Project Week: Ombre Curtains

Here it is! My big project, hand dyed ombre curtains. Most of you know I'm no stranger to undertaking DIY projects but for some reason this one was a bit intimidating to me. It could have easily gone horribly wrong, I could've burned myself with scalding water, wasted money, hated it. But fortunately none of that happened and I love the outcome!

I started out with these Ritva curtains from Ikea. A bargain. The website says $35/pair but I swear I only paid $30...

Some rit dye + internet research and I got started.

I heated up the water in big pots on the stove and dumped them in these tubs to make the dye bath. My husband was on stand by to help me keep things under control. I started doing it by myself and had premonitions of him walking in the room with water boiling, dye everywhere, wet dogs with purple streaks and utter chaos so it was good to have a helper. 

Since I was doing two colors, each beginning at one end of the curtain, I decided it would be best to dye them at the same time. 

Each end of the curtain started in the dye bath, I put about 10-12 inches of fabric in for about 5 minutes, then another 10-12 in for another 5 minutes, until the whole thing was submerged. To blend the center together I went back and for into each dye bath, overlapping as I went.

I didn't do the timing or amount of fabric on each level to an exact science, no sense in getting caught up in something that might not make a difference I guess.

You can see I had some trim in there. I bought this dyeable trim from Joann's to sew on vertically. For dyeing though I just safety pinned it to the curtain.

Then I hung the curtains outside and hosed them down with water and wrung them out multiple times. The whole project was difficult for the mere fact that these curtains are 118" long, so it made it hard to maneuver I guess you could say.

While they looked great at this point, I wasn't happy with them. I wanted them to be very dark on each end and they weren't. So back to the store I went.

I re-dyed each end, soaking for much longer this time, and repeated the whole process again. Finally I was happy!

The only problem was, the trim which was made of rayon shrank considerably, boo. I had cut the trim extra long in case of this very situation and it still shrank probably about 8-10 inches!

Oh well, most of you DIYers know that part of doing projects is rolling with the punches as you go. So I sewed a little bit across the top and bam, I was done!

They look lighter with the light shining through but they are actually pretty dark in reality.

I think I need new curtain rods now, but I freaking love my new curtains!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Project Week: Custom Frame Refurb

The project I had intended to show you next is taking a bit longer than I expected. Hopefully I will finish it today though and can show you tomorrow. Take my word for it that it's fab.u.lous. though!

You may remember from this post a while back that my mom gave me this great piece of art she had sitting around in her barn.

I just love this piece. I had planned to reframe and mat it but after some quick measurements I realized it was custom framed, so that was out. 

After some brainstorming I came up with a plan to refurbish it that cost a whopping $6!

First I took it all apart and cleaned it up. It was disgusting! I decided the simplest thing to do was cover the outside mat in fabric. This is the only money I spent!

The fabric I bought was very light in color and thin so of course the darker mat showed through. So I whipped out some white spray paint and sprayed it down.

I didn't have to worry about it looking good because it was just to lighten the color.

I had planned to keep the inside mat as is because I thought it was dark gray. But when I took it apart I realized it was actually green that had faded quite a bit.

No worries there though. I sprayed it with some metallic silver spray paint I had lying around. Only a sliver of it will show so I didn't worry about it looking perfect either.

Then I oiled down the frame with Old English Polish. It made a HUGE difference in the appearance. I had originally thought to paint the frame but decided I'd rather keep the wood tone for some texture in the room.

I meticulously covered the mat in fabric with a ton of double stick tape, put it all back together and ta da!

It's hard to tell in this picture but the new matting is actually a very light pink. Combined with silver I think it looks amazing and unexpected!

Here is a side by side for comparison...

 Sooo much better! I can't wait to hang it on my art wall!

Project Week: Bar Cart Makeover!

I have deemed this week project week on FOW. I have a few projects to show off so why not cram them in to one fun filled week?

Back in May I scored an amazing vintage bar cart for only $50. It of course needed some love and I was happy to give it!

As you can see from this picture, it was a good day at Canton!

Here is the cart before.

As you can see, it wasn't too far gone. It needed a lot of polishing, some tightened screws and some kind of fix on the shelves.

Right off the bat I had planned to paint the shelves a glossy white. But then I noticed that the bottom shelf had a layer of some type of clear plastic-y type covering on it. The only way to get it off was the scrape it with a razor blade. One. Piece. At. A. Time. Yeah, fuck that! Then I thought, glossy white is predictable, why not doing something fun on this little cart?!

So after some brainstorming...

This is the bar cart now!

I ended up covering it in some paper from Paper Source using spray adhesive. Super easy and an amazing look in my humble opinion!

The vase and watercolor painting were holiday gifts from the fabulous Bri.

To get the paper to fit perfectly on the shelves was much easier than I thought it would be. I taped together a bunch of sheets of paper and pressed it into the corners while I traced a line.

There were a few gaps so I just taped another sheet of paper down, drew and cut again until it was perfect. Then I traced it onto the actual decorative paper I used. I laid it onto the bar cart and only sprayed adhesive on each half at a time. This helped to keep it lined up right. I then lowered the paper onto the shelf working my way from the center out to avoid wrinkles.

Here's a sneak peek at the next project I have to share!

Have a great Monday!

Just Because...

I have several projects I'm working on over here at the Flights of Whimsy Castle. So until they're ready please to enjoy some pretty I've spotted from around the web this week!

See the rest of this house tour here!

I would love to try this floating console idea somewhere.

Can't get over this vignette...

I also found this really great pouf on sale for $39 at Urban. Go get it!

Have a great thursday lovers!

Gone Wild!

Because I'm a bit nutty and I bought these awesome shoes yesterday...

They're on sale now at Nordstrom's Anniversary sale. RUN PEOPLE! It's fabulous.

Anyhoo, I'm going to talk about leopard prints today in honor of my new purchase!

Olivia Palermo is often seen in leopard prints of all kinds. I just love her chic style, so perfect.

I could totally rock these. From Net-a-Porter. But at over a cool G, maybe not...

                                                                                        Source: None via Brandi on Pinterest

Note to self: get leopard print tights for fall/winter.

From This is Glamorous

A little leopard print should be in every room!

The Art Makes the Room

I'm still collecting and making art to build a huge gallery for my living room. I continue to be inspired by teh interwebs as usual.

There are so many rooms I come across where the art just MAKES the room! You know, the one thing that the room just wouldn't be the same without. I love that element of design...

From Sketch42

From Desire to Inspire

From La Dolce Vita

This has been one of my favorites for a while.

Do you have any showstopping pieces of art or wall decor? Do share!

Quick Change Friday

I finished up sewing all those vintage scarves into pillows. I sewed invisible zippers in each one so I can change them out on a whim. Also since I use many of the same colors throughout my house they can migrate from room to room. Yay for functionality!

I made all these pillows myself except for the sparkly one. It's from Urban Outfitters. The only pillow not from a vintage scarf is the blue watercolor one.

The scarves only cost $1-$3 each and the blue frabric was a few dollars from Joann's. With that cost and a few dollars for the zipper each pillow only cost about $7 to make. The fillers are down and cost about $10 each.

The rug is a new addition from John Robshaw, purchased on One Kings Lane for a steal. I'm not sure if I'll keep it in here, hence the layering .

The duvet is from Ikea. It's a nice duvet but I can definitely tell it's cheaply made. The fabric is sewn crookedly and is pulling on the seams already. Also the insert, which I also purchased at Ikea, is not the right size. WTF Ikea! You make both of these can't you make the inserts the right size for your duvets!!!!