Friday, July 10, 2009

Room-darkening shades, all dressed up

Any time you start a project involving spray adhesive, you know you are going to have fun. And a bunch of stickiness. 

I had an idea to dress up regular room darkening shades (about $5 at Wal-mart). I wanted them to look like classy (read expensive) roman shades. This probably isn't an original idea, but it came to me in the middle of the night as a stroke a brilliance. Why sew when you could use spray adhesive and hot glue?

First, I fit the shades in the windows and hung them. I measured the area that needed to be covered.



I bought an extra queen sized sheet set when I bought the twins for the girls' beds. The twin sets were $4.99 and the queen was $7.99 at Amazon. The flat sheet is a curtain for the closet and I took apart the fitted sheet to use on the shades. I just cut off the elastic around the edges and cut the corners. The end product is a pretty large piece of fabric to work with.



I cut my pieces for the shades, ironed them, and then sprayed the furled out shade (on a top of a paint clothe) with spray adhesive. The fabric was a little tricky to get straight on the very sticky shade, but I started at the bottom and worked my way up, leaving extra fabric at the edge to trim off later.





I used a rotary cutter to cut the edges of the fabric right next to the edge of the shade and used "Fray Check" to prevent fraying. 




My little helpers enjoyed the process, although not comprehending what was wrong with the plain white shade. I am alone in my creative neurosis.




I used the same ribbon I hung the pictures with and hot glued it to the bottom of the shade. The ribbon was .99c for 4 yards at Michael's.





And the finished shades!

I am happy with the result. I made the pink curtains 5 years ago for Emma's nursery. I wanted to use them again, leaving only a few more sewing projects. I still need to make duvet covers for the girls' beds. But one project at a time, this room is getting done. I won't let myself start on the baby's room until I finish all my other projects. I can't wait to show the girls' whole room! It is turning out really cute.



signiture3

12 comments:

Jenni said...

another gorgeous project complete...you're awesome Al!

Shawna said...

How do you think up this stuff? You need to be on Design on a Dime show or something like that. Or HGTV's newest designer! This is AWESOME! Using the sheet was a great idea!

Now while I didn't think of DOING it for myself, I did find a diaper holder and a boppy cover that SOMEONE else was genius enough to make out of the same pattern nursery set I got on clearance at Pottery Barn for Madison's room (on Ebay). It was so cool to have things that matched but didn't exist anywhere else. And a bargain to boot!

I can't wait to see the completed project and learn what you decided on for your son's room. I want to change my vote to the elephants. I saw some baby elephant stuff that was SO CUTE recently and it made me think, they are babies for only so long and with the way you like to change things up, who wants a nursery he can 'grow into'. He can have a cowboy or camo/hunting room later. :-) (or now if that is what you go with) I can't wait to see it all no matter what!

I bought a convertible crib and then recently I saw this Dollhouse Loft bed with stairs and drawers and it was 70% OFF! They said they would even keep it in the warehouse until Madison was old enough! It was so tempting but alas I got a "grow with her' bed so it was a no go. She would probably want a car bed anyway!

Dan & Hillary said...

You do this, grow a baby daily, and make dinner??? I need your drive!

Cooking with Big E said...

Super cute! We had roller shades for awhile but they darn things never worked well for us.

Lindsay said...

Are you for hire? Will you come over and be my personal interior designer? :)

I love how their room is turning out and can't wait to see it all.

Grandma Sherri said...

For those who were asking... she gets her creative genes from my mother, it skipped me pretty well(my sister has it though)You make grammy proud -me too but I'm a bit jealous. Sure is beautiful!- wonder if either of yours are going to get those genes? I don't remember noticing yours until you were about 9 or 10.

Cathy said...

Love the sheet pattern and they are perfect for the new shade. Great job!

Andee said...

to continue Mom's comment, it was usually right in the middle of playing Barbies and yours needed a new outfit immediately. Half an hour and half a bottle of fray check later...

Stacy said...

I need to have you come help me with creative ideas for my house. I can't even come up with cute, original ideas for the nursery.

Linds and Manda said...

You are amazing...I just have to say it again. I barely have enough time to blog let alone do all the wonderful things you do to make your home a special place to be. You are officially my decorating hero! I think you have been that for a while, but let's make it official shall we? :)

Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs said...

So cute! I've always wanted to try that one, and I think it is time!!

Sara said...

Looks beautiful, Alysun! I have no idea where you find the time to do this stuff! Do you sleep at night?