how much is enough

hello and happy labor day weekend! i’ve been resting as prescribed by our nation but couldn’t let another day go by once my mom said she missed my blog. truth is it’s been a couple weeks since moving in and i have done pitifully little decorating. the faucets and showerheads have been changed, towel bars installed, grout whitened and fluorescent lights in the kitchen and baths have been replaced. the outdoor table and chairs were a big deal when they arrived but other than that it’s just been a couple trips to home depot for orchids and damprid, nothing too creative. i wish i could be more of my mother’s daughter and whip up covers for the chairs but sadly i didn’t inherit her incomprable ability for whipping and whirling stuff up. not the official way, that is, but i have a method, however unrefined…

what i did get from my mom is her resolve, that never say die attitude. i’ve tried to blog over the past couple weeks but was convinced that whatever i was doing was not really worthy of mention. but the fact is that no matter how much i’m doing, the place is a work in progress. so i decided to share where it is now and not worry about waiting till there’s more than this for show and tell.

just like my last apartment, this one had the clackety shade blinds on all the windows. ellen insisted i take them down but once i did, suddenly it was like being in a real live terrarium. suddenly i had to step on it to put up something toute de suite. curtains were something i’d always pined for in the last place but somehow convinced myself that they had to be done professionally; measured, hemmed and hung on a track. well, i never did get curtains and didn’t want that to happen here. and now that my hand has been forced and my mind opened, i’d like to share how easy it was to put up a reasonalble fascimile of real curtains, maybe not of mom’s caliber but a set that was super quick, easy, effective and sew free. so without further ado, on to the world’s easiest DIY:

we rolled the ends and tucked them under and in so that the surged edge could either curl or unfurl at will.

the little hooks fit right into the clip that the slat blinds came out of.

i kind of like the deconstructivism of the surged edge

we got the fabric on the $2/yard roll of giant sheer cotton at a place deep in miami. 

candy found the ideal weight and the girl at the counter showed us her secret for geting the perfect hem.

aside from nipping the end with a scissor and tearing it, she first blew on the part she’d snipped and then tore a perfect tear for a hem. the technique let us get really precise with the length and created a tiny curled edge that catches the breeze and lays just above the floor line.

bonus: little ribbon remnants were left for tiebacks.

et voila! i still have to do the valances but, hey, it’s a start and they make me so happy!now i’m on to a sofa. something big enough for a guest to sleep over comfortably.

forgive me for not knowing where each is from. i just searched google images for ‘deep seated sofas’.

maybe a sectional?

well, that will come another day. this one is drawing to a close so i’ll say good night after a great long weekend. hope you have a great short week!