Tuesday, April 19, 2011

shower curtain FAIL

Bryn's mention of my new rug is blowing up my little corner of the internet---those of you dropping by from Bryn's blog, welcome.  My friend Marisa has told me I should post something new and witty for all of you stopping by, but I don't perform well under pressure and now I have stage fright, so you'll just have to read about my shower curtains instead.

The Mister's bathroom is on my list of projects to do this year.  I've had a few ideas, but the Mister's bathroom is putting up a good fight.

After the Mister put his foot down on a pink bathroom, I decided to keep the yellow walls and turned my attention to yellow and gray shower curtains.  Of which there are none in the whole wide world.

So, I decided to make my own.  How hard could it be?  (Hear the foreshadowing? Dun dun dun....)

First fail:
I will paint a chevron pattern on a full size bedsheet from Walmart!  All I have to do is make buttonholes for the curtain hooks, and hem the bottom of the sheet.

One problem....when I said I had learned to sew, I should have written down how to thread the machine.  Numerous tutorials on YouTube later, I am still unable to thread the machine.
(Cost so far: $8 for one full size flat sheet, $12 for fabric paint and brushes.)

Not giving up!  I will paint a plain white shower curtain!

Second fail:
I find a plain white cotton fabric (not polyester or pvc--harder to find than one might think) shower curtain at Target.  Its a waffle weave, which I'm afraid might be hard to tape off, but I will try.

Have I mentioned that math is not my friend?

I fold the shower curtain in half and get a center line.  From there....uh....I bet there's math involved!  Eff it!  I will just free hand some chevrons.

One row later.....that doesn't look very even.  And how am I going to evenly tape off seven more rows?  Ok, lets have some cookies and put that back in the closet for a while.


A few days later....my sister (who does math-y crap for a living) comes to visit. I make her do the math.  She figures out that I need to put in a chevron every 11.84 inches, both vertically and horizontally, with one at 11.something else.

I stare blankly at her.

She says, "have you considered maybe just buying that $90 shower curtain you liked so much?"

I put the shower curtain back in the closet for a while.

(Cost so far, $14.99 for a white shower curtain, $8 for tape, $20 for two gray bath mats plus a few hours of my life I will never get back. )

Third fail:
I am at Target yet again (I live there), when I see this shower curtain, which was not at this particular Target the last four times I have been to this Target and looked for this particular shower curtain.  Woot woot!

I hang this shower curtain.  While I like the design (very David Hicks--am I the only who thinks that Target has a bunch of design bloggers on the payroll?), the color does not work with the yellow walls.  The curtain is a strong deep yellow, while the walls are a creamy yellow with unfortunate peach undertones.


The other thing that doesn't work is the curtain rod.  It breaks as I attempt to hang it.  (The above picture is my mother in law holding it up--see her hands?)


(Cost: $14.99 for shower curtain, $18 for two yellow diamond bathmats, and now I have to go buy a curtain rod.)

So!  So far I have spent $95.98, and yet have nothing but a shower my husband can't use until I buy a new curtain rod.  The bathroom wins this round, but I'll be back.  Preferably with an idea that doesn't involve me making my own shower curtain.




10 comments:

  1. hahaha, i cracked up at rose's hands in the one picture

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  2. I found you via Bryn -- so funny! I'm always happy when people post their mishaps as well as their successes. Keep on keepin' on! :)

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  3. So, I laugh that you have NO idea what my job consists of, so you say I do math-y things.

    Also, I definitely saw the first picture of the curtain hanging, and wondered why it was so weird looking. Then, I saw the mother in law's hands and laughed. Then, I read you broke the rod and laughed even harder.

    All in all...a post full of laughs.

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  4. This is just to funny, sorry to say. We wish you the best of lucky finally getting something stylish to work! Great post and you picked the right rug, by the way.

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  5. You tell this so cutely. I actually think the shower curtain is okay with the walls BUT I know "blog post wall yellow" is not always the same as "real life wall yellow."

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  6. I saw you over at Bryn's. Love the shower curtain...keep it, paint the walls the palest gray you can find and call it a day!

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  7. Oh my goodness. I am glad to know I am not the only one whose cost-saving DIY projects end up taking forever and costing more. Love that Target curtain though.

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  8. Have you seen this shower curtain at West Elm? They have a yellow and white version and a gray and white version:
    http://www.westelm.com/products/stripe-shower-curtain-b566/?pkey=cshower-curtains

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  9. Kristen--I looked at that west elm curtain, but its a very green-ish yellow that won't work with the wall color. I have also contemplated just painting a shower curtain in stripes just like that with a different yellow....but I think I am done trying to create my own shower curtain.

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  10. Here's the thing...would your husband even really notice that the walls were pink-ish if you secretely painted them while he was at work? Mine wouldn't. He would just be happy he wasn't the one who had to paint the walls, lol.

    P.S. Not that I'm encouraging that sort of behaviour :)

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