorative pillows for Asher's nursery. The common denominator is that they're all super easy projects! Not only do I stick with what's easy, I don't even do a good job when it comes down to it. I'm extremely lazy about doing nice hems or correcting mistakes. The faster I get something sewn, the better.

That being said, here were the few simple steps I took to making some very very easy curtain panels.

First, I did a little photoshopping to figure out how I wanted the curtains to hang, and thus what their measurements needed to be. We have these really big, old school windows and window frames, so no standard size was going to work. These are definitely the best features of this kitchen.



These curtains aren't meant to shut, just to hang as if "open" and look pretty. Which means their width will be very skinny. We live on the second story and privacy isn't really an issue in this case. So I decided on panels that would be 46 (L) by 18 (W). To account for rod pocket at the top and the hemming on the sides and bottom, I added some inches and cut two panels that were actually 50 (L) by 20 (W). That gave me plenty of wiggle room for the hemming.

So out came the supplies... fabric, scissors, measurements, tape measure, pencil, iron, and a flat surface. And of course a sewing machine and straight pins.

Measuring and cutting a straight line was easy since I could follow the pattern. (Went straight down the center of a row of flowers. I wish all fabric made it this easy!)

 

(I got a little scissor happy before finishing my measurements.)

I used a regular pencil to mark the "corner" of the rectangle.

After cutting out my 50x20 rectangle, I ironed a quarter inch hem and secured it with pins.

Here's one panel- the sides are cut, ironed, pinned, and ready for sewing!

Once the sides were sewn, I started on the top.

I folded the top down three inches in prep for sewing. Since I had four total inches of fabric to use for the hem (I cut a 50 inch rectangle in order to make a 46 inch panel), that meant I would have one inch left over to hem on the bottom.



I also ironed the fold down so that I'd have a smooth crease to work with. See it? Once I had my crease, I then ironed down a very small sliver before folding the big portion over again. This made a smoother hem. And let me just say that this is the first time I've actually "double-hemmed" anything. Usually I'm too lazy to go to the effort so I have very sloppy, stringy hems. I guess I was feeling fancy and extra motivated today.



Before sewing the top of the panel closed, I used pins to secure it and actually hung it on the rod to test it. It hung exactly like I planned, woo-hoo! 

See this angled corner? This is the only special sewing trick I know (and I'm sure it's not all that special to someone with real sewing skills). This prevents the folded edge of fabric from peaking out (to the front) once it's sewn. It doesn't require any special treatment on the machine, just sew from the edge like you would even if there was no angle in the fabric.

First panel; check! I followed the same steps for the second panel, except I only hemmed one side. After hemming the first side, I laid it on top of the already-completed panel to see how well they matched up. It turned out that they matched perfectly with only the one side hemmed. Which meant my two fabric cuts weren't exactly the same size... But lucky me, since this fabric is technically meant for outside, it's a little stiffer than normal and didn't fray. SO I skipped hemming the opposite side of the second panel altogether. I'm all for a good shortcut when opportunity strikes! 

Speaking of shortcuts and overall shody-ness, here's a great example of my less-than-stellar-technique; Can you see how I totally missed the hem here? The line of thread runs right off of it...

The right thing to do would be to redo it. But who has time for that? Asher certainly doesn't, so it stayed this way. (My Grandmother, the master sewer, is probably laughing and shaking her head, ha!) Speaking of Asher, usually he would be demanding to be in my arms right about now, but he happened to take a super long nap today. How else do you think these got done in one afternoon?

Alright. Two scrappy-but-functional curtain panels, coming right up! Take another look at the "before" windows.

Ta-da!

And now for a curtain montage;

 

The fact that these things are hanging exactly where I wanted them- in line with the bottom of the window trim- must have been a stroke of good fortune. As you can see from the rest of my sewing practices, clearly it wasn't skill that made it happen.

Once the curtains were up I made one more small improvement. I traded out our black dish-drying rack for this red one. We had it sitting around being unused. It's smaller and little less functional than the black one, but so much funner. 

Alright, as always, let's talk cost; I bought 1.5 yards of upholstery fabric on clearance for $6/yd. I used a little over one yard for this project, so the curtains went up for about $6 and some change. And now I have some left over for a project that's yet to be determined. Suggestions?

This little makeover is just getting started. I'd like to find a good deal on a microwave cart so that we can better utilize the empty space to the right of the sink, as well as free up some counter space. It would be great if we could continue to have a trash can there, but disguise it so it's not in plain sight. And of course I'd also like to add more fun decor... So stay tuned for hopefully near-future updates!

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*Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.
{Psalm 128:3} NKJV

-P.S. Kitsch. -noun. "something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste." Derived from the German word kitschen which means "to throw together" (a work of art).

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