Outside mount bamboo shades

Hello hello! I’m back today to share a quick DIY project and a couple new tools I’ve started using lately. It’s been Christmas decor 24/7 around here and I gotta be honest, it was great to get something off the DIY list and use a tool for a change. (Insert tool man (woman?) grunt here.)

If you’ve read for a while you know I’m a lover of bamboo shades. Over the years I’ve switched over from our blinds to the bamboo and I just love them. I think they offer more privacy and light filtering (depending on the kind you get), they let more light in (when you want it) and they are just pretty. :) I told you more about our bamboo shades here.

I mentioned the privacy/light thing, and there are some that are a lot more tightly weaved than others. I recently replaced a couple on our main level that weren’t as tightly woven (less privacy) so I had one of the old ones available to install in our guest room upstairs:

This window has been nekked forever and I always feel bad for our guests who sleep in here. This is easily the brightest room in our house – which I’m sure is just lovely first thing in the morning for those who sleep in here. :)

And yes, the walls are still blue, pink and purple. At least there’s a bed in here, OK?

Because this shade is 72 inches long, for our longer, main level windows, it’s way too long for the upstairs window, which is shorter. This allowed me to do one of my new favorite fixes – hang the shade outside the window instead of inside the window frame.

I gathered my tools:

I did end up needing a drill too, more on that in a bit. If you install a shade inside your window frame, you probably won’t need any anchors – just screws. The framing around the window is enough for the screws to bite into.

And if you decide to do an outside mount, like this one, if you go right above the window you’ll probably catch something. Because my shade is so long, I went way up, and luckily caught a stud up near the ceiling:

I used my stud finder to find out where my studs were. Just for fun, stick one on your husband and let it beep. Hilarious. ;)

Once I knew where I could safely hang the brackets (without them eventually crashing down), I marked where the holes needed to go:

If you like to have extra peace of mind, you can put all four screws in. Anymore I only do two or three and they hold up fine.

You’ll want to drill in with a bit to give yourself a good start for your screw:

This also helps to determine if you’ve hit a stud or not. If the bit goes right through the drywall, you’ve missed the stud and will need an anchor. If not you’ll feel the resistance of the wood as you drill.

Here’s where my first new “tool” comes in – I found this at my True Value months ago and I LOVE IT:

It’s this magnetic arm band thing and you wrap it around your arm with the Velcro. This True Value has an end cap with all this “as seen on TV” stuff on it and this was there. I think it was $20? Twenty bucks of awesome, I tell you what. Especially on jobs like this, I am ALWAYS dropping screws or wing nuts or whatever. This keeps them right where I can reach them and they don’t go anywhere.

And it’s soooo fashionable too, be sure to let all the cool people see you in it:

That’s my attempt at a tough face. Failing.

I have a thing with as seen on TV stuff by the way. I have an odd fascination with all of it. No snuggie here yet. You? :)

Next up, you’ll need to drill your brackets into the wall. For this I used my next new tool, the Master Mechanic Swift Driver Ratcheting Screwdriver (say that three times fast):

The True Value folks sent me one to try out earlier this year and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. It is SO much easer than a screwdriver people! I actually find it easier to use than a power drill sometimes – it’s hard to get control of a drill at times -- even I still have it skip out and I dent the wall with the bit. Once or ten times.

This one is a great in between the power drill and a screwdriver – you use your hand to just ratchet it so it turns the screw for you. It’s hard to explain so I took a quick video:

 

Master Mechanic is the brand name for True Value and I have at least three tools from this line and love them all. Really pleased. The only thing is I wish this screwdriver was magnetic so the screws stuck on it on like my drill.

It made quick work of putting those brackets up:

I hope you can see from this picture how the brackets are on the wall for an outside mount installation – you want the the metal part that the nut screws on to to be pointing down. Much like an inside mount, but facing out. (For an inside mount I put them sideways.)

Once the brackets are up it’s easy! Just slide your shade on them and use the wing nuts to secure them:

And there you have it – a shade on the window, finally!:

Here’s the thing about hanging window treatments and shades really high – I love doing it because it gives the illusion the window is taller than it is. And I wanted this one high because this particular shade is still pretty thick at the top, even when pulled all the way up. So if it’s hung inside the window frame, it blocks a fair amount of sunlight. This way it doesn’t block any.

