Giveaway Tuesday

I'm feeling generous. Today I would like to give away a 14" pair of pillow covers in Bella Porte in Citrine.

AND these:

No, that didn't happen by mistake. I want to give a set of 14" pillow covers to one of our readers and I want to send another set to them to give away to someone that could use a little "thinking of you" gift.

Now, before I grab the next bloggers hand and start singing, "Kumbaya," here is how you spread the love:

1) Leave a comment telling us who you plan to share these with

and

2) Share the giveaway on FB or other media so everyone can join!

Spread the love! Giveaway is open for one week! It will close at midnight on Tuesday August, 7th.

More Custom Designed Fabric From Window Treatments by Melissa

Our horizontal stripe fabric was a hit! Katie, from boocatbam, has made some fabric samples that you will love.

Just about all of our orders for custom window treatments use fabric that is supplied by the client. Katie used to work for us and has seen all of the most popular fabrics that you love and drew on those as well as her own fabulous taste to design these for our fabric line. You can see Katie's work for us here. The work we did together on Amber Colatosti's house was one of my favorite projects! She has a beautiful home.

I would like to have some feedback on these fabric samples. What would you use this fabric for and where would you put it in your house? Curtains? Lamp shades? Pillow covers?

I'm loving this for long panel curtains.

I would definitely use this to cover a cork board to add a little color to my office.

Emily Clark had such a great idea on her blog the other day after a fabric shopping trip. She suggested buying fabric and framing it as art in your home. Check out that blog post and pictures here. When I saw this fabric idea I could definitely see myself putting this in an 18" x 24"  frame in my office or or my bathroom! You can do so many things with fabric!

And this I just love! The possibilities are endles: lamp shade, curtains, roman shades, valance, duvet cover! You name it, we can do it!

Please leave a comment here and tell me some ideas that were inspired as you looked at these fabric ideas.

We can also change the colors if you want to see anything in a different color cheme. I might purchase the circles in navy and orange for my son's room. So many possibilities with fabric. I want to hear from you!

Pardon our dust

Our blog is under construction! The wonderful Jenna from q and a custom blog designs is doing a fabulous job on giving our blog a little face lift. We'll be back on Monday with lots of new posts. Here is what you can look forward to:

• DIY recovering dining room chairs
• Education on fabrics, window treatments, home decor, etc
• Birthday week! It is our birthday in August and we have a great week planned for you!
• New shop items
• New youtube videos from us on "how to."
• And lots more.

Can't wait to get back in the groove next week and get back in touch with all of you! Have a great weekend!

Colorado Shooting

Our hearts are with the victims and their families of the colorado shooting.

Fabric finds for you: Birds

Just some fun fabrics and other decor items I thought I'd share.

Birds seem to be all the rage lately, but I haven't seen much of Owls. I think I like it!

Love this bird and the little bit of accent color.

This bird can be found at Lynn Chalk's website and is also available in blue or brown. The fabric is hemp! Very cool. Love it.

Barber is always a safe pattern for birds.

This is a premier print pattern. If you like to mix patterns this pillow would pair well with the village blue and natrual chevron as they are the same colors.

LOVE this linen Valori Wells fabric. It would look fantastic on accent pillows. 

The best part is, it's under $10 a yard from our sponsor decorate23 if you want to buy the yardage for roman shades or curtains. Wonderful accent colors.

Enjoy!

Floating Picture Frames

Floating Picture Frames

Today I am loving Fred's Floating Frames for a modern accent to the home.

The background of the frame is pine or oak stained in your choice of color.

The combination of wood, glass and attractive metal hardware will add a rustic and model tone to your home.

They also have any size you can think of!

I might just have to buy the picture in the frame too, because this family is too cute!

Get your floating frames here!

Don't forget! Coupon inside!

Hello everyone. It's mid month and I wanted to remind you about coupon code ADAM for the month of July. It is good for free shipping in our shop and also helps out our sponsor family of the month. Here is a little bit about Adam from his grandma, Donna.

 Nine year Adam with his Gardnam, Donna.

" Adam was born on October 1,2002 at Carilion Community Hospital. Complications had set in for both mother and baby.  Emergency procedures were performed...Adam was moved to NICU where he began fighting for his life...and what a "fighter" he is!  He was a NICU "graduate" "

"After nine long years,of fighting...enduring all of his handicaps...Adam still fights to breath and live. Adam is very much aware of everything around him and has a big smile for everyone! He loves going to school; music time and playing instruments, arts and crafts, and especially his teacher, and teacher's aids."

"Adam loves his family,especially his little five year old sister, who climbs upon his bed and tells him stories, sings him little sweet songs..hugs him and kisses his cheeks and forehead. She "makes" Adam's days!"

"Adam's heart "melts" when his Mother is near...he loves her so much!  And he loves "hangin' out" with his Daddy, who always lays Adam across his big chest and says "How ya doin', Buddy"  Adam listens to his Daddy talking and to his daddy's strong heart beat and his great big snores, when he falls asleep. Adam knows that he's safe when his dad is near...and can imitate his Dad's snoring to a "T"!

Adam loves his extended family ,too. His Gramma and his great-aunt Brenda watch over him. Adam never misses birthday parties and holiday celebrations...with his cousins,aunts and uncles...they all love Adam."

"Just so you all know...Adam has Cerebral Palsy, caused, at birth, from a "bleed" to the two upper levels of his brain, he doesn't talk or walk, or sit up without support.  Adam is also blind.  He cannot eat "food" by mouth unless it is puree...but has a feeding tube, pump and a formula.  When he smells good food and favorites like pizza or french fries...Gramma tosses the food into the blender and lets Adam taste the food which he loves.


