Showing posts with label shower curtains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shower curtains. Show all posts

Friday, August 5, 2011

dining room curtains, made from Target shower curtains

Ta-DA!!





As I've discussed, I couldn't find ready-made curtains that complemented the living room.  There were plenty of curtains that I liked, just not that I liked when viewed with the living room.

These are in the same general color scheme of blue, brown and cream like the living room, and I think they work pretty well.



I actually bought this shower curtain from Target for my mother in law's bathroom a year ago, and I've always liked it. Its an nice large pattern, but as a shower curtain, its only 72 x 72.  I know some say short curtains are coming back, but I really like the look of a long curtain, so I wanted to lengthen them a bit.  Two aisles over from the shower curtain aisle I came across a sheet set that exactly matched the blue in the shower, so I got that.

I will provide a tutorial next week, but these were really easy.  I used hemming tape to add the sheet to the shower curtain, then covered over the area where they met with white ribbon.

I may have gone a weeeeeee bit over budget.  My original plan was to buy three shower curtains and cut them in half, thereby using only one panel per window.  I did that to the first one, and the panel looked so tiny and thin.  I prefer a fuller curtain.

Here's the skinny curtain (on the right):



and here's the full panel:

Bigger is better, right? I just finished up the other half of the curtain and hung the two skinny ones together.  But that meant that I needed three more shower curtains.

In total, I ended up using six shower curtains ($150), two sheet sets ($76--that color sheet was only sold as a set; it would have been much cheaper had I been able to just buy two flat sheets), 3 rolls of ribbon ($12), and....a whole bunch of Stitch Witchery hemming tape, like four or five rolls ($10). So...$248?  If I had used only the three curtains and half-size panels, it would have been $124.

The Stitch Witchery was a saga in and of itself.  I bought some at Walmart that was fabulous, used it all, then bought a different brand at Joann Fabrics that sucked, then went back to Walmart and bought six rolls of Ultra Super Extremely Sticky Hold which was not the same kind as the first fabulous kind and this one also sucked and I didn't like it but its what was in the house and I don't get all that much time to myself to make endless trips to Walmart and make curtains so I used it anyways.  I really need to learn to thread my sewing machine. This would have been alot easier if I could sew.

I'm happy with the end result, though, so it was worth it.

I found a china cabinet on craigslist, so hopefully this weekend this wall will be looking very different:



Have a nice weekend, everyone!

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.