But I find that when just drapes are hung SUPER high, like to the ceiling, and the shades (if there are any) are hung lower, it can look kind of off. Like you’re trying to make the window look bigger and you can tell. You shouldn’t be able to tell. ;)

Once I get drapes up here it will really make that window look much taller than it is and will block out even more light for my lovely guests. :)

One more thing off the HUGE to do list, it feels good! The list for just this room is a page long…2013 is the year of the guest room, I can FEEL it.

Are you a bamboo shades person like me? Inside or outside mount? Or are you loving your blinds?

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Easy, quick holiday card display

Hello all! I hope your week is getting better with each day!

I wanted to share a super quick, easy way I display our holiday cards – I started doing it a couple years ago and have been meaning to blog about it every year since. At least I don’t think I’ve blogged about it? Nearly 900 posts in and I lose track. :)

All you need is some ribbon and a door. Told you, easy! OK, there are a few other minor things, but really, it’s simple. I change up my ribbon every year, but you could use the same year to year too:

I bought this candy cane stripe at Target years ago and love it. 

I just wrapped it around our coat closet door and secured it inside with upholstery tacks (cause that’s what I had handy):

Yes, it will put a small hole in your door, and no, no one will ever notice it. I just use the same holes year to year.

Just wrap the ribbon around top to bottom and across the door. Then you’ll need something to hold the cards on. I found these little tiny clothespins years ago, I’m pretty sure at Hobby Lobby:

They aren’t super strong but hold a card just fine.

It takes about five minutes to set up and no time at all to add new ones as the cards come in:

And I love having it out in the open where everyone can admire the pretty cards:

Last year I put a big puffy bow in the middle to make it look more present-like, but I lost a lot of card space with that bow, so it’s gone this year. :)

By the way, I’m pretty darn proud of myself. That closet is still organized!:

I added a few more cards today that we received over the weekend and there’s still plenty of room for more:

You know, for those who send their cards out at the last possible minute. Like…uhh, someone I know. Someone who is typing this.

We never got a good family pic this year (tried up to the last minute but getting the college girl home and us all looking decent at the same time is nearly impossible) so I’ll be gathering some Facebook pics to put something together. My plan is to get them out by Friday. They may turn into New Year’s cards. :)

So how do you display your cards? Do you send them out every year? Are yours out already? It’s become one of those things that I’ve decided to be OK with not doing if I don’t have time. Most years something's got to give! :)

Chalkboard gallery wall

I am sure we were all doing the same thing this past weekend. Grieving for the families in Connecticut. I felt pure horror when I heard the news and just could not stop crying, for a long time.

I hugged and kissed on my (newly) six-year-old boy a ridiculous amount, we did family things, we carried on through our weekend, but especially when I would look at my son, I was overcome with grief. Grief and joy. A weird and uncomfortable mixture.

Saturday evening, I sat in my office with my face in my hands, crying again, when I realized I had to figure out a way out of it. I was at a low I’m not sure I’ve ever been at before and I made a decision right then that I needed to do something.

Because I could. I am a lucky one who gets to function right now. So I decided to.

I tried watching TV, but the first movie I came to, the first scene, was a teacher in a room of kids. I tried surfing the net, but I was pulled to news sites instead. So while it may sound trivial, I decided to DIY. And it soothed my soul.

It was a project that had been sitting half way done for weeks, and I finished it. It was the only thing that quieted my mind. So I am posting about it today and will be posting this week. It doesn’t mean I’m not grieving, it just means I need to do something normal and I think others do too, simple as that.

 

I actually started this project the day after Thanksgiving, late at night. It had been tumbling around in my brain for a while and I had one of those it’s-ten p.m.-why-not-start-now? moments.

We have a little wall in our kitchen that I have BIG plans for in the future – until recently it held a couple Goodwill shelves and a small magnetic chalkboard for my son:

There were a couple of problems with this cutie wall though – one, the magnetic chalkboard, although painted with no less than ten coats of magnetic paint, didn’t hold magnets well. They had to be supersonic and it’s hard to find supersonic magnets suitable for a little one.

