Sheets Turned Into No Sew Window Panels

         Ok, so when we bought our house, one of the first things we had to do was get blinds for all of the windows.  We purposefully didn't get any kind of window treatment for the sliding glass doors in our kitchen at that time, because I didn't want the sliding blinds that we had in our last house (I don't really care for them even though I understand their practicality).  That meant that if we were in our kitchen at night and the lights were on, all of our neighbors could see directly into our kitchen, so I had to come up with a solution.  I knew I wanted window panels, but they couldn't be regular panels.  We use the sliding glass door to take the dog out all the time, so the panels needed to be beautiful but practical.

        Then, I had an idea.  I had two sets of identical queen size sheets that I used when I lived in my apartment.  They were the right color for my kitchen, and I thought that I might be able to sew them into window panels.  After pulling them out, I realized that I didn't need to sew them at all, because they already had perfectly good hem lines.  I could fold them in half and use a no sew adhesive to create a window panel.  That solved half of my problem.

        The other half of the problem was the practicality part, but then I found drapery clip rings at Target.  Problem solved!  The clips slide across a curtain rod with ease, making it extremely practical for our sliding glass door!  

       Now no one can see in our house at night when the lights are on, and I don’t have to look at ugly sliding blinds!  Here’s how I did it……

I bought this product at my local craft store for $2.69.  The heat adhesive strips that can be ironed onto fabric would work just as well as this product.  The strips are a little more expensive than the glue, and since the sheets already had a perfectly good hem, I chose to purchase the glue. 

I got these at Target.  I spent $4-$6 for each package...I think.  I'm not sure of the exact price, because I bought them a few weeks ago with this project in mind.  There are seven clips in each pack, and they can be found in just about any department store.

These are two sets of queen size sheets I used in my apartment before I got married....and they haven't been used since I've been married.  That meant I either needed to get rid of them or find a different use for them.  I chose to find a different use, and I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  For this project, I used the queen size flat sheet from each set.  

The first thing you need to do is iron your sheet.  This was the longest part of this entire project.  My sheets had been stored for awhile, and they had lots of stubborn wrinkles.

Once you get the wrinkles out, fold your sheet in half.  It is important that you take the time to make sure you have folded the sheet in half perfectly.  Once you fold it in half, begin ironing the fold, so that the fold is nice and crisp. 

The rest of the project is super easy.  Just take your glue and begin gluing along the fold line to create a glued hem line.  Then glue the existing hem lines together on the remaining three sides of your sheet.  This will make one panel curtain.  You shouldn't need to use a curtain liner for this project.  The folded fabric should be thick enough to keep the light out. 

Just make sure to only glue a little bit at a time.  Once you've glued, pinch the hem lines together for a few seconds; just so you know it's going to hold.....and that's it!  Once you've glued the sides of the folded sheet, you've successfully made one panel!  Now take your other sheet, and do it all over again to make your second panel:)

Once both panels are complete, clip on your drapery clip rings to the top of your curtains.

Then, hang up your curtains, take a step back and look at what you've created without doing any sewing! I have four matching pillow cases, and I'm thinking about making a no sew valance to go above my kitchen sink....but we'll see....not sure if I will or not.



This isn't the best picture, because of the way the sun was coming in the kitchen.....but it's the best I could do.  Here's my finished product.  I'm pretty happy with it, and by using some things that I already had, this whole project cost me around $10!  Now that's definitely something to be happy about ;) 



Read More

March 30....Really???

When I was at Target this morning I was kind of in a Christmas shopping mood, but there wasn’t any Christmas décor to be found.  I really shouldn’t be thinking Christmas when Easter is just around the corner, but I couldn’t help myself when it felt and looked like the first week of December!  

We had a few great weeks of warm spring-like weather in the Indianapolis area, but the seasons don’t always time themselves with the calendar.  I’ve checked the calendar, and today is definitely March 30.  April is almost here, but you wouldn’t know it by looking outside.  You wouldn’t know it because it’s snowing.... and it’s snowing hard where I’m at; it’s even sticking a little!  One word…Ugh!!!  I wish it was warm and sunny and a little more spring-like right now.

Oh well, there’s not a thing I can do about the weather, so today I will accept the snow, curl up on the couch with my dog and cat, and take a much needed nap before I go to church this evening.  Although I have a million things that I could do with the rest of my afternoon, I’ve been sick for over a week, and a nap trumps everything else on today's to-do-list.   I haven’t been sick enough to stay home from work and be in bed everyday, but I’ve been just sick enough to be exhausted everyday.   It’s been an achy body, stuffy head, runny nose, sore throat kind of sick.  It’s not been fun, and this weather probably has something to do with it. 

Well, this post is coming to an end, because I have an Einstein asiago bagel and a cup of coffee waiting for me.  Soooo not a healthy lunch…..but it is somewhat warm and comforting on this wintry spring day.  So good bye for now dear blog readers.  I wish you all a happy spring…. even though it feels like I should be wishing you a Merry Christmas. 

Read More

Celebrating Two Years of Marriage Bliss

My husband did a great job planning our anniversary weekend.  He did a great job, because he thought about the things I enjoy, and he planned a weekend based on that thoughtfulness.  Here are some of the highlights from my weekend.

We started our day out at Findlay Market.
http://www.findlaymarket.org/



   

It is a lot like Indy's City Market, but it is open all day every day.
In general, I find Cincinnati to be less clean in comparison to Indy.  The location of the market gave me the same feeling, but overall I liked this market better than Indy's. 




There's nothing like bringing a little bit of freshness into the city.




I love the atmosphere of a city market, and Matt knows that.  It was very thoughtful of him to take me here. 



