This is the color they sell on their web site

But I got my chairs  on clearance because they were discontinuing the red color.  I snapped a picture of them sitting in my garage

The combination of the red upholstered chairs, blue cushions and gold valance will compliment the Wonderland drapery fabric on the other side of the room

Even though the dining room table has a “country” feel to it, I think by adding the more stream lined upholstered chair and the blue geometric cushion fabric will make it less country looking.   I am  trying to avoid replacing the table, so I am hoping these updates will work,  what do you think?   I am heading out there this weekend to put it all together, so we will see. I will keep you posted.  Have a great weekend!

World Market dining chairs is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

Yep, Eddie Ross!  Now that was icing on the cake for me!  To be included with such a talented guy like Eddie is pretty special.  I buy Calico Corners fabrics a lot, and I have for years.  We have a store in San Diego and the staff there are so wonderful to work with, it has kept me coming back year after year.  Not to mention that I love being in any place surrounded by bolts upon bolts of fabric.  I loved the article, you can read it here.

More exciting news was that my valance tutorial was featured on Daily Do It Yourself.

That site is awesome. They showcase interesting, unique, and fabulous do-it-yourself creations from around the blogshphere.

Inspire Me Heather also did a great article on grasscloth and featured some of the spaces I have used grasscloth {which I admit is a lot} Her site is about linking tutorials and inspiration on home improvement from bloggers, lots of crafts, DIY & home decor projects.

Both of these blogs are definitely worth adding to your reader!

Today is only Wednesday, it has been a pretty darn good week for me already don’t ya think?

I was featured in the Calico Corners Newsletter is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

We used my Nikon camera to do the stills and the video.  It was so convenient and easy to toggle back and forth from still to video with a push of a button.  We didn’t have to set up two different cameras, which makes it so much easier and faster.  Hopefully with the step by step tutorial along with this video, I have covered all bases for anyone to make their own tailored valance.

Step by step directions found here.  I used Calico Corners Plataue fabric for the valance, found here

I would love to know what you think of the video.  Is the step by step tutorial and video helpful, or should I just give up my acting career and stick to written instructions only?

Video on how to make a tailored valance is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

One item I kept looking for was a 24″ starburst mirror for our river house.  They seemed to have a variety of these mirrors pop up on their sales, but they were $200 and up plus an outrageous amount for shipping.  But I kept looking every day, just in case.  And sure enough I found one that was affordable and the exact size I needed.  $59 plus tax and shipping.  You know what I always say…Score!

Even though I originally wanted the finish in gold and this one was dark brown,  I knew I could easily gold leaf it if I needed to

But once I got it up I liked it just the way it was.  Whew, one less project to do! I love how it reflects the cabinetry in the mirror.  Have you shopped One Kings Lane and found any deals?

One King’s Lane starburst mirror is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

With this type of valance you can get away with not lining your fabric.  The majority of the valance is against the upper part of the wall above the window, very little is in the actual window.  Whenever you can see a valance or drapery from the outside looking in, always line the fabric to give your windows uniformity from the outside view.   Also, make sure the type of fabric you are using is not a thin cotton, otherwise you might have to line it to give it more visual weight and to lay properly.

Here are the supplies you will need:

• 1″ x 4″ pine board {make sure it is straight} the length of your window plus 4″
• White fabric to cover the board
• Fabric for your valance {quantity depends on the size of your window}
• Sewing machine {this tailored valance can be made into a “no sew version” by using iron on sewing tape rather than the sewing machine}
• Iron
• Staple gun
• “L” brackets

{You might think this next step is unnecessary since the board will be covered in your valance fabric. The reason for this is, if you put this valance say in a window above a couch, and someone is to look up they won’t see raw wood behind the valance.  It gives it a more finished look}

{Clarification as to why you need the extra 7″. This is the total for the two sides of the board which are each 3 1/2″ wide}

This is where I forgot to take a picture of  how I placed the board on the fabric and how I lined it up.  Contact me if you have any questions on this stepYou should use at least two “L” brackets to hang your valance, three if your window is super long.  Once you get your “L” brackets up, slide your valance on to the top of the bracket centering the valance to the window.

Your finished window should look like this

Doing tutorials are always tough for me, so if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  But I hope I covered it enough that you will be able to make your own.  If you do, I would love to see pictures!

Sharing this project with these lovely ladies

Erin’s Just a party with my peeps

Judy’s Swing into Spring

How to make a tailored valance is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

I decided to do neither and just use the old ones I already had.  The boards fit perfectly, why make more work for myself?  I put the grey velvet fabric over the existing lavender fabric, and stapled the fabric to the back side.  Took a whole 10 minutes for each of them.  Now that is my kind of project! I used the same adhesive back velcro to attach them to them back on to the foot boards

I thought since the couch was tufted, these inserts should be as well.  I did my “cheat” tuft and used my staple gun to make three tufts

I plan on putting fabric covered buttons on the “cheats” next time I go out there.  I love how the grey foot boards pick up the grey from the couch when you walk into the room.  And it was so much easier than sanding and painting, sometimes it pays to re-use what you have, and this time I am so glad I did.

