What Ana Does

When I decided I wanted navy chevron curtains in my dining room, a few folks told me I was crazy; I'd get tired of the crazy design. But I sewed them together , anyway, and hung them up. And I still love them. So there. Chevron Curtains! I closed them today, something I hardly ever do, because the sub-zero wind is just blowing through the crappy windows. It's a heat-conservation thing. I just had to share. 

That just looks awesome, am I right?  It's just a piece of test fabric leftover from pillow making, but finishes up this little windows perfectly. Matches everything. Yay!  Off to buy even more chevron fabric! 

Since I posted the picture of my new Family Room curtains and mentioned their relationship to the blue wall directly across from it, I figured you might need a refresher on what the heck I'm talking about. So, here you go: Window Wall: "Well, hello!" TV Wall: "Welcome to the Neighborhood, Good Lookin'!" Now, just imagine the beige walls painted a bright white! Perfection! Related posts: More about my Family Room

As promised, some "nicer" photos of that dining room window curtain. (Minus the dirty dining room table -- which I cleaned up, I promise.) Check out the chevron placemat -- got them around Christmas time, knowing someday they'd have matching curtains. Chevron Rules!  Now You See the Table and Placemat - Awesome!

A Side View Happy to report these curtains are finally complete! Huzzah! These took a bit more time -- that's nearly 7 yards of fabric, people! But they turned out pretty well -- and look! They're the same length! Crazy skills. I love that the navy blue "talks" (that's what the decorators on HGTV say, I'm totally a professional now) to the big navy blue wall on the other side of the room. Someday, if I have my way, this room will have white walls, instead of beige. And those curtains will really "pop" then. Little by little ... There are two other lower windows in this room, that flank the fireplace, and I have a sneaking suspicion a certain husband of mine will begin asking for more coverage on those windows, once he realizes the later afternoon sun hits those. But, for now, I think that will take care of my curtain-making career. I'm off to find other home project. Wall of Blue Curtains

Adding the Tabs So Dave has been campaigning for curtains in the family room since we moved in. We love the room because it has a ton of windows, but they're not always ideal when you want to watch football in the middle of a Sunday -- with the sun streaming through the windows. (Poor guy). Curtains are a lot cheaper than finishing the basement for his man-cave (waiting for the lottery to start on that project.) As I mentioned earlier , I found thick, navy upholstery fabric at the Loomcraft outlet and after I had finished my glorious dining room curtains , I set to work on these. Measuring Out the Tabs  I'm doing a hidden tab design using grosgrain ribbon as the tabs (as suggested by a blogger tutorial I found). I'm also making a rod pocket, just in case I change my mind. I needed three panels, as I have three windows that go 119'' across the back of the room. Big space. It's challenging to work with this amount of fabric. And it's heavy,...

I mean, come on! They are just too cool!! It only took under two hours ... mostly because I was constantly interrupted. (Mommy! Mommy! It's a wonder I get anything done.) But these were simple. Pocket for the rod along the top. I tried to match the zig-zag pattern so it follows across the two panels. Hem the bottom. Boom. (I need a better picture ... i know!) New Curtains and My Messy Dining Room Table! Off to tackle the next project ... the family room curtains. Daunting! 

Just Hung the Rod I'm about to tackle my biggest sewing project yet ... the dining room curtains. My plan is to use chevron (zig-zag) curtains because I love the dynamic feel of them and the navy will continue my theme. Over the year, I've picked up chevron placemats and made a rainbow chevron throw pillow. I also found chevron contact paper, though I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I thought I'd just buy pre-made panels, but no store is selling them. Etsy had a listing and at $165.00, I thought it was a pretty good deal but never got around to pushing the "BUY" button. So, when I was at the fabric store last weekend, and saw it for $18.97/yard -- about $100. I thought I could make that work. Add in the $40 curtain rod from Home Depot and we're rolling! This should be pretty straightforward -- I'm just doing a pocket for the rod at the top and a hem. Two panels and I'll swath them out with some hooks. (Heh, easier sa...

Pretty Pattern This is my second attempt on curtains in Alice's room. The first were pink, black-out curtains that I'd hoped would help her sleep in a little later (no such luck). They were inexpensive from Amazon and they just didn't do anything for her room. So when I replaced her curtain rod, I bought her new curtains as well. These ones are from Land of Nod and I just love the neat pattern on them. They're neutral but have a bit of a statement to make. And the pink matches the wall color -- Pink! Joy! And Alice likes them! I still may need to sew-in a blackout liner. I'd love it if Alice slept-in once in a while, so it's worth it to me to put the time in on making them darker. But I think that's a project for another day. After

Before In Leah's room, there are no curtain rods and the only windows are in the corner -- which was a challenge. But that corner was just screaming for some style -- that ISN'T beige blinds. It took me a few trips to Home Depot to get the right curtain rods but with Dave's help, we got them hung and the new curtains installed. The results are beautiful! I love how the green in the fabric plays off of the teal walls. My green-blue themed room just gives me giggles of delight. And here's the link to the curtains on the Land of Nod site .  Leah's Green Curtains - After! Memo to myself when I buy my next house: Pay close attention to curtain rods. So much better to buy a house with them installed. Adding them to this house has been such a production! And other than the master, none of the rooms had curtain rods. I will note that all the windows had these rather expensive looking blinds. That was certainly a plus.

I know ... I was going to make the curtains for the girls' bedrooms. Heck, I even got fabric! Carol sent me some cute yellow gingham she was going to use in Adriana's room (abandon for store-bought curtains) and I found some cool, geometric-print fabric for Leah's room. But, the task required me to do some solid math to make alterations since the fabric was too short or not wide enough for an easy fit. I've been keeping my eye out for some pretty patterns that I might like a little better -- in store-bought curtains. A few weeks ago, I found them on Land of Nod. And with a 15% off coupon (free shipping, just about) I ordered them. And tried not to feel guilty for not sewing them myself. Today, I asked the girls iron them.   Tomorrow, I need to buy rods for Leah's room and get them hung. Can't wait to see the final results! Related posts: More posts about curtains

I'm planning to make some pillows with my beloved curtain fabric but started with a little valence to cover the shade's roller mechanism over the sink. What do you think? The sun comes in full-power in this window (hence the herbs along the sill), so the shade is moved around a lot during the day, so I don't go blind. Still can't get over how the tan in the fabric just so happens to match the cupboards almost perfectly. Sigh. Pillows this weekend. I want to do the fancy cording with white, so I'll to do some extra research. I'll post photos when they're done.  Related posts: More Kitchen stories

Drum roll please ... The final curtains over the porch doors look awesome! And they are functional, too! (Sorry about the foggy picture!)

The Doors! The Problem:   I have this huge door with nothing to prevent the sun from streaming in (in the rare event that I need a break from it) and at night when we're feeling a little exposed. Luckily, there's no direct view into a neighbor's house. There was an ugly vertical blind on it when we moved in, but Maggie and I got rid of that in the first week. Yuck. The Solution: Fabulous curtains! As mentioned previously, I found the perfect fabric at a shop in Montclair. They sent it to me. Then, I had to find a liner and hardware. Which I picked up at JoAnn's last weekend (special shout-out to the Albertons for a great Christmas gift). Ready to be a Curtain! I started the project this morning and it's taken me all day to finish (ignoring the children all day -- the house is a mess). But it's well worth it. Here is a quick outline of the steps. 1) Hang rod (that took a few days -- I got the wrong size first, then the holes were impossible to ma...