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Posts Tagged ‘window treatment’

While the husband is busy reading about lateral spring plungers, I get myself busy prepping our small kitchen window. The husband (always my critic^_^) disapproves my idea of placing curtain on that kitchen window. Saying, curtain will somehow make the area darker and feel smaller. I should let the natural light comes in, he says. It’ll make the room larger and airy, too.

Okay. You got a point there. I said. But, as always is the stubborn wife, I came home one day with a small curtain and surprised him when he came home one night and saw the window treatment.

What did he say? Just a half smile^_^.

99 pesos? Flimsy fabric?

I choose a sheer fabric because I want fresh air to come through the small window. And, I picked the safest color and design -white with touches of gold stripes to match the hardware and the tile borders- too bold a design will be too heavy on the eyes. Then, I found two unused curtain holders and used both to gather the ends and hang right into the curtain rods. This way, the fabric would not totally block the air, the light and the view coming from the outside.

So there it is. Small window treatment for my small kitchen.

How I wished my kitchen counter stays clean and clutter free forever. Kids’ vacation are coming. The place will be busier more than ever…

(#Wishlist2013: Kitchen Island! Come to me this 2013. Pretty please. )

Did I say I did find it a little hard to put away the Christmas ornaments specifically the Christmas tree after the holidays? I want the tree to be there in the living room all year round. Why can’t it be?

And also, I wanted our room to stay the way I fixed/decorated it last December. Don’t want to change anything. Besides, it’s too tiring changing decor and much more cleaning time again. I thought that after the improvement done on our room in November, I could last the look -holidays and up to summer time.

Then again, my adrenaline surge up, I was up and running changing everything again…

Starting with the window treatment. Yes. That’s the curtain that was in the living room last year. I do not have the money to buy the room new curtains. I just had to make it look new. How?

DIY styling…

Here, I used up the thick fabric to cover up this rarely opened window on our bed’s headboard side. And since I dropped off the valence and wouldn’t use the sheer, instead I used the yellow sheer as an accent. Forgive me, I don’t have the proper term how that type of curtain is named. All i know is, I knotted near the ends (both sides) and make a drape.

Yes. That’s it. The accent is a drape curtain. Haha. Here’s the curtain on the bay window. Had to break the drape in half (tie in the middle) as to create that “drape” effect.

Headboard side.

 Got the wooden bed a new coat of dark paint. Stole a white unused table and painted it white to use as a night stand as well as book shelf for those late night sleeps…

That’s how far I go at our bedroom. The rest of the photos when i am done with the faux fireplace…

Now that the project for the new family room is nearing its completion, we turn to the living room of the house as our next project.

That huge window will say bye bye in few months’ time. I know, it hurts to say goodbye…the window’s been there a long time! But, as the adage goes, “change creates opportunities”,especially when the purpose is for the improvement of everything around it!

My design inspiration for the area was to create fireplace-type space with either electric fires or woodburning stoves as the centre of focus. The walls will be bricked over and the addition of mantle will give me more spaces to place a few of my decorative pieces.

The window is of no use anymore. There used to be a garage on the other side that has been turned into a family room. A television unit now sits behind the window. Time to get decorating again!

Indeed, this is a year for change!

I hadn’t finished the curtain I was sewing which I mentioned here. Too many preoccupation… too many events… happy and sad.

My mother-in-law passed away on on the eve of Easter Sunday. She was hospitalized for at least three weeks having undergone craniotomy (brain surgery). She had survived the operation but other complications later on manifested which makes her immunity very week. She is now at peace with the Creator.

If things went on as per my schedule, I would have finished the curtain first week of April, but as things went bad, my sewing nights were put to a halt. And, I thought, I needed a curtain change before the Holy Week. So, I started running my thrifty imagination.

I want a new curtain. But, since that wouldn’t be possible, I had to mix and match some of my old pieces…

Please, bear with my cheap decorating ability, and also the blurry photos, camera set-up has been altered by daughter:(

These old curtains were product of my sewing addiction some years back. The creamy satin fabric were a gift from my brother in 1997. The yellow sheer, I bought at discounted price.

Bought this sheer fabric at discounted textile store.

This deep red satin valance was sewn out of nearly forgotten drapes in my storage. Hubby hated the color, saying it was too bloody dark. Thus, I cut it to make short valances.

At least now, my window has been treated with old drapes. Hope to start sewing after my mother-in-law’s burial…

POSTED FOR

Since my grade schooler had already finished her final examination, I have already scheduled few tasks for me to do on the weekends. Changing sheets, carpet cleaning…I seemed to be A-okay with all those pre-planned activities…

But, while watering the plants this morning, I remember that this patio door’s cleaning schedule had already taken a backseat. It was supposed to be cleaned/washed on the first week of March! Blustery winds kept me from that schedule. So, I hoped this weekend, the northeast monsoon would rest awhile, so I can, wiped away the dirt on this door.

Somehow, of all the things I hate to do, is cleaning windows. Dust would accumulate on even the smallest corners. Plus the fact that glasses were always subjected to rain. And, when water does dry up into the glass, unlikely smear would build up, which is most likely the hardest to clean. Who wouldn’t want shiny window panes? Kiwi Glass Cleaner comes to the rescue, but with all the windows I have to clean, I might probably need half a dozen of it.

So, what I would be doing is to make my own cleaning solution:

-plain vinegar (ratio would be; 2 parts water: 1 part vinegar)

-water

-dry cloth

-old newspapers

That’s it. Economically wise for a budget mom like me ^_^. The acid in vinegar easily wipes away those stubborn dirt. No need for soaps. Just wipe away the water/vinegar solution on the glass. No need for rinsing. Then, wipe the excess water using old newspapers. The obvious question. Why, newspapers? Simply because, cloth attracts more water so when swiping it, the glass would make more smudges and there will be visible lints (little fiber from the cloth) which we wanted to avoid. Aside from window glasses, I used the solution and the newspaper thingy to clean mirrors, I bet you, mirrors would be perfectly clean and lint free after the simple treatment.

So, there. Happy window cleaning to me this weekend ^_^

Ciao.