That’s the thing too, the little one is getting bigger. He’s getting a little too big for that chalkboard – not in the way that he doesn't use it, but in that it was getting too short for him.

I liked putting his art up there, but you can see that it became either an art board or a chalkboard – it couldn’t really be both.

The other biggie was the shelves – they were becoming a bit of a hazard. We’ve had more than one visitor bang their head as they came around the corner, and I prefer to have my visitors unharmed, so the shelves had to go.

That left a great little wall with a light switch right in the middle – and we all know how light switches can mess up art for a perfectly good wall. :) So I took it all down and started prepping the wall for paint:

This little space had a TON of holes – I’ve had two different frames around that chalkboard and I’ve hung numerous things on that wall over the years. I think I must have filled 100 holes:

Finally it was time to paint – three coats of chalkboard paint, that I already had from the original one on that wall.

I tried the whole foil in the paint tray thing and it worked beautifully. Doing this again for sure!:

No mess, no clean up. Awesome!

When it was dry, I started the priming of the wall. Priming with chalk that is – I never did this with the smaller chalkboard and it always cleaned up fine, but I kept reading you were supposed to do it. And I’m a good blogger so I did it:

I started with small pieces of chalk, which was a little maddening. Those ran out fast, and then I remembered I had sidewalk chalk in the garage. That worked like a charm – but no white chalk left for the Bub come spring. :)

I wiped it off, it felt like six or seven times to get all the chalk off, then we started playing – making list, drawings. And it sat like that for weeks, until I finished it up this weekend.

I knew I wanted to have the chalkboard, but I also knew I would want more than just the plain wall. I still wanted a spot where I could display the kiddo’s art too, so I came up with a plan that involved empty frames.

Usually I just start hanging things and don’t worry about holes in the walls, but this is such a narrow spot, I knew I needed to plan it out a little. So I grabbed my delicate FrogTape and put the dimensions of the wall on the floor:

I added the light switch, but forgot the plug, which messed me up a little later. I picked out some frames from my stash in the basement and played around with placement:

I had some small projects in mind to fill them so I picked some of the frames on purpose, others just because the size worked. I ended up moving things around a bit for the final result, but putting it all on the floor first helped tremendously.

I painted the frames with leftover chalk paint – both Annie Sloan (the aqua) and the CeCe Caldwell gray I used here.

I absolutely LOVE how this wall turned out!:

I didn’t want to fill it up too much because I wanted the kiddo to have room to use it. I’ve already started using that area above the switch as a spot for the grocery list.

It’s functional, fun and pretty, and I just love it!:

I know chalkboards are SO trendy and the thing and are everywhere, but I’m always late on trends. And actually, if I think about it, I created the original little chalkboard five years ago, waaaaaay ahead of the trend. So I’m both in front and behind of the trend…yeah, that’s it! :)

Here’s a look at this spot, before and after:

  

I loved the before too, but it just wasn’t working for us anymore. Now the Bub still has a place to draw, I have a spot for lists, and I can showcase art and fun stuff (like during the holidays).

And I’ll share how I’ve made it into a gallery wall for the Bub’s art soon too! It’s so easy to change the art out and I love having the whole wall to show off his schoolwork and pictures.

So there’s the project I finished up this weekend – it made me smile a real smile and my boy helped me along the way. Both very good things.

Are you on the chalkboard wagon? They really are too fun and I don’t see them going anywhere anytime soon.

Praying

My heart is heavy. I sat down to write a lighthearted post and checked in to Facebook as my pictures were downloading. Saw the news about the shooting today.

I can’t write anything happy right now. What a horrible, horrifying day for our nation.

I pray for those babies, the staff and their families. My heart is breaking for them all. Breaking.

I am counting down the minutes till I can hold my Kindergartener today.

