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DIY Ruffled Shower Curtain

July 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 9 Comments


DIY Shower Curtain

It’s been a while since I took on a good sewing project and the kids’ bathroom was calling to me. I did away with the old rubber ducky shower curtain they have had for years and created this DIY Ruffled Shower Curtain to take its place. It was relatively easy to sew. It just requires doing the same few steps over and over (for as many ruffled rows you want to create).

Here is how I made mine in case you want to make it as well! I started with gathering some fabrics together that I loved. I had some on hand, but I also went out and bought a few more to have enough fabric. I used a painter’s drop cloth as the foundation that I sewed my fabrics onto. I love the way the drop cloth added a heaviness to this project as well as a plastic lining that I think will help it to hold up well.

shower curtain made from a drop cloth

I cut all my fabrics into 12″ wide strips. I didn’t measure the actual length in inches but just sewed enough 12″ strips together to make a long strand that I could then use to ruffle up to cover the length of the drop cloth (which just so happened to measure the width of our shower stall). After all my fabric strips were cut, I ironed the edge of one side of each strip about 1/4″ up and sewed down that fold to create a nice finished edge for my strips to become ruffles.

preventing fringeI then folded and pinned my fabric in a way much like I did on my ruffled fabric bag to create ruffles. I simply sewed down the line of pins to attache the ruffles to my drop cloth. Make sure you are not sewing along the edge of your strip you just hemmed. You want that neat, pretty side to stick out and show. This was the start of my shower curtain coming together. Note: if you have any seems you want to try to hide, space your ruffles so they get hidden in the center.

sewing rufflesAfter I had the first ruffled row sewn on, I drew small little lines where the edge of the ruffle laid on my drop cloth. I then pinned a row of pins two inches above those penned line marks. I wanted my ruffles to overlap a good bit, and this two-inch space created that. I then simply picked up each pin and pinned it right back down to hold the next ruffle in place. After that whole ruffled row was pinned, I sewed it. I then started this process back over until all my fabric rows were complete.

sewing layored rufflesAt the end of my fabric ruffles, I saw I had a small margin of drop cloth to still cover and my new shower curtain was way shorter than my old shower curtain (when laid on top).

layored rufflesI decided to line burlap and create a ruffle using that for the bottom of my shower curtain. I decided that the contrast in fabrics would look good, especially since this last ruffled row measures more like 17″ than my 12″ fabric ruffled rows. Once the burlap ruffle was attached, I folded all my fabrics over the edge to wrap around the drop cloth, and I sewed down the side. This step created a finished side and now prevents any of the ruffles from completely flying up.

sewing a shower curtain

ruffled shower curtainI then turned the shower curtain over and trimmed all the back pieces off to make the inside look clean and finished; although, I will still use a cheap plastic shower curtain to hang with this decorative shower curtain.

drop cloth shower curtainI couldn’t decide if I wanted to create loops, make eye holes, or sew my new shower curtain onto an old one to create the eyelet holes at the top in order to be able to hang it. I think I will go back and create the eyelet holes, but for now I was afraid I would ruin it, if I was to try that. I am a lazy sewer and don’t like changing the foot on my machine. 🙂 I simply folded some ribbon over to create a double thick loop that I sewed onto the top of my shower curtain. These could be easily removed later down the road, if I get brave enough to try the eyelet holes, but they work for now.

looped shower curtain

homemade shower curtainI love the way it came out! I have some fun art and other accessories that I am working on using in this bathroom, but the space already feels so much different with the new shower curtain.

shower curtain makeoverIt turned out a bit more girlish than I was intending, and as my six-year-old son pointed out, there are two boys using this bathroom. I promised him green towels and a boy-ish picture on the wall to help compensate…more to come on this I am sure 🙂

colorful fun shower curtainI love the way these fabrics look together. I used some of my scraps to sew two embroidered hoops. I would like to give them away to one of you! Simply, let the rafflecopter widget load below the picture, and enter as many ways as you want! I will announce the winner right here on Friday, July 12, 2013.

embroidered hoops

a Rafflecopter giveaway
embroidered hoop art giveawayI hope you had a great Independence Day and are enjoying this weekend!

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My Craft Desk {a special furniture revamp}

May 24, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments


craft area

Do you ever buy things…like big things…pieces of furniture, not knowing where they are going to go? It seems like a piece of furniture should be a big purchase that requires lots of thought and consideration before buying. It usually isn’t for me. When I find something that I like for a good deal I usually buy it (assuming that by the time I refinish it I’ll have a use for it).

That is the story of this desk and chair. I really fell in love with the chair more but for the pair only being $30 together, I knew I wanted it. They weren’t always so pretty though. When we got them home they were a nice dirty, ugly brown. I saw the potential though.

I want to quickly show you how I revamped this piece of furniture, so you too can find an old ugly piece of furniture and give it new life.

