Bedroom Curtains

Good morning! I've been looking for weeks for curtains for the master bedroom. Yes, I know it's going totally against decorating advice, but I picked out the paint color first and I've been trying to find something that went with it and the wallpaper already there (that I can't remove, as I don't own the house). As the Valspar website says aptly, this color seems to express "The shadows that appear at dusk, mysterious yet calming, and the tints of twilight on a clear summer night" Here's the paint color, "Summer Night" by Valspar, CI-138, and a magazine photo of a slightly more purple paint, but just to help you envision (unknown source; unfortunately didn't save source along with photo!):

So after buying about 6 different panels and deciding they were all too BLAH, I started looking for fabric. I went to the Viking quilt shop, and picked out this beautiful fabric (main fabric is "Close to My Heart" by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda); and then here are the curtain rods (stock photo from Lowe's; rods are from there).

Hopefully, I will be able to finally get these sewn today, I'm excited!

UPDATE:

I have 2 out of the 4 panel fronts sewn... all they will need after this is to be lined, hemmed & rod pocket put in.

I had the wonderful idea to make triangle shapes instead of just a straight flat flange, and of course, as a quilter, I immediately thought "prairie points!!!". I pulled out my trusty Fons & Porter Quilter's Complete Guide....

 and followed the instructions:

And then had to piece my scraps together of my vintage fabric (made by Sears in the 1960's as a historical reproduction fabric modeled after the Art Nouveau period) for the flange:

I then cut 1 3/4" strips across the stripes; folded in half & in half again to give it more body; pinned, and basted onto the edge of the cream fabric (I ended up lining the cream fabric with same-size pieces of an old sheet to give it more structure; this is the part that will be hung from the rod)

I then pinned the prairie points on, aligning raw edges & making sure the X points where they met fell at exactly where the flange line is:

And I just couldn't wait to hang the rods to see what it will look like... I pinned it up (yes, over fabric, that's what I had pinned up to help keep the light out, lol!) to see what it would look like. You can see part of the dresser (the only piece of furniture in there I really love... the chair's comfy but will definitely need a slipcover!), and a different lamp... anyway, picture the walls painted that pretty Valspar Summer Night, and 2 of these hanging on curtain rods:

And another "before" photo from the other window in the room... this one is the original ugly plaid cornice plus fabric pinned on to insulate, since this room is in the Southwest corner; and one of the other fabrics I auditioned... it looked too close to the wallpaper design!

I'm seriously thinking about using curtain clips instead of a rod pocket, like in these photos:

Yellow curtains from Jenn Woodhouse

Fabrics:

Main floral is "Close to My Heart" by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda Fabrics; Pattern # 42006

Cream tone-on-tone stripe is "Neutral Companions" by Anna Fishkin for Red Rooster Fabrics; DSN #19705

Blue-Gray small floral is "Harpers Ferry by Nancy Gere 1810-1890" by Windham Fabrics; Pattern # 27716

And greenish stripe used as accent flange is antique fabric supposedly dating from the 1960's; manufactured then by Sears as a reproduction of an 1800's-early 1900's fabric; it has "A Sears Vincent Price National Treasure" printed on the selvedges

All except the antique one were purchased from Viking Says Sew in Greenville, SC.

UPDATE II:

Here are finished curtains with Valspar's Summer Night paint:

‘A passion to help others’

‘A passion to help others’ I am so very proud of my little sister, and her heart for God's work is humbling and inspiring. She's the sister that I made my first Whimsical Rhapsody quilt for, which has been waiting here for her to come home. If we can raise enough money for her to (she's already used all the savings from working at Wendy's through high school to finance the mission trip), she'll be able to come home for a little while this summer and work, and then go back in the fall.

New home office!