Grey velvet foot boards is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

The funny thing is, I hadn’t actually planned on doing anything in the family room/dining room but when I saw these fabrics at Calico Corners I needed an excuse to use them somewhere!

I was racking my brain on where I could use them.  That is when it dawned on me that the fabrics blend perfectly with existing color I have on the walls and the deep red couch we have in the family room at the river house.  So, I said to myself, why not?  It has been 8 years, time for a change.

I wanted to keep the red and golds in the room but take out the sage green and bring in blues. The stylized more modern floral fabric was the perfect color pallet I needed to bring all the colors together and update the room.  It is called Wonderland in Pearl   I decided to use it on the drapery panel on the slider and throw pillows on the couch. The Charlotte Moss blue fabric I am going to use on the dining chairs and a corner cushion by the front door

I liked the idea of using the gold circle fabric in a more tailored style to replace the gathered country valences in the room.

But once I got the fabric, I couldn’t decide which side to use on the flat roman panels.  Silly me, I didn’t even realize that this fabric was reversible.  Guess what it is called?  Plateau reversible fabric, how did I miss that?   It is a very high quality fabric for the price, I was pleasantly surprised.  So I taped a section of each side to the main window and left it there for a couple of days to see if I ended up liking one or the other better

That didn’t help, I still couldn’t decide.  So I waited for the drapes to be made in the Wonderland fabric to see if that would help me make the decision.  It did.  Once I put the drapes up I decided to use the darker side of the fabric. The cream side was getting washed out next to the bright colors of the drapes.  So this weekend I dove into making six tailored flat panel valances.

I thought a 1″ x 3″ board would be deep enough for the valance.  But once I got 3 of the six done I was not liking it.  The depth was too shallow, and it looked one dimensional.  So off to Home Depot I went, and had them cut all the valence boards for me in a 1″ x 4″ instead.  Even though I had to start all over, it was a huge difference and well worth the time and staple removing.

{excuse the blue tape on the wall, it is for a piece of abstract artwork, I was trying to see what size would look good}

My proudest moment was when I got this corner section done.  I actually only had to make it once, which is really unusual for me! {for whatever reason my all the pictures I took of this area got all grainy looking}

The drapes were made incorrectly, so those came back with me to get fixed.  But here is how they looked when I temporarily put them up next to the tailored flat panel valance

My initial plan was to just change out the county style fabrics for a quick and easy update.  But once I got the new fabrics in the room, I realized some of the other things in the room needed to be changed out as well.  {like the boob lights in the ceiling, they stick out like a sore thumb now!  those are for sure going to be changed out} So I guess this won’t be a quick and easy update, like I originally thought, but that is ok, I know that I will not be changing it for at least another 5 years, so it is worth it.

I think these valances are such a classic and easy update for any window.  So stay tuned, I will be doing a tutorial this week on how to make these valances.

Tailored flat panel valance is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

I noticed recently that pinterest users come over to my blog for the first time and then start browsing, love that!  But then they start pinning some of my older content, nothing wrong with that right?   But it made me realize that I needed to take the time and go back and make my pictures bigger {with my new layout my pictures are smaller on all my older posts} and add my watermark {something I didn’t do in the beginning and learned the hard way that it is a must so people don’t steal your pictures and use them as their own}.  This is a tedious process, so slowly I am going getting some done.

Since it takes me just as long to go back and fix up an older post, as it would for me to do a new post,  I thought I would re-post them as I do them.

This is our Master Suite that I posted about back in August of 2010

I have been meaning to post pictures of our master suite, but put it off because of this….

In some of the pictures I took the lamp shade was crooked!  So I put this post on the back burner.  I never got around to taking more pictures, and that was four months ago.  Today,  I decided to forget about the silly lamp shade and share with you our master suite.

One of my favorite details in our bedroom are the walls. They have a beautiful layered background base with a hand painted cream stencil on top. The swirl design mimics the burnout sheers in the room

The dental molding that surrounds the room also hides the hardware for the drapes and the sheers.

All the drapery treatments are motorized and can be opened and closed easily from any wall switch in the room, I love that feature.

The carrera marble fireplace  was something my husband and I bought at an auction in Atlanta. It is super heavy, and since our master bedroom is on the second floor, we had to reinforce the floor just for the fireplace.

I love the texture and gold finish on the vintage candelabras that sit on top of the fireplace

It is such a treat that we have two sitting areas in the room. One in front of the fireplace, and the other in front of the slider that leads to the backyard.

The entry doors are hand painted with a stippling technique with applied moldings

I just love the style of these chairs, the pleated skirt on the ottoman and the gold leaf finish on the legs that matches the scroll work on top.  They are even more comfy to sit in, nice and roomy and oh so soft.

The armoire holds the TV

The antique chandelier is one of my favorite elements of the room

This is the doorway that leads to the master bathrooms

I hope someday to get around to taking some pictures of this area.  It will be my motivator to pretty up the closets and and make the shampoos and toiletries disappear in the shower.

Well here it is April of 2012 and I am just starting to spruce up my closet….oops, guess it wasn’t high on my priority list huh?  Did anyone else notice how many times I used the word “love”?  I guess I love my master bedroom lol

Master bedroom post updated thanks to Pinterest is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.