My first step in revamping old furniture is to remove all the hardware and give it a nice Clorox bath. I like to know that any germs, dirt, or dust on that piece came from me or my family.

old desk

cleaning used furnitureThe next step is to sand it down. Although the desk is real wood, the top of my desk is some kind of laminate/coated wood. I went ahead and sanded it too with a piece of 60-Grit sandpaper, since it had dried paint, pen, and glue stuck to it. Sandpaper Tip: The lower the number the rougher the grit. 40-60 = stripping. 80-120 = general use. 150+ = fine tuning and finishing. Change out your sandpaper based on your project stage. I often use 60 at the beginning to strip down and rough up my pieces. I then move to 100+ for smoothing and finishing. 

sanding furnitureAfter everything was sanded, I primed it with a nice coat of Kilz. Since I was using Kilz paint, I could have skipped sanding my piece (for my paint to stick) except that I wanted to create a nice even base for my paint. There was a lot of discoloration in the wood. Sanding it helped to give everything a more even start to then prime and paint.

priming a wood deskI didn’t know what to do with the top, since it was not real wood. Around this time I was thinking this was going to be my craft desk at our new house. I decided to not paint it because of how this desk was intended to be used. I knew as a craft desk that it would get scratched and things would get stuck to it quite often. The original laminate covering would wear better versus a coat of paint on top of the laminate. I then used left over paint from Reagan’s dresser makeover to paint the rest of the desk. My color is Disney Paint’s Pluto’s Paws.

painting a wood desk

I then layed out the stencil I had bought (Learn how to use the stencil over here: a colorful stool).

laying out stencilsUsing Disney’s Cool Marine, I started filling in the stencil and was then forced to decide how much of my new color I wanted to be on the desk. The answer would decided which way I used my stencil as you can see in the picture below.

using a stencil

using stencilsI stared at those two wider drawers for the longest time, trying to decide which one I liked better. I struggled to decide. I’m not usually a “yellow” fan, so I opted for the design on the right that featured more of the Cool Marine. I really liked the look of the design on the left though, so I used that technique on the middle drawer. I like how the mix all looks together.

I think it’s important to realize that everything doesn’t have to be exactly the same so it “matches”, and different things together can really be beautiful.

small sewing deskI then sanded the edges of my drawers and desk. I wanted the desk to look more rustic. I was going to be staining this piece to tone down the brightness of the yellow a bit and knew the rough edges would help to hold the stain’s color better.

sanding painted furnitureMy stencil job is not perfect as paint smeared under parts of the stencil where it was not supposed to. I think the sanded edges go with that “imperfect” look better. It kind of makes the whole piece imperfect and rustic with charm.

difference in sanding

wood sanding projectI like to paint the back of my projects to have an area that I can test things out. On this project, there were a couple different stains I was thinking about using. I tested a gray stain out on the back and didn’t like it so I went with Early American by Minwax.

I think the wood color stain compliments the warm yellow color better than the cool gray would have done.

testing stain color tip

small wood sewing deskI went ahead and stained the top laminate as well. I don’t think it changed the color much, but it did give the desk back its shine (that I had sanded off during the cleaning and stripping process). After my stain was dry, the last step was changing out the hardware! This is an old desk and I couldn’t find hardware that fit the exact width of my horizontal holes. I used carpenter’s wood filler to fill one hole then drilled a new hole to line up with my new hardware. It was a couple of extra steps but totally worth it. The newer slick handles allow for the stencil to be the major eye catcher rather than the old handles. I also used three different handles on this piece and I love how they all look good together but are different.

mixed drawer knobs

My new desk was then done! I simply had to move and set it up! Although I didn’t totally know how it would fit in our new house,  I knew I could use this piece. I love how it turned out and it is perfect in the corner of our bedroom. (a.k.a. my new area for creating!)

craft deskI have found a few of my favorite things to help decorate this area.

  1. One of my favorite pillows I have made.
  2. A new, sweet reminder embroidered hoop art that I made right before we moved. I also really like how I can use my Ikea hanger as an old school (before Pinterest) memo inspiration board.
  3. The week we moved in, we found this bird’s nest with three little eggs just a few feet off our deck. We got to watch the birds hatch, feed, and learn to fly away that first week we were here. It was such a special and exciting time as a family discovering our new place and experiencing joy together in our new house. It is one of my first memories in making this house our home, and I love the reminder of sweet family moments the nest brings.
  4. Scrap sewing pieces and an awesome light that I won from Red Head Can Decorate.
  5. Fun metal tin to hide my paperwork, receipts, and patterns.
  6. Vintage playing cards from my favorite childhood movie that helped inspire my blog’s name.

craft desk itemsThis area is not done. I have to hang up some of my organizers and figure out a shelf system I like. I’m making progress though and was so excited to share with you a new piece and place that will help me bring lots of creations back here to show you!

my crafting spot

Thank you so much for stopping by! I am excited to show you next week the piece my husband was making over simultaneously as I was working on this one!

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Take Steps Upward {step stool}

May 17, 2013 By Erica Deuel 6 Comments

step stool makeover

Have you walked by those pretty step stools in home decor stores and started drooling? I have…well almost. It’s been border lined between lusting and spontaneous buying, but the price tags always scares me off. I seriously have seen these small pretty step stools priced at $50. No joke. I just couldn’t pay that for something that I could create something similar too.

