How to (no-sew) hem curtains while they’re still on the rod!

So, it’s no secret here that sewing hates me is NOT a strong suit of mine. I’ve done it a few times, like when Mac helped me make shower curtains for our last house, or when I recovered my Target-inspired bench, but it’s always been an intimidating process for me. So, when it came to hanging curtains in our current home, I stalled. The ceilings in this house (in the bedrooms, anyways) are much lower than our last home, so I knew that I’d have to hem our curtains to achieve that crisp, tailored look that I love.

So, when I finally manned up and hung the curtains, they stayed long and “pooly” for a bit. And every time I walked into the bedroom they stared at me with that condescending look of victory.   You will not defeat us.  Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.  I stared back, nodded in defiance, and muttered “Challenge accepted.”

Honestly, I wish I could say that I went into it all gung-ho with pistols blazing, racing towards my final goal.  But really, although I’d accepted the challenge, the process started as one small, innocent step towards my final goal.   I simply thought, “Hey, I may as well pin them to the correct length.  At least that’ll be a good start.”…

IMG_8071

So, I did.

I folded up the material right at the floor and pinned them with straight pins. Then, I figured, “Well, I may as well trim the excess material while I’m at it so the bottoms don’t look quite as messy…”….

IMG_8072

So, I did.

Once that was done, I thought, “Ya knooooow, if I set up the ironing board beneath the window, I could easily iron that hem nice and flat.  That should tide me over until I gather the energy to take down the curtains and officially hem them…”….

IMG_8073

So, I did.

I simply ironed right over the straight pins.

IMG_8074

Once that was done, I figured “Wellllllllll, since I already have the iron out, I may as well use some iron-on hem tape and finish off the hem…”…

IMG_8075

IMG_8077

IMG_8078

So, I did.

Lastly, I trimmed up the excess material so that it looked much straighter than this….

IMG_8079

And done.

IMG_8081

It seriously took me about 10 minutes per panel and each panel ended up the perfect length. Needless to say, I’ll never hem a curtain any other way. It was painless, easy and fast. And to think…  I stalled and hemmed and hawed (punintended) for nothing.  All I needed was to simply get started and the rest of the process fell right into place.

Now, for some updated bedroom shots.  But first, let’s go back to where we started…

232323232-fp83232-uqcshlukaxroqdfv7997=ot-2487=7;-=;69=XROQDF-267-78773-255ot1lsi

And here we are after replacing the carpet and windows, painting the walls a soothing gray, creating some DIY artwork, and adding our freshly hemmed curtains…

IMG_8167 IMG_8170

Isn’t it amazing how curtains instantly add a layer of comfort and softness to a room?  Plus, the window now makes a much grander statement in the space. Next up will be adding more artwork, and I’m still on the lookout for a new, more streamlined wood bed.

As for the “Atrium Area” as I’ve affectionately dubbed it, I’ve finally accessorized the space.  The mirror will be painted white soon and once I find some neat, geometric fabric, I’ll be applying it to the wall behind the dresser to brighten up the space.  Plus, we’ll add a cool chandelier.  It’s gonna be neat when it’s done.  That is, if it turns out like it is in my head (fingerscrossed)…..

IMG_8173

IMG_8176

So, that’s the current state of things in our bedroom.

Do any of y’all ever stall on projects that you dread, only to have that “why didn’t I do this sooner” moment once you finally get to it?

 

TDC Before and After

Our (now) charcoal front door

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours turned out a bit differently than planned… My mother, Lucas, and I were all sick, so Christmas plans were cancelled. Total bummer. Seriously, if there’s one thing I can say about this time of year, it’s this…. if you’re under the weather, or know that your kiddos are, just stay home. Don’t spread your germies. Trust me, everyone will thank you.