Also, Adam has Scoliosis, which is painful, and last,MS, which makes his muscles and tendons ache. Gramma and Adam's Great Aunt Brenda are watching over Adam. They spend many hours helping Adam with stretching and playing; with music and drums and bells; with feedings and baths and much more."

"Adam's hospital trips...surgeries, meds, supplies,and equipment, have been a challenge for Matthew and Kathy.  Adam has outgrown All of his equipment now so they must begin again to replace things like the wheel chair, bath chair, feeder chair, car seat...and soon they will need a Lift to move Adam around...the list goes on, as all parents who have handicap children,well know,  it's  challenging but necessary.

Thanks to Melissa for all she does for everyone...and for choosing to sponsor Adam for the month of July.  May Gods most choice blessings be hers.Thank you all, from Adam."

I have lots more pictures of Adam to share at the end of the month when we do his report. I have some of tender family moments with his mom and dad and sister. What a sweet family. Let's help them out!!

Remember coupon code: ADAM good through the end of July!

Second Year Anniversay

In one month, on August 12, 2012, Window Treatments by Melissa, LLC will be turning two years old! We are going to do a blog post of our work in the past two years. If you are a former client and have pictures to share, we'd love to see them at windowsbymelissa at gmail dot com.

Also, we will have a little gift that day for all our readers. So be sure to stay tuned and check out the blog on August 12th. What we have to offer is only good for that day.

Horizontal stripe fabric NOW IN!

We got our horizontal stripe fabric in yesterday! I was so excited I immediately made a curtain out of it!

It was hard to get a good picture mostly because my house is full of vertical stripes :) The contrast is awkward. But hopefully this give you an idea of the look and how it lays in its different functions.

Fabric details:

•  Medium weight 54" wide drapery fabric.
• Cotton/linen blend
• Stripes are each eight inches wide.
• Colors currently available: Gray/White, Black/White, Navy/White. We can produce any color variety you would like. You can contact us for a special order.
• Fabric is currently $38/yard.

Click here to see the other color combinations we have ready to print.

Do you like it?! What color combos would you like to see? Currently all our options or paired with white, but it certainly doesn't have to be. I'd love to hear your input on color combos. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Pin it!!!

Treatments for Slanting Windows

 Okay, readers. I can't believe I am doing this and my roommates will very likely kill me. BUT, I am posting pictures from college. I promise it relates to slanting windows. But, I couldn't put my collge pictures up without taking a little stroll down memory lane. After all, the most significant parts of my life happened here.

I met my husband in college.

Me and my husband, BC=before children :)

The hubbins and I on homeymoon

And I had my first baby, Joshua. His due date was the week after final exams of my final semester of college. But the little stinker didn't want to be an afterthought. So he came two weeks early! I gave my senior presentation three days after a C-section in sweat pants and high on Percoset. Good times.

I went to Southern Virginia University for my undergraduate degree. The campus has the most beautiful buildings you'll ever see! Most built during the victorian era.

I lived in the turit room right in the center of the picture. As you can tell from the picture the room had two floors.

To give you an idea of the lay out, I took this picture
and the one to the left standing in the same place. So
the stair case is directly to the right of the left
picture.

 

This was our bedroom in the lower part of the round turrit
 that you see in the picture of the front of the building.



The picture above and below are the main part of the dorm room. To give you an idea of the lay out the picture of the stairas and the bedroom was taken from that doorway in the back of the room to the left of the mirror and dresser in the above photo. And both of these pictures were taken from the same place in the room, the front doorway.

Love the James Dean posters and calender. Oh, James Dean. . .

As we were on the top floor, our ceilings were slanted.

The building was very old and terribly drafty. The round room in the front was always so hot because it had windows all around it. We had two dormer windows in the room in the part with the slanted ceilings.

To provide privacy in a room with a dormer window, put a curtain rod both where you will hang the curtain and then another where the slanted ceiling meets the wall.

Obviously, I don't recommend a roman shade on this type of window, but these curtains look fabulous! You can see from the photos that they look like they slide back and forth easily and appear to be very functional. I got the idea of a window treatments book called Quick and Easy Window Treatments by Gail Abbott and Cate Burren.

 

Ikat ???

I first encountered Ikat fabric two years ago. I had never really worked with it much. I didn't know what Ikat even meant. I made these roman shades and pillow covers out of Duralee's Kalah in red and ivory.

When I first unrolled this fabric, I thought it was an accident. And by accident I mean someone hit someone with their car, got nervous and rolled the body in some bed sheets that happened to be in the back of the car, and when they went to destroy the evidence thought to themselves, "Hmmm. . . I could sell this print for $50/yard and make mmmmiiillliiiiooonnnsss. . . to buy my way out of prison."

This was two years ago. Also, I have been exposed to many other Ikat patterns and it has begun to grow on me. This one is my favorite that I have been eying the past few weeks from Lynn Chalk's website.

Until recently, I still didn't know much about "Ikat." So here is the jist for you, in case you were wondering.

•  Ikat is a dying technique similar to that of tie dying. "Binding" is applied to the fibers in the fabric before dying and resist the dye when it is applied causing it to spread. This binding is applied before the fabric is even woven.
• Ikat is the oldest form of fabric decorating.
• Ikat literally translated means "to tie" or "to knot."
• The Victoria and Albert Museum website has the cooloest pictures on the ikat process! Check them out here!  (P.S. I've been to this museum when I went to England in college. Everyone should go if they are in England).

Lynn Chalk carries tons of ikats. Check them out if you are considering an ikat style for your next project.

So, it took a while for Ikat to grow on me. I want to know what you think. Do you like ikat?