So, I took my daughter out on a date one afternoon and we ended up at Michaels and I bought a plain, raw wood stool for about $6.00 (with the use of a coupon from Michaels’ website).

I made this so quick and it captures the look and ability of those more expensive stools. It allows you to take steps upward while looking beautiful sitting there in the corner. Here is how I made it, so you can save some money too.

Materials:

  • wood stool
  • spray paint
  • acrylic paint
  • stencil
  • sponge paint brush
  • clear glossy spray/mod podge

The first step is spray paint the bottom of your stool. You could also use acrylic paint here, but because of all the different angles I decide to just spray it. I thought it would be easier and create less “dripping”.

spray paint wood stool

Next, paint the top of your stool. You can use any color, but something that compliments the color of the legs will help give a punch of “wow” factor to your stool.

paint wood stool

You might be able to tell I have used my stencil before. More on that project coming soon. 🙂 Any stencil will do. I liked this one because it was a circle shape and my stool is also a circle. I bought this at Michaels as well. Use your sponge paint brush to lightly dab paint into the slots. Remember you don’t have to use all of the stencil. As you can tell, I am not catching the scalloped edge of my stencil for how I am using it on this project.

stenciling wood stool

stenciling a wood stool

It was too boring for me left like that, so I wanted to add another color and used a small stencil that came with my larger one to go around it. I only used one of the flowers and just eye balled where the next one would go until I had filled the outer part of my stool’s top.

little girls painted wood stoolDon’t worry if you go over the stencil and get paint on the original base color. I did too! It is no big deal to go back, after the color has dried, and paint the original color back over it to cover the “oops” up.

fixing a stencil paint job

painted step stoolI really loved it, but I wanted to look more professional and finished. I sprayed a light coat of a glossy spray on top. Mod podge would work as well. The idea is to give it that finished shine.

Clear glossI love how it came out! My daughter loves to sit on it and draw on her chalkboard wall in her bedroom. What a cheap way to make a fun and functional accent piece. I am all about adding in pops of color!

What do you think? Will you save some money and try making one of these stools yourself?

diy foot stool

Thank you so much for stopping in! I hope you have a great weekend! If you haven’t entered to win a Mohawk rug yet in my giveaway, there is still time! Click over to see my dinning room rug and enter today.

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My Bathroom Design Inspiration: DENY Designs Shower Curtain {Review}

May 15, 2013 By Erica Deuel 18 Comments

DCIM100GOPRO

Disclosure: I received this product for free to review. All opinions are my own. When I say I love Deny Designs, I really mean it!

Have you heard of DENY Designs? I had not until a few weeks ago, and I am now a huge fan and obsessed. I literally started scouring the internet looking for inspiration for one of our new bathrooms, and found this gorgeous shower curtain. I fell in love. I clicked the google image and was taken to an online home decor store called DENY Designs. I had never heard of them, so I quickly started reading their “who we are” tab. Deny Designs is a team of talented artist that come together to create fun and original statement pieces that empower their costumers to turn ordinary  household pieces into something incredible. I fell in love with their site and found myself browsing throw pillows, clocks, duvet covers, and so much more.

I kept coming back to this shower curtain, the Aaron shower curtain by Valentina Ramos. It is stunning and even more beautiful in person! You can imagine my excitement when it arrived at my new house! We literally rushed out and bought a shower curtain rod, so we could immediately hang it up!

Valetina Ramos Aaron Shower CurtainI am obsessed with it. This shower curtain hangs in the bathroom right off our living room, so it is the most used bathroom in the house, but I still find myself walking in there just to look at it. There are so many incredible shower curtains by amazing artists on DENY Designs. Valentina Ramos’ section alone had so many incredible pieces that I had a hard time deciding at first. I think I would have loved any one of them! Here are a few that I love…

Deny Designs shower curtains

My new shower curtain was the inspiration behind the rest of the elements of my bathroom. I wanted it to be fun and bold. I love the use of bright colors mixed with the black and white in the pattern. I went with bold towels, rug, and a plant stand, but I calmed it down with the black and white prints and metal pieces of decor.

Bathroom Makeover

DCIM100GOPRO

I love how it all came together. Another thing that I love about my new shower curtain is that it was created right here in America. DENY doesn’t believe in inventory. They make each product after it has been ordered, so everything is custom-made!They are very forward thinking in using a dying printing press. Most companies screen print onto the fabric which will eventually fade. DENY’s process keeps the color as fresh and vibrant as the day you first hang it.

That’s incredible and totally worth the investment into one of these shower curtains or any DENY product in general. I am so pleased at the quality and beauty of my first DENY product. I take anyone who comes to my house into see my bathroom. I highly recommend this company.

DCIM100GOPRO

This shower curtain inspired me to design and think of fun ways to help complete my bathroom. I love that there are fun elements in there but the shower curtain is the “wow” factor. Thank you DENY Designs for this beautiful shower curtain!

Colorful bathroom Decor

For more information, check out DENY Designs online or connect with them on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook.

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