DIY No Sew Curtains

You never truly realize just how EXPENSIVE curtains and window treatments are until you have to start buying them for a house with, what feels like, a bajillion windows. There are a lot of ideas out there circulating about DIY curtains and most of them are great. This is what I personally used and found to be the cheapest ,but best looking, alternative to traditional curtains.

Materials:

Drill (or a Hammer,nail and screwdriver)

Mainstay Cafe Rod Set ($2.97 @ Wal-Mart)

Mainstay Cafe Curtain Clips ( 14 ct $2.84 @ Walmart)

Mainstays Twin Flat Sheet ($4.99 @ Walmart)

Ikea Vivan Curtain Pair ($9.99 @ Ikea) Buy Here

Rod,Clips and 1 Flat Sheet

This window is 24″ wide so I cut my sheet in half for each side. If your windows are much larger,I would recommend 2 flat sheets.One for each side. i used 7 cafe clips on each side since 14 came in a pack.

This is with them closed. They look much fuller closed if you use two sheets or the Ikea curtain pair, but I never close them now. I’ve been using two sheets on the majority of my other windows.

I keep thinking I want to eventually upgrade my curtain rods, but then my money saving conscience keeps saying, “why?!”. They look fine and are functional. I may, perhaps, make some DIY valences one day if anything. I don’t know about you, but I hate the idea of spending 10 or 20 PLUS dollars on ONE curtain rod.It’s absurd, even if you have unlimited funds. It totally blows my mind.

COST:

$10.80 plus tax (one sheet method)

$15.79 plus tax (two sheet or Ikea method)

Laminate Countertop Makeover

Did I mention how much I love paint!? I don’t exactly love painting but I love what paint can do to transform almost anything. Going back to Giani Granite, they are best known for their countertop makeover kits. I chose the White Diamond kit because I wanted to create something that looked similar to marble or least the same color scheme.

Source

So, we have those dreaded 1980’s faux wood countertops that are hideous. We will EVENTUALLY replace them with DIY wood countertops but we really want to make sure we know what we are getting into before we make a final decision. Meanwhile, I don’t want to look at these ugly counters in the meantime.

Of course the prep work is never fun, but obviously you will need to thoroughly clean your surface area. I also rubbed the countertops down with denatured alcohol as well. Then I taped off the edges and tacked up craft paper to protect my newly painted cabinets. The first coat is the black primer.

Then the Pearl Mica sponging comes next.

Then comes the white limestone.

A sponge comes with the kit.

I made my own with a cheapo sponge brush and just cut the tip.

Beginning the second coat.

I thinned it out just a tad to make it a little easier to spread and dab.

Finished product before the epoxy coat is applied.

This is the epoxy glaze I used to get a super shiny look that would help make it look like it wasn’t painted.It does look pretty good but I really, really don’t recommend it. You have to work very very quickly with it before it gets tacky, you have to mix it until your arm falls off and your mixture ratios have to be measured perfectly.

My first batch was a bust! Apparently, I didn’t mix it enough so it never cured. It was tacky,sticky and gross. Everything I read said I had to scrape it off and start over.WRONG. I didn’t want to scrape because I didn’t want to mess up my pretty paint job. I mixed up a second batch, poured it over the bad batch and waited for it to cure overnight. It worked! It took a 3rd batch to finish the rest of the counters.

Again, it looks pretty good but I wish I would have just used the polyurethane top coat that came with the kit. Either way, it’s temporary for now and looks way better than the faux wood.

After the epoxy.

Finished and functional.

I highly recommend the Giani Granite kits, however, I do not recommend the epoxy glaze (not included) if you have never used it before.

I’ll throw in my “Clayton,NC” art gallery wall for good measure. All the frames were different colors so I decided to spray paint them all in the same color that I did the cabinet hardware in. The Rustoleum Dark Bronze looks great on just about anything.

Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

I’ve been wanting to share this post for some time now because I am super happy with the results and am really proud of my hard work. Granted, it did take me almost 3 months to complete because taking care of (almost 2 yrs old) twin girls,while doing projects like this, comes with many challenges.

To start off, the most daunting work for me was removing all the doors and hardware and then putting them back up. I sanded the first half of the kitchen cabinets but cheated and only rubbed everything down with denatured alcohol in the second half. So far, you can’t tell the difference and it seems just as durable at this point.

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in. Everything was original and from 1983.

Removed all the doors. Cleaned with cleaner and sanded with fine grit paper.Don’t forget to use cheese cloth to clean up the dust if you choose to sand.

Scraped for hours getting all this nasty ivy contact paper out of every single cabinet and off of EVERY SINGLE shelf. Meh.

I used this amazing paint by Giani Granite in White Titanium, that I bought on Amazon. I sanded this half of the kitchen before I painted. Not gonna lie. It sucked. I cheated in the second half and only rubbed them down with denatured alcohol (Can be found in any painting section near thinners and such.) after I cleaned them really well with a kitchen degreaser like Kaboom and a scrubby.

I boiled all the brass hardware in water and about a 1/4 cup of vinegar in order to get all the gunk and top coats to peel off. I also scrubbed them with a wire brush so I could repaint them.

Once they were ready, I painted them with a few coats of this stuff in Dark Bronze and they came out great!

You can buy painting pyramids if you want but I just used canned food. I slapped a moving quilt on the table and did most of my painting in the kitchen so I could easily hear and check on my kiddos in the family room.

TA DA!!

Second half of the kitchen.

I decided to paint the walls before finishing the cabinets because I had to order more paint. It took 4 of cans of the Giani paint for our kitchen. They only come in quarts. It’s a little pricey but totally worth it because of the durability. I have scrubbed mine down already a few times and spills easily wipe off.