In other news, I’ve been a total DIY FIEND these past few days. Seriously. It’s crazy. For the past few months we’ve had a TON of company in town, then with the holidays and Lucas’s birthday, I haven’t had much time to really get my hands dirty with projects. Fortunately, I wasn’t nearly as sick as Lucas and something about being homebound for days set the ball rolling. I.just.can’t.stop.DIYing. This is how I know that DIY is my passion. If I’m unable to do it for a few months, I sort of reach my limit and binge as soon as I have the opportunity. Unhealthy? Perhaps.  But this is me.

To elaborate on my recent insanity, allow me explain…. Since Thursday, I’ve painted our front doorway, painted our hang-out room, cleaned up the spare room (new, neater pics of the room are now in our House Tour), hung curtains and art work in 3 of the bedrooms, hemmed the aforementioned curtains (in the easiest possible way… Can’t wait to share!!), and painted our half bath… Twice. And it’s about to be painted again because the color isn’t exactly what I was looking for. And I’m painting our tv stand white today. Oh, and I finally took pictures of everything listed above plus pictures of the updates in Lucas’s room that I made months ago. Yes, and this was all in three days (whatiswrongwithme?).  So, it’s fair to say that I have a ton to share with you.

Anyways, today, because I absolutely despised the gloomy pictures of our house that I took when we had the exterior painted, I’m starting there. With our front door. And much prettier pics of our home’s exterior. As I’d described in this post, I’d planned to paint the doorway a nice charcoal grey. And I was going between just painting the door….

House3

Or painting the entire doorway,…

House2

Well, let me tell you… I started by painting the front/storm door only and it was so painfully obvious that the entire thing needed to be painted, I didn’t even take a picture. I just kept painting. The color I settled on is called Black Bean by Behr. To decide, I basically just taped paint swatches to the door and stepped back. It was obvious right off the bat that Black Bean was “the one”.

Painting was pretty straight forward. Since I knew that the door surround had been painted with water-based paint, I just simply painted that straight off. Our actual door and storm door, though, had been painted in oil-based paint. I knew this because our painters told me, but if you ever need to determine the type of paint you’re dealing with, here’s a tip….

Rub a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol on the paint in question. If it’s oil-based nothing will happen. If it’s water based, the paint will become mildly sticky and start coming off on the cotton ball.

Since my door was oil-based, I basically had two options:

1. Paint it with oil-based paint (Nope. I already had water-based paint and didn’t want to expose my family to the fumes or crazy long dry-time of oil-based paint. I mean, we need to close our front door at some point, right?)

2. Use a primer designed to go under or over any type of paint.

So, number two it was (“…who does #2 work for?” Heehee! Moving on…). I used my favorite go-to shellac primer….

20130923-195138.jpg

It sticks to everything and can be recoated in as little as 45 minutes. Sold!

So, I gave my door and storm door a thin and even coat of primer with a foam roller, then followed up with two coats of Black Bean.  Here’s after the first coat…

I have to say, I was very impressed with Behr’s exterior paint. It covered like a dream. Two coats left a nice even finish.  And here is how it turned out…..

SUCH an improvement from this pic from the day we closed…..

IMG_7197

Next, I’ll be (*coughcough*weeding*coughcough*) sealing/enhancing the terracotta tile to bring out those gorgeous, rich colors (like I did on the back patio), painting the rusty green gate and post lighting fixtures a sharp, clean black, and eventually changing those teeny lighting fixtures for something more modern.

Here’s a shot of the entire house….

And a before from when we closed….

IMG_7156.jpg2

I love how the charcoal adds some much needed contrast and interest to the house.  It really compliments the new paint job well.   Plus, Joey’s landscaping job really warms up the front, especially the added beds/bushes in front of the courtyard.    Can’t wait to paint that gate and really work on that courtyard!!  Mother Nature, we need your assistance on this one… Niceweatherniceweatherniceweather….

So, how was your Christmas?  Any post holiday projects you’ve been working on?   Have you ever been so-so about a project (much like I was on our exterior paint job) and then you add one more element and it totally clicks??   Spill!  🙂

TDC Before and After