Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A little window dressing

 My kitchen windows have been a little naked lately.  They were a little embarrassed.  I wanted to help them out, without spending alot of cashola.  I had a vision of what I wanted to do and it involved burlap.  I've never worked with burlap before.  I found it to be quite pleasant to work with, except it was a tad messy.  So here's what I did.  I wanted the look of roman shades, but not real ones because I won't ever be closing them to block the view of our backyard.  I bought some tension rods for cheap.











While in Home Depot in the garden dept. I saw burlap garden bags.  What the heck are garden bags?  I don't know.  But I bought it because it was $4.88 and looked like alot of burlap. I don't know how much burlap is by the yard so I don't know if I got a good deal or not.  Let's just say I did.  Anyway, I measured my windows and cut the burlap allowing extra for hemming.
 


Because my sewing machinge is on the fritz, I used my handy glue gun.
 
My pictures got all out of order and I can't get them right, so here's the before of the naked windows:







 Here is an after of ONE of the windows. ( I'm not very happy with blogger today)
HerePosted by Picasa






Let's back up and look at things in reverse, shall we?  Here's my red wrinkly hand ironing the pleats before gluing them down.

Here are the pleats.  I pinned them and hung it up to eyeball it and then I glued them in place.


And this is the burlap before I started.        *Sarcasm*  Wasn't that fun to see it all mixed up and in
jumbled order?   shaking fists in air!!
Well, I think you get the idea.  Burlap faux roman shades.
Tension rods were about $10 for four.  Burlap was $4.88
That brings it to a grand total of about $15 for four windows.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, so cute! Did you just come up with that idea?
Amazing!!

thistlewoodfarm said...

What an AWESOME idea! I love it! What a great way to cover up those windows. I am totally putting this on facebook :) Thanks for joining our party.

blessings,
karianne

Kolein said...

OK, first off I believe you are the first person to write *shaking fist in air! I've been reading blogs for years. Trust me on this one!

And then that brings us to the burlap faux roman shades....swoon! Love them! To bits! Which I'm sure you had all over the place after working with that stuff. They look wonderful and since the real deal would have cost you $100's because for some reason those are the priciest window treatments on the planet and you actually got them looking so wonderful and so inexpensive (because we don't say cheap where I come from - it means something so different). I think that's a run-on.

And about your hand.....there's a blogger club where we all agree our hands are wrinkled pink but look cute in person....so we try, very hard, not to put them in our photos...except where a glue gun is necessary! Ah well.

Oh. And so nice to meet you! I LOVE your voice here and you made me smile - which is so nice.

One more thing: I've been known to comment like a blog post on some folks blogs. Sorry.

xo
~Kolein

Stacey Stuwe said...

THAT IS BRILLIANT!! That post has made me your newest follower!! PIN PIN PINNING!!

Nellie said...

Abra Kadabra--amazing!

Anonymous said...

Pure genius! Thanks for the inspiration.

Carolyn
{my simple messterpiece}

Linda @ it all started with paint said...

Love it! Such a great idea and great tutorial (red wrinkly hand and all)!

(Oh, and sorry we've unleashed Kolein on you! She's a hoot ...)

Thanks so much for linking it up at our "It's a Cinch" party!

:)

Linda
www.itallstartedwithpaint.com

Kolein said...

Hey LINDA!!!! I heard that!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

Pine Tree Home said...

I laughed because I think my hands look like they are 90 years old. I keep telling myself it's because they are always in use.

Love the burlap. Such a neutral and has great texture.

grandma said...

Yes, My kids are geniuses. Such a good tutorial. Your hands aren't wrinkly yet. Just wait about 20 years or so.

Bev said...

Love the idea, you are so clever and stylish!

Kelly said...

I like your burlap roman style shades you made. Very nice! I love burlap anyway and think the more the better. ha! Thanks for stopping by and following me too. I am now following you as well.

Karah @ thespacebetweenblog said...

I sure do love a no sew project...and with burlap too boot! Love them. Thanks so much for linking up to our party!
Karah

Kelly @ Eclectically Vintage said...

No sew and burlap - two of my favorite things!

Thanks for joining our Cinch party.
Kelly