I love how the home office area is coming together! Here are photos:

Craigslist desk, $75 with free chair

Bamboo filing/office cabinet, have had 8 or 9 years, bought at Target

free chair, came with the Craigslist desk

Desk is used, $75 Craigslist purchase, Sauder brand

Chair was free with the desk, came very scratched; needs a seat cushion for comfort & style

Dry Erase board is magnetic and from Walmart

Very cute paper covered pen holder & tray/organizer are by See Jane Work, from Office Depot, and I coated them both with several coats of Modge Podge to protect the paper

Area to left is part of my sewing stuff...

Cubby holder/baskets/cubbies from Target, total cost ~$200

Thread rack, Hancock Fabrics, sale price $15

Corkboard, Target, with a block I need to ship off for the soldiers

UPDATED Considering a Filing Cabinet Makeover

I have this 15-20 year old awful, horrible putty-colored filing cabinet that makes me cringe, every time I see it. But I need it for storage, and since it's already mine, that's pretty much free...

So of course, I started searching online for how to paint or otherwise make it pretty, and came across the wonderful idea of decoupaging. Here are some wonderful file cabinets actually made beautiful:

1. DesignSponge
2. Apartment Therapy
3. DIY Network
4. Waste Not Workshop blog

Or, I could just paint it... supposedly a textured paint covers the little dings & stuff better:

How About Orange

Apartment Therapy

Metal and Mud blog

So maybe the ugly file cabinet will stick around then?? We'll see, but at least there's hope of making it look nicer!

UPDATE:

The file cabinet was saved, I sprayed with Bulls-Eye 1-2-3 primer....

... and then painted with anti-skid floor paint for added texture, and a little paint glitter mixed in.

The paper is from World Market.

And I have a "new", very cute file cabinet for about $20, and a combination of paint and decoupage:

Will find a spot for it somewhere, it looks too good to hide in the closet :)

New shower curtain!!!

I am so very excited... we have a very, very pink bathroom that my 7-yr-old son, unfortunately, has to use. It's wallpaper printed as pink over pink sponge painting, and I hate it. To top it off, the decorator used what would otherwise be gorgeous PINK and cream shower curtains.
Here is a partial view of the curtains, I'd have to hang them back up to take a proper "before" photo:

When you walk in the room, it felt like walking into a big pink bubble. My 7-yr-old son hated all the pink. I plan to paint it, but that will mean somehow removing the wallpaper first, and that's TOO big of a project to do right now. And the floor... it's vinyl with roses... I love roses (obviously, lol!) but on the floor? I don't think so! AND builder honey oak cabinet, sigh. The whole bathroom needs a complete makeover.

I tried my best to bring some other colors into the room, but still wayyyyy too not-so-cool '90's:

And then... I went to Bed Bath & Beyond today to buy shower curtain liners, and lo and behold, there it was (this is the stock photo from their site):

I am SO excited about this, I never thought that putting really bright colors in there would actually make the pink stand out less:

As you can see, I need to get a pretty shower curtain rod & nice hooks, but what a difference $29.99 - $5 coupon made!!!

Completed Anthropologie-Inspired Quilts

I've been showing photos as they've been coming along, but here are the 2 quilts I finished & shipped off to my wonderful Etsy customer last Thursday. She wanted 2 full-size quilts, both of my original Whimsical Rhapsody design, but a little different. Again, here are the Anthropology curtains she is designing her kids' room around, with accents of turquoise, avocado green, and mustard yellow:

Full view of the one the I machine quilted:

And the back of it, showing how I did it in sections & then hand-covered the seams (never doing that again- WAY too time-consuming, lol!):

And the front of the one I had machine quilted by my really, incredibly awesome longarm quilter:

Another view of that one:

Border fabric is by Tina Givens for Freespirit Fabrics, "Treetop Fancy". I always make my own binding, but in the time crunch to get these finished, and the dreaded thought of making binding for 2 full-size quilts (about 20 yards!!), I went with Wright's premade Extra Wide Bias Binding.

I love how they turned out, they were certainly a labor of love... and I decided that I hadn't been charging enough, lol!