Painting Stripes Tutorial

Hi all! I'm going to be doing a tutorial on how to paint your curtains or fabric. I will be walking through it step by step and telling you some tips and tricks. 

First off select your curtain or fabric. We bought 3 2pks of Ritva Curtains from Ikea. They were 24.99ea. 

Then select your color choice(s) of paint. We chose Behr's Brown TeePee and Soulful Music paint colors. I decided to use flat paint. I didn't want them to have any sheen when the light hit them. To complete these curtains we bought a gallon and a quart of each color. We only needed a gallon.

Brown TeePee

Soulful Music

These next two steps lack pictures so you're going to have to imagine this:

Lay out your fabric/curtains on the floor or large surface area. Make sure for best results that they are washed and ironed(I didn't and the tape didn't adhere well). 

Choose how wide you want your stripes to be. We made all of ours 12in. So using a rotary mat I measured out 12in up and down each side of the curtain.  There were little ticks marks on the edges of the curtain to indicated where we would be taping.

Take your tape(use edge lock tape) and line it up with the first tick mark on one side of the fabric. Then carefully unroll the tape and "connect" it with the first tick mark on the opposite side of the curtain, creating a straight line of tape. Repeat this for each measurement.  You might want to enlist someone to help you as making these lines of tape could be difficult by yourself. 

Now this next step is optional. But for us it was easier seeing as we live in a small place and floor space wasn't available. Tack drop cloths to a wall using tacking nails. This is to protect your walls from paint seepage. Also if you're going to be laying these on the floor to paint, lay out a drop cloth there. 

If you're like me and you're pretty short recruit your hubby or family member to hang up said drop cloth and curtains.

On our wall we could fit two of these panels. Each one measured 57x98". They are longer and wider than your average curtain. Remember once these are hanging they may appear to droop because of the weight of the fabric and tape. And they will droop a little more because of the added weight of the paint. Don't get discouraged, just keep on keeping on.

Also if your significant other, or friend is helping out, you may be getting these looks a lot. Don't forget to do something nice for them as a way to say thank you. 

It's always good to lighten up the mood. Document your project so that you can look back and remember these times.

And here are some of the panels partially finished. 

Once dry remove from the wall and tear the tape off to reveal your masterpiece!! Then hang up to admire your hard work and ambition. It always feels good to complete a project like this. Especially knowing that it doesn't cost a lot.

House Renovation Update!!

So as I've told you all that my hubby and I were going to be updating our house design and decorative wise. Well that plan has finally been underway!!! We've gotten a few small things accomplished but we are way behind schedule. The plan was to have all the decor and furniture building done by March 2. But I'm not so sure we're going to make it lol.

Right now I'm going to take you through the processes. The painting, building and decor processes that we'll be doing to update our home.

In the process of finishing the Euro Shame for the Master

Painting the curtains for our bedroom Behr Paint in Soulful Music and Brown TeePee

One of our tie backs from Urban Outfitters

Daddy and Maddalaena time

Daddy with MJ

Lace covered Canvas for the girls room.

Me in the "process" of lining the girls lamp shade

I could not bear to have pics up without my family being displayed in them. Meet my eldest, Seamus

Maddalaena is performing surgery on Daddy

Lylian is performing eye surgery

And now onto the abdominal cavity...

Ok back to DIYing. Here is half the lamp shade completed

DIY fabric tutu skirt.

From the side

The crazy amount of wood needed to complete the crazy amount of tasks.

Look it's as big as Lylian!!

Our garage transformed into a workshop/storage facility/man cave

I couldn't resist showing you the gorgeous tie backs I received from Urban Outfitters

"Tarping" the wall for curtain painting

Richard hanging the taped curtains

Maddalaena taking a bite out of the step stool

Doesn't he look excited to be doing this?

Ms. Adorable

"Say something to my face!"

All this work tuckered her out

Taped curtains hung!!

All little bit of jail humor

Monkey. Kidnapped and held for ransom by one Maddalaena Jacqueline Allen

Playing with styrofoam. We didn't get enough snow so Lylian thought that she would make some.

And meet Richard, my wonderful tolerant husband

Seamus always has to be in on the action

Building Blake's dresser

Maddalaena in the back joining in on the snow making

The Ikea Lack inspired bookcase

What's a "worktable" without food?

The painting process. Living room curtain on left and bedroom curtain on right

Now the bathroom curtain

Wood project number two. The altered bookcase

I thought that wooden beams in the back would look much better than a painted wall.

Man was I right.

Make shift work bench

The tools that got this project done

Darling baby girl

Taking a much needed break.

And there you have in a nut shell. All the things we have been up to over the last two weeks. Painting curtains, building furniture and trying out some Pinterest ideas. Come back and check out the finished projects!! Also let me know what you think? Do you like the striped curtains? Is there anything lacking(besides paint on the walls)? What would you do differently? Have any of you tried any Pinterest ideas lately? I'd love to hear from you all. God Bless!

Organization Dramatization

Since about November I have been struck with the craziest urge to change my house. Right now it is a serious cluttered, disorganized mess. There are toys, books, clothes and a few other random items littering almost every surface of our small home. So I have set out the task at hand to change anything and everything I can. We are redecorating and refurbishing the girl's bedroom, redecorating my son's rooms and adding the new babies furniture and decor to it. Redecorating our bedroom and bathroom. New
Curtains and a rug in the living room. Not to mention to add to all that, I gave my husband a purpose. To replace any piece of furniture that is falling apart or that I think should exist. That's a big list. So far we have the coffee table built and finished.

My goal is to have it all, minus my girl's furniture done by March 2. I'm so excited I get this project underway. There's going to be painting of curtains and painting of wood, bin organization and a lot more things.

Does anyone have any DIY projects they're attempting? Or any home decorating they going to or want to accomplish? I love hearing from you! Any tips for me to try?