Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Man Cave: Chipper Storm Twill No-Sew Curtains

Check out the new curtains in Tal's man cave!

For less than $25 per panel, I made four no-sew curtains using 12 yards of 
Chipper Storm Twill fabric, as well as four packages of Heat 'n Bond and curtain clips. 
I even have enough leftover fabric to make a couple pillows for Tal's man cave! 

To begin, I rolled out the fabric on our living room carpet. 
I wanted my finished curtains to be 90 inches long, but I cut the fabric 
at 94 inches to allow for hemming:  

I used my iron to fold down the edges and then put Heat 'n Bond inside 
the folds to hem the the top and both sides of each panel:

I worked my way around the fabric...putting my iron on the edges 
for 3 seconds at a time in order to bond the fabric together 
and create a smooth edge:

Then, I used a pack of curtain clips to hang each panel. 
Thanks to Tal who hung these black curtain rods that 
I bought at JcPenney for $15 each.
What a steal!

While the panels were hanging from the rod, I used Heat 'n Bond 
to hem the bottom of each panel, so they barely touched the floor:

It took less than four hours to make and hang four panels, 
which add some pattern to Tal's man cave and tie in with the 
room's gray, white, and black color sheme: 


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Pumpkin Farm: Take 2

Today Savannah and I had a blast at a local pumpkin farm 
with my friend Cindy and her daughter Isabella. 
It was Teacher Appreciation Day, so everything was free!

Savannah and Isabella are only 6 weeks apart in age and have been friends since birth.
They are such sweet friends!

Isabella loved pushing Savannah on the swing:



Savannah stands in front of this sign every year, 
so we can measure how much she's grown over the past year. 

Savannah is about 3.5 feet tall this year 
and looking more like a kindergartner every day:

Savannah and Isabella squealed with delight as 
they slid down the giant slide all by themselves:

 

As always, Savannah loved rolling around in the corn bin:

Before heading home, all of us took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch
where we each picked out a pumpkin to take home:

Going to the pumpkin farm was a fun way to kick off fall!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Dining Room: Ikat Curtains

Remember the Ikat curtains that I bought on clearance from Ballard Designs last year? 
Well, I finally got around to hanging them in our dining room this week:  

The Ikat print in khaki, white, and blue coordinates 
nicely with the rest of our home:

The curtains add some pattern and interest to our dining room, 
yet keep it neutral enough so we can decorate with various colors when we host parties:  

The curtain panels were 108 inches long, so I cut off 8.5 inches 
and then used Heat 'n Bond to hem the bottom:
 
A big thanks to Tal who graciously volunteered to hang the ORB curtain rod for me:

Tal hung the rod high and wide to make our window appear larger:


It's amazing how curtains make our dining room feel more cozy and cohesive:

Now that this project is done, I can cross it off my 2013 to-do list


Monday, September 16, 2013

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Pumpkin Farm

On Saturday, Savannah and I visited the pumpkin farm my friend Emily and her son Xavier. The pumpkin farm offered free admission for teachers and their families. It was a beautiful day to swing on the playground, play in the corn bin, and slide down the giant slide. Savannah and I even took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch where we each picked out a pumpkin!




Savannah climbed the hill and went down the giant slide at least 10 times ALL BY HERSELF. 
She was such a big girl! 

I loved hearing Savannah's squeals of delight as she flew down the slide:

Check out the the view of the pumpkin farm from the top of the giant slide:




Xavier and Savannah playing in the corn bin 

Pure happiness
 


 

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Home Gym: Waverly Groovy Grille No-Sew Curtains

My first attempt at making no-sew curtains was a success!

In August, I painted our home gym with Olympic's Royal Palm:

On Labor Day, I made some no-sew curtains using 6 yards of 
Waverly's Groovy Grille fabric plus two packages of Heat 'n Bond and curtain clips:


To begin, I rolled out the fabric on our living room carpet and 
then cut it in half to create two panels (108 inches each): 

I used my iron to fold down the the edges and then put Heat 'n Bond 
inside the folds to hem the top and both sides of each panel (as shown below):


I worked my way around the fabric...putting my iron on the edges 
for 3 seconds at a time in order to bond the fabric together and create a smooth edge:   

Then, I used curtain clips to hang the curtain panels:

While the panels were hanging from the rod, I used Heat 'n Bond to hem the 
bottom of each panel, so they were around 102 inches long and barely touching the floor: 

It was a challenge to find a curved curtain rod for the bay window in our gym. 
Thanks to Tal who hung this Umbra bay window curtain rod from Amazon

This project was pretty easy and only took a few hours to complete:

I love how the curtains look professional, as well as add some color, pattern,
and personality to our home gym!