A Little DIY

Over the past few months I have been dabbling in a bit of DIY projects. The projects seemed to take forever, but I have finally finished them!

First up, was to revamp our outdoor lounge set. I bought the set off ebay for a steal. Unfortunately, I do not have a before picture, but just imagine 1980's cane with hideous blue and maroon pillows. I painted (with the help of my willing American friend, Chelsea!) the cane coral/orange and had the seat cushions recovered. I made the floral cushions myself from fabric I found in the States. I ordered the grey geometric print cushion covers off etsy from a Canadian seller right when the Canadian post went on strike. The pillow covers took over 4 months to get here! But, it is finally complete and we are enjoying relaxing and lounging on the deck!

Next up was our curtains. We have a large back window/door that opens up to the deck. We had been searching for a "curtain" solution to this window for some time. We needed something functional, easy to push to the side, and something 1/2 way attractive. In the winter time, it was quite cold because the cool air would come right through the windows, and in the summer it was quite hot. We also needed to be able to push the curtains all the way to the side so that we could open up the doors. We discovered a rail system at IKEA that would allow us to do just that. Then, we were able to find Thermal fabric that would block out cold, light, and heat. Seemed like it was the right fit, only it was not very stylish or attractive. Here is what they looked like at first...blah!

I stumbled across a few blogs that had tutorials on how to stencil curtains and I was SOLD! So I gave it a go! It was not an easy project and tested my patience more than a few times! They are not perfect (I had to throw perfection out the window!) but definitely an improvement!

One panel done, 4 to go!

And finally finished! I never want to stencil anything ever again!