The Cheap-o Way of Lining Blinds

Hi, everyone! First, I want to say THANK YOU for your responses to yesterday's post. I mean really, ya'll are awesome and encouraging and I am so happy to have gotten to know many of you through your kind words and sweet emails. This is the reason that blogging is pretty much the best thing ever. :)

Anywho, a few months ago, I mentioned that we lined our cheap-o bamboo blinds with some blackout fabric from JoAnn and many of you asked me how....so today, I'm showing you! Now, heed my warning--at the time we did this I wasn't planning to show a how-to, so you will have to bear with me.

To begin, let's take a trip down memory lane. I purchased these blinds from Overstock.com about 2 years ago. I got them for every window in the house, and I still love, love, LOVE them. They seriously changed the way our house looks. The only problem was that they weren't great for privacy because they weren't lined. I could have upgraded and gotten some more expensive lined bamboo blinds....but I'm too cheap :). So...when the time came to decorate the nursery and guest bedroom (the only rooms that have windows in the front of the house) I knew we had to figure out a solution to our no-privacy problem.

Enter this fabric from JoAnn Fabrics. It's a flame-resistant blackout fabric in Ecru. Originally $10.99 a yard, but we got on sale with a 40% off coupon.

We measured the blinds that needed to be lined beforehand so we knew how much black-out fabric to buy. Once we brought it home, we cut the fabric to fit the blinds (leaving about an 1/2 inch of exposed blind all the way around).

(I got lucky and found ONE picture of my mom lining the blinds back in January!) Score.

We bought some upholstery spray adhesive at JoAnn's (they have a ton of different brands), sprayed it on the blinds, and then placed the fabric on top. Make sure you have a drop cloth underneath the blinds just in case any of the adhesive tries to seep through. We smoothed out all of the wrinkles and then very quickly lined the edges with hot glue (that's right - hot glue).

After the blinds were dry (we waited 24 hours), we hung them back on the windows and held our breaths to see if they would actually fold up. It took some finagling--a lot at first--but after we guided the blinds to fold correctly a few times, they went up and down without a problem!

Now creepers can't spy on us! I'm happy to say that we accompished this for less than half the price of many of the pre-lined blinds I've seen on the market. AND they still work perfeclty six months later. Oh, happy day!

Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend, friends. :)

 

The Laundry Room

Hi everyone!

I just got back from a very fun trip to Ruby Tequila's (mexican food....yum) with my two friends, Kaitlin and Jessica.  We have had a very busy week and it will only get busier when we head home to Colorado tomorrow! One of the reasons our week was so hectic is due to the fact that we finished our laundry room.

I am in LOVE with this room, even though it is only a 5'x5' box. As I've stated before, we decided to paint the stripes that I have been obsessed with for quite some time. Bryan and I also completely repainted all of the trim, doors, and cabinets to make it look and feel brand new. I added some pattern, baskets, and a couple of framed prints to top the whole thing off. We were on a very strict budget for this, and I am happy to say that I only spent about $40 for the whole thing! It's not much, but it makes me a heck of lot happier when I have to do laundry now!

Here is the "before":

And the "after":

Love those stripes!

I made this curtain to hide the ugly drying rack in about 10 minutes with iron-on hem (aka my best friend). I love the fabric, I got it for like $4 at JoAnn's.

These prints are from TJMaxx. $10. Boom.

I also recieved this nice suprise in the mail today...

It's the Garden Issue! And guess what's next in our plans....that's right, our garden! Thank you, BHG, for making this girl's day.

Yay, love it!! Happy Spring Break!

Between Naps on the Porch

Link Parties:

Think Pink Sundays
Whatcha Got Weekend
Amaze Me Mondays
Just Something I Whipped Up
Market Yourself Mondays
DIY Showoff Project Parade
Thrifty Decor Chick
Take a Look Tuesday
Show and Tell Wednesday
House of Hepworths
Show and Share Day
Fun to Craft
Weekend Wrap Up Party
The Shabby Nest
Remodelaholic
Furniture Feature Friday

Fabric Flower Bows

Hi everyone! As you know, Bryan and I will be getting a NIECE in April. Alisha (my sister-in-law) has asked me to be the official bow-maker for little miss Hensley, so I spend a lot of my time trying to find different ways to make cute bows.

Before Christmas I learned how to make standard hair bows, and thought they were so fun to make! (I will post more about these soon).

But I really wanted to make some sort of flower bow--more than just buying a fake flower and gluing a hair clip to it. I was so happy when I came across these fabric flower bows--I just had to try them! AND I used fabric that I already had, so this project was FREE! I also found 2 other ways to make flower bows, so I plan on trying those in the next few weeks!

What you'll need:

-1 strip of fabric (2inches wide, 2 feet long)
-Hot glue gun
-Bow clips, alligator clips, pins, headbands....whatever you want to attach it to
-Wax Paper
-Buttons or bling (optional)

First, cut out the strip of fabric (I cut out several strips here, because I was making a cluster of flowers)

Next, take your strip of fabric and begin to wrap it into a "cinnamon roll" shape, twisting and bunching the fabric as you go along. Add a dot of hot glue every once in a while to hold it in place.

Once you have an inch of fabric left, hot glue it to the back of the flower. Clip your hair clip (I used alligator clips) to a piece of wax paper and put hot glue on top. Attach flower and wait for it to dry.

Remove the bow once it is dry and add buttons, bling, or leave it plain.

I chose to add green buttons to this one!

I also made a huge white one and I'm still debating whether or not to add a button or leave it plain...

Decisions, decisions.

Here's a few more pictures of the 3 I made:

Here's one of the back. I actually put an extra layer of white backing on it just to hold everything in place.

You can even use these as a pretty cute purse clip!

That's it for now!

I've decided to try these link parties, so go visit the The Shabby Nest for more crafts and decor :)