My No Sew Window Treatments

The kitchen nightmare redo is done ~ FINALLY!!! Well, as done as it's gonna get before Brandon graduates from high school this weekend! We still have the floor to do and appliances to replace and/or redo, but we were able to get everything done that we wanted to before my family comes in from Arkansas for the graduation. I haven't gotten everything all cleaned up and staged yet, so no pics to share right now. I promise I will get to them sometime this week (I hope!).

I looked and looked for window treatments for the two windows in the kithen, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted ready made. So I went to JoAnn's and bought two yards of fabric and pinned and folded and fussed with them till I got what I wanted. Here's how they turned out:



I really wanted to do a faux roman shade treatment that I saw on another blog a while back, but I didn't have time this weekend to figure it all out, so this is gonna have to do for now! I really like how they turned out.

I am so happy to have most of this kitchen done! It has been a trip, for sure! Seems like everything we attempted took twice the amount of money and three times the amount of time I figured it would take. But I am thrilled with how everything has turned out. There were some compromises along the way and I had to change my game plan a couple of times, but it all worked out in the end. We aren't professionals by a long shot, but we did good for some so so DIY'ers!

Until next time. . .

A Memorial Day Vignette!

I decided last weekend to change up my accessories in the living room. I wanted something with a patriotic theme that I could leave up until after Labor Day. This is what I came up with:



The old Singer sewing machine belonged to my grandmother on my mother's side. Sadly, it sat in storage for many years and the innards are all rusted and don't function anymore, but I had the finish restored on the outside a few years ago. I love it and will treasure it always since it is the only thing I have that belonged to my grandmother who is no longer with us in body, but whose spirit will always be in our hearts.

A red tin barn star that I repainted. It was an ugly yellowy brown color when I bought it. And some blue and white plates for the wall. Red, white, and blue!!!




Some USA stacking boxes I won in a giveaway last year topped with a white pitcher filled with sunflowers and little American flags.





And to round it all out, old timey photos we had taken on a weekend trip to Gatlinburg, TN a few years back. We had a ball doing these! Hubby made the frames for these out of some old boards he found.



I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend! A special thanks to all our men and women and their families who serve our great country in the military. Nothing would be possible without all their sacrifices!

I'm linking up with Marty over at A Stroll Thru Life for her Tabletop Tuesday.

Until next time. . .

Faux Iron Wall Art For Less Than $1

I love iron wall art. But it can be kind of pricey. Hobby Lobby has a great selection and their prices are usually pretty reasonable, especially if they have it on sale for fifty percent off! The only problem with that is, the nearest HL to me is about an hour's drive. So I can't just "run by" and pick up a piece whenever I want to. I've seen the wonderful creations out there in blog land where some talented folks have made their own iron look wall art out of toilet paper rolls and it inspired me to give it a try. Only I decided I wanted a piece of wall art that was longer than I could get from a toilet paper or paper towel roll. So I bought a piece of poster board and got to work! I used a yard stick to draw some lines the width I wanted then I just cut them out, leaving me with long strips of paper. I used a pencil to curl my paper edges to the shape I wanted. I cut some of my strips down to get the sizes I wanted. Sorry, but I didn't take any pics of the actual process. I wasn't sure it was going to work so I was just basically playing with it. I used my trusty hot glue gun to glue my paper together. When I was finished, it was a bit flimsy so I found an old thin dowel I had in my craft stash and cut it down to size, then hot glued it to the bottom of my piece. Then I added a couple more smaller pieces of paper to it to finish it off. Once I was satisfied with my "art", I spray painted it with some black paint and then finished it with a light coat of spray sealer. Here's my finished piece:





Pretty good for a first try, don't you think? This was easy and fun and I'll definitely make more!

I'm linking up with Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays over at Coastal Charm, with Kim's Wow Us Wednesday over at Savvy Southern Style, with Kate's Flaunt it Fridays over at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, with Kindra's Terrific Under Ten Tuesday, and with Christina's 20 Below Thursdays over at Christina's Adventures.
Oh, and here too:



Until next time. . .