Around the perimeter of the building is where one would find the fresh produce, plants and crafts.  Inside the building is all of the fresh meat, sea food, dairy, bread and pastries. 

This freshly made Belgian waffle with whip cream and strawberries was soooo yummy!!!  I love the market!

This is me enjoying my waffle and coffee.

Matt decided to get fresh sushi instead of a waffle.  They were supposed to make the sushi tempura style, but it ended up looking and tasting like pancake covered sushi.  We wouldn't reccommend the sushi, but Matt said that is what happens when you have Americans make your sushi:)

After the market, we went to the heart of city, Fountain Square.

Right on the square is this fabulous Italian bistro, Via Vite.
http://www.viaviterestaurant.com/

Me enjoying my lunch at Via Vite.

I ordered the CLT, a.k.a the crab salad sandwich.

  

Matt ordered the open faced caprese panini.

After lunch we headed to IKEA.

I found some fabulous buys at Ikea, and I will have to blog about them in a later post.

Our last stop was the main event.  This is where we spent our wedding night two years ago, and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this enchanting bed and breakfast.
http://www.stonebridgeinnandspa.com/

This is not a place to stay if you are trying to save money.  The nightly rates are somewhat high, but it is worth every penny if your intent is to splurge a little for a special occassion.

This is the name of the room that we stay in when we come here.  We booked this room four months ago as this room is booked often. 
http://www.stonebridgeinnandspa.com/garden_spa.php

It is not a huge room, but it is a beautiful room with a beautiful view of the gardens, a cozy fireplace and a relaxing jaccuzi tub.  This picture does not do the room justice. 

Piano music and appetizers are from 6-7.

This is Matt eating his fancy appetizers while listening to the piano in the great room.

When we went back to our room for the evening, chocolate covered strawberries were waiting for us with a personalized card wishing us a happy anniversary.  The bed was turned down for us, chocolate was on the pillow, the fireplace was going, and candles were lit all over the room. This inn knows how to do the details.  Everything from the candle lit drive and porch to the blankets on the porch swing do not go unnoticed by me.   I definitely notice and appreciate the details.

The inn will make dinner reservations for you, but we decided to eat in and order a pizza.  Classy huh?  I love how the inn gave us fancy plates and napkins for our oh so very casual pizza.  By the way, the pizza was nasty and we would not reccommend it.  The only downfall to going to an inn in Batesville is that there is nothing in Batesville, not even a Papa Johns.  Fortunately, the inn has snacks for the guest.  There are always sodas, juices, coffee, chips, crackers and fresh pastries down stairs for the guests to enjoy.

I realized that we were officially past the newly wed phase when we were eating pizza and watching basketball in our upscale suite.

Breakfast was beautiful and delicious.

Me enjoying my morning coffee.

Creme brulee French toast with scrambled eggs and sausage on the side ~ YUM!  I couldn't ask for anything more.  I had a great anniversary.  Thank you to my wonderful husband for taking the time to plan a memorable weekend!



Read More

Furnishing our Master Bedroom with Craigslist



Let the furnishing of the new house begin!!!  Let me just start by saying, that from the moment I walked into the house, I knew exactly what I wanted in the way of new furniture.  I also knew that Matt and I had a budget we were determined to stick to.  We don't want to put any furniture on a credit card; we only want to use cash. 

This weekend we started furnishing our bedroom.  We were looking for furniture similar to what we like at Ikea. Ikea already has really good buys on new furniture, but I was determined to find furniture that looked as good as Ikea's, but cost less.  We were successful with that this weekend thanks to Craigslist.  On Friday, we cashed my pay check and bought five pieces of furniture.  We only used the cash, and we didn't even use the whole paycheck!  If we would have bought the five pieces of furniture new from Ikea, we would have spent $1,450 before tax.  We walked away with all five pieces for $545.  We are so thankful for great bargains! 

Below are pictures of the pieces of furniture we liked from Ikea, and pictures of the furniture we purchased from Craigslist.



 

This is the bed we were going to get from Ikea.  It is listed for $299, but it is on sale for $199.

This is the exact same bed from Ikea.  We found it on Craigslist for $150.  The picture only shows the head board and the foot board, but we purchased the entire bed frame.  It also came with the metal supports that would have cost us an additional $50 at Ikea.  We saved $100 buying this bed frame used.  There is nothing wrong with this bed, so we got a great deal.



This is a nightstand that we liked at Ikea.  It is listed for $199.



This is a similar night stand that we purchased off of Craigslist for $50.  We saved $149 buying used. 



This is a dresser we liked at Ikea.  It is listed for $299.



This is a similar dresser we found on Craigslist for $120.  We saved $179 buying used.



This is a dresser we liked from Ikea.  It is listed for $299.



We purchased this dresser from Craigslist for $150.  That is a savings of $149. 

 Both dressers and the nightstand came from the same seller on Craigslist.  She is a mom who buys old unwanted furniture, refinishes them, and turns them into beautiful pieces of furniture.  By purchasing from her I was helping a mom with her business, and I love that.  I was aslo recycling unwanted furniture, I also love that.  Lastly, I was saving myself the time of refinishing three pieces of furniture.  I have bought used furniture and refinished it myself in the past, and I could have done the same thing for all of our bedroom furniture.  Buying from her saved me the work, and her prices were still pretty good. 





This is an armoir we liked from Ikea. It is listed for $399.



This is a finished piece we found on Craigslist for $250.  The guy selling it refinished it and painted it black. It would look perfect with all of our other black furniture, but........we didn't buy it........

.....we bought this instead.  It was $75 on Craigslist.  It is the exact same one as the one above, but it needs to be refinished and painted black.  I have some experience in refinishing furniture, so it is a task I think I can handle.  Compared to the Ikea armoir, this is a savings of $324.

Read More