Christmas tree party, 2012

 

Well hey! It’s time to show off all those beautiful Christmas trees as we finish up our holiday home linky series again this year! This is probably my favorite little party of the year and it’s become a tradition for me here at TDC. :)

I’ve shared our monster, beast of a tree before – we got it last year at Lowe’s and it’s 12 feet of Christmas CHEER. At least that’s what I repeat in my head as we’re setting up. Under my breath:

Why 12 feet? Well, ask my husband. ;) He’s got a thing about tall Christmas trees. Seriously, he asks for SO little when it comes to decor, but he’s all about a big tree. I would be happy with a much more normal 10-footer (well, normal for us), but no.

Last year was the first in my 37 years that I did not have a real tree, for numerous reasons (a few:  cats, water, hardwoods, trees falling over, etc.) and I do miss a real tree a little, but man, not putting all those lights on (and ripping them off) is a TREAT. I’ll take it!!

I have to admit, when it’s up and decorated (we do all red and gold on this one) and lit, it’s absolutely stunning.

Yet again, the hubby is right (GAH):

But this year I have a new crush. I’ve ALWAYS wanted a flocked tree. One of my BFFs has one and every year I ooh and ahh over it, touching it, staring. (It gets a little uncomfortable.)

I never saw one in a store that looked great though, at least for what I wanted to pay. Until this year. I think WalMart (yes, Wally World) may have had flocked trees for awhile, but I just noticed them this year. It looked REALLY good in the store, I was quite surprised.

So I got my flocked beauty last month and I LOVE her. She’s got just the right amount of flock:

And the stuff doesn’t come off either, I’ve even dragged this baby across a room and it didn’t shed much at all.

I think it is just beautiful – the whole thing just glows:

And yes, I know all Christmas trees glow…this one is just different.

We used all of the glittery (WalMart!) ornaments that I used on my little office tree last year, and then some of our white and silver ones as well:

I was going to do just white, silver and blue, but then we stuck a few green on there and I was smitten. It works perfectly with the basement decor:

Isn’t she a beaut? I’m pretty much obsessed. (And yes, it barely fits our ceilings down there. It’s a close one.)

I usually DIY my tree skirts (just yards of fabric fluffed up) but I saw this fluffy one at Marshall’s a few weeks ago and knew it would be perfect. And. it. was:

We spend so much time down in the basement now, I wanted to have something Christmasy down there. Next year, as more is done, I hope to decorate this space even more. But for now, this tree is plenty.

It sits in the spot where we plan to install/build a fireplace someday (soon?):

It’s 7.5 feet tall for $130 I believe. Since then I’ve kept my eye out and I haven't seen anything close to it as far as quality for the price. Target has one that’s 7 feet tall for $230 and you know I LOVE Target but it doesn’t even compare. (Not enough flock for my taste.)

Meijer had a 7-footer for $20 more I think, that was just sad. I think it was because no one had fluffed up the branches but still. Poor guy.

I still can’t get over how pretty this one is for the price – I’ve seen some for hundreds (and hundreds) in specialty shops that rival it:

And of course, the Peanut Butter loves it too:

He would sit in front of it all night long if we let him.

So now it’s time to see yours! YAY!! I’ll leave this party open for a week so you can continue to link up for a while.

I would SO appreciate a link back with or without this button:

Thanks so much!!

Here you go, link them up!:

Reindeer vignette in the foyer

Hello there! First of all, thanks for all the well wishes here and on Facebook! I really appreciate it.

I felt pretty good this morning and threw together a little vignette for Rhoda’s party – the next in our holiday home series:

I had grand plans for putting together a pretty vignette this weekend, but then the sickness hit and it just didn’t happen. When I say I threw this together, I mean it – and just so you know, I don’t say that in a braggy way, I say that so you know that it doesn't always need to take a lot of stuff and a lot of time to put a little something together!

I started with these cute particle board reindeer I picked up at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago:

I’ve bought very little new Christmas decor this year, and actually plan to get rid of a bunch more (it seems I cut my stash by a third every year). But these were just too darn cute to pass up. Each one was $6 and I got them half off, so $9 for all three.

It took about three minutes to put them together, and they were MUCH bigger than I thought they would be, so I only ended up using two. If you need something big to fill a spot these would be perfect!

