Thursday, February 28, 2013

UPDATE: Blackout liner, did you know???


**I wrote this blog post last year and I have yet another reason why I don't like blackout for roman shades.

Update at the end.

When I was a child and growing up in my parents home, I had to have all the lights off to sleep. Even lights outside my bedroom. If there was even the smallest amount of light to be seen from underneath the door, I just couldn't sleep. I'd go out in the hall and turn off the lights only to have my brother immediately turn them back on. He used to say, "Why don't you sleep with your eyes closed like the rest of the human race?" I am a huge fan of blackout lining.

We carry the ever popular blackout lining to line our curtains. First and foremost, let's clear up one misnomer. People think blackout lining is black. It is not. We carry both white and ivory/ecru blackout liner.

There are many great thing about blackout: It blocks light, it insulates, it is machine washable, it keeps the color from fading on your curtains as well as on other items in a room that may get a lot of direct sunlight. But, blackout may not be ideal for everyone. It has a few downsides too.

The following curtains are lined in regular drapery lining, not blackout.









The following sets of curtains are lined in blackout liner.



It is clear that blackout makes a tremendous difference. I definitely recommend on curtains! However, roman shades are a different story.

In constructiong a roman shade we must sew dowel rod cases through the front and back of the shade at about every ten inches down the shade. When the needle goes through the blackout it removes it from the lining and you can see each and every needle hole. And guess what else? We're human! Surprise! This means that sometimes we do not get the dowel rod casing line completely straight all the way across. We do notice this sometimes, but the alternative is to take out the stitching and make it straight. If it does not interfere with the over all quality of the shade we will usually leave an uneven line since removing the stitching makes it so you can see both the straight line and the mistake.


If using white fabric, the blackout material comes through the holes and makes little black marks on the shade around the outside of these holes.


Notice the needle pin holes and uneven lines. If you are one that is easily bothered by details, being able to see the light through these pin holes may become quite bothersome to you over time. If you are one of these people, I would recommend drapery lining.

Drapery lining will also block light and keep the furniture in your room from fading, however it will not block it out completely and it will not keep the fabric on the window treatment itself drom fading.

Over all, I recommend using blackout on curtains and not roman shades. But I do have babies and know the sun is their alarm clock. So if you don't think the pin holes will be a bother to you, then the blackout is great for the romans too.

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about blackout or drapery lining.

UPDATE:
When sewing roman shades we have to sew the dowel rod cases, or ribbing, to the main fabric and the lining in order for the shade to roll up correctly. The shade is mounted on a mounting block with Velcro. We also have to sew that Velcro to the top of the shade. When we sew with blackout the blackout comes up with the sewing needle and completely damages the fabric. Long story short, blackout isn't all its cracked up to be.





Sunday, February 24, 2013

Ugliest Fabric Vote

The Ugly Fabric Challenge:
The Ugly Fabric Vote

WARNING this may cause your eyes to bleed!

Below you will find the submissions to the Ugly Fabric Challenge. Please submit one vote per person. Vote by leaving the fabric name in a comment.

Voting will go until Sunday March 3, 11:59 pm ET. The top three votes will win a 50 % off coupon. All other entries that did not make the top three will be given a 10% off coupon.
(*Coupon may not be used on custom printed fabrics such as horizontal stripe).

I will then create window treatments from the top 3 fabrics to be voted on for ugliest, best treatment for the products used, etc. If anyone has any voting category suggestions I welcome them. 

You may browse the Ugly Fabric selection here or on Pinterest.

Thank you all for participating!
Enjoy!

Antlers by Beth

Skateboards by Ashleigh

Be A Man by Meagan

Blue. . . . by Dawn

Bubbles and Bruises by Julianne

Hunky Cowboys by Emily

Craig Sagar's Suits by Lauar

Creepy Staring Bears by Chelsey

Tropical Paradise by Erin

Floral Guitars by Kendra

Headgear Dragons by Megan

Kidneys by Brandon

Macarena Monkeys by tbongrl

Medalions  by jglitter

Mushrooms by Adria

Night Terrors by Annie

Nuff Said by Sayra

Orange and Purple by Christina

Parasites by Sarah


Raw Meat by Beth

Sheep Butts by Kelsey

Tiger Heads by Erica


Wacky Turds by Azure

X Ray Butterflies by Julie M.

Staring Cows by Tracy

Cats by Emily Clark

Adele's dress by Cindy

Leave your vote in a comment below and see who the top three finalists are next week!
Have fun!


Friday, February 22, 2013

Song of the South Room

Summer Project:
Song of the South Room 

I am undertaking a large project for the summer that will probably take every ounce creativity, talent and time that I possess. But it will be worth the outcome!

This is my children's bedroom as it stands currently. Mess and all. It is, or was at one time a "When you wish upon a star. . . " themed. The walls are blue, but when when you turn off the light there is glow in the dark stars and start dust all over the ceiling and slanted ceilings with shooting stars. I achieved this look by first painting wooden star cutouts in glow in the dark paint. Then I put the glow in the dark paint on a plate, dipped a scrunched up bar towel in it and dabbed on the paint for the star dust.



So here's the new plan.

First, the window. I think we will do two half width ruffle to prod pocket curtain lined in blackout using Premier Prints "Willow" in Italian Brown.


Next, on either side of the window there will be two Cherry Blossom trees on the walls with Brer Bear and Brer fox painted on the wall as in the second image. But I will create tree branches to come out off of the walls and there will be a stuffed animal hamock hanging from the tree branches.



Next, left wall where the little desk is. We will take that desk out and cut it down to a smaller size. No longer "L" shaped. On the left side of the desk will be this on the wall:
It will be one complete fence post (we only see on part in the image). The fence post will come out from off the wall where the kids can hang backpacks and jackets, etc. Fence as pictured below.


Right wall, or if looking at the image that looks at the door it's the left corner, is going to be the naughty corner/timeout corner, or the briar patch.


With this on the wall:


The wall color will likely stay the same, but wall art will be wood with phrases from the book and movie on it:


Other will include: 

"It was one of those Zip-a-dee-doo-dah days- the kind of day where you can't open your mouth without a song jumpin' out."
"Everybody's got a laughin' place - trouble is most folks won't take the time to go look for it. And where it is for one, mightn't be for another"Outside there door will have a similar wooden marker reading "To our laughing place."

I am going to have the kids make their own picture frames out of sticks and rocks and other things like that. I also plan to paint a light switch plate, outlet plug plates and other picture frames from The Glazed Bisque It paint your own pottery. I will also have the kids paint some picture frames there as well.

This is going to be a long project as I will be painting A LOT of detailed images. I'm not too bad though. I have been blessed with many talents and painting and drawing is one of them. I drew this picture for my son's "Wish Upon A Star" room until he started pulling it off the wall. I had to hide it after that:


  1. And I drew this with watercolor crayons on Sunday for my daughter. It isn't the best, but I only had about 5 minutes to do it before she got interested in something else.


    So I think this room is going to use every bit of talent I possess. We'll see if I have I have enough of it!  I'll keep you posted as we go! We'll spend the next month or so acquiring materials and then start probably mid April. And take alllll summer!