I set them up on our front foyer buffet and then was on the search for stuff to fill in the empty spots. I started with some clips of some real greenery, and then thought of these cute light bulbs I’ve had forever:

A friend gave me strands of these lights years ago because most of them were out. I LOVED the bright round bulbs, so I took each one off and saved them.

And then didn’t know what to do with them. ;)

Last year that were just placed in the glass candleholders, this year I have new plans for at most of them.

The others I just nestled into the greenery around the reindeer:

I wanted this to be a fun little vignette, nothing too serious. The bright bulbs were the perfect addition.

I added a flocked tree I picked up last year for some height and was pretty tickled with the result:

It was cheap and easy and I had everything on hand. And it was QUICK – the most important thing to this girl (points to self with both thumbs) this week. :)

I LOVE these reindeer with their bright houndstooth!  I only used two – there was a brown one too but like I said, they were much bigger than I thought they would be:

They even have a little bit of glitter around all the edges. And the best part – they come apart and store away flat – brilliant!

Our musical advent calendar sits at the other end of the buffet:

We got it from Costco and the Bub LOVES it. When you open the little doors the music comes on and the little vignette lights up and moves. So adorable.

So there you go – it’s not the most amazing vignette ever, but it’s cute and colorful and that’s what I want guests to see when they walk in our home this season. It makes me smile, especially those houndstooth reindeer. ;)

Can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with over at Rhoda’s today! And don’t forget my annual Christmas tree party coming up on Thursday! Can’t WAIT!

Haven, again!

Hey all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! My was a mix of great and not-so-great – we celebrated our boy’s sixth birthday (SIX!!!) but on Sunday I spent the day in the ER dealing with food poisoning. Ummm…that was interesting.

I’ve never experienced that before and would prefer to never again. :) The culprit – salmonella from two chicken wings from a pizza place. Just TWO people. I am SO GLAD I only ate two. I cannot even imagine what would have happened to me if I had eaten more. It really, really freaks me out.

We also discovered that I have strep throat while in the ER, so it’s just been a barrel of FUN around here. Did I mention I missed the Bub’s birthday party? Yeah. Hubby was a rock star and with the help of some family he pulled it off all on his own.

This morning I was still feeling like death warmed over, but after some more sleep and a shower, I’m feeling somewhat normal again. Now I’m just dealing with the effects of the strep.

So anyway, that’s the reason for this late post today. But I’m SO excited to share some news that we’ve been planning for months – the next Haven Conference is set for August 2013!:

We had such a blast last year, we knew we had to do it again. :) It truly was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I know it’s crazy to say about a conference, but it was.

The planning team for this year includes myself, Beth from Home Stories A to Z, Chris from Just a Girl, Rhoda from Southern Hospitality and Traci from Beneath my Heart.

What is Haven?

Haven is a two-day conference Thursday, August 1 through Saturday, August 3, 2013 that will allow people to learn from and gather with some of the most notable DIY/Home bloggers in blogland. Conference sessions will focus on DIY instruction with a mix of blogging and social media:

Where is Haven?

The Haven Conference will be held in the beautiful Buckhead Grand Hyatt in Atlanta, Georgia:

Who will be at Haven?

Haven is open to all who are passionate about blogging, DIY projects, and creating beauty in the home for less. With a perfect mix of DIY and blogging sessions, it's a conference not to be missed!:

I LOVE that we have the sessions set up so that bloggers and non-bloggers alike will benefit. We had a bunch of non-bloggers there last year which I thought was so cool!

For more information, and to see more fun pictures from Haven 2012, you can click on the button below.

 

Ticket info:

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, January 1st, 2013! The full conference pass is $225, but there is a way to get them for even less:

 

The first 50 people to purchase a ticket will get a $25 discount!

Special Thanks to the Home Depot for being our Platinum Sponsor again this year!:

To Kristin Stockdale, from Stockdale Designs, for being our AMAZING event planner again this year!:

And Kristi, from Creative Kristi, for helping us out with our web site again:

I hope to see as many as your faces there as possible! We are so excited!! Are you planning on attending?

I’ll be back tomorrow after a little more sleep, pain reliever and antibiotics. :)