wood window treatment

this past week i had a friend ask me if any of my projects turned out in failure. i could answer not really. because, usually, i have a really clear picture of what i want the finished project to look like and how i'm going to build it. i usually don't start a project unless i'm fairly certain it will turn out. and then there was the window treatment....

i remember thinking how simple of a project this would be. yeah...not so much. i haven't cursed this much in a long time! but, i was determined to get it up and working. now that it's up i've decided to take it down and do it another way. but, i'll show you what it looks like now.


the idea was to create a window treatment out of 1/8" mdf panels that could be decorated in any pattern. just four panels on a track.

the front panel is painted white, so that when it's open it blends into the room. when the treatment is closed it reveals the three other designed panels.

i attached pieces of track to a piece of wood that i then attached to the inside of the window. i used pieces of chain to attach the wood to the track sliders.

i still need to figure out a smoother way for the panels to open up and a better way to have the first panel open up the consecutive panels. that's next.

i used a debbie travis' stencil for the design, one in red and one in orange.

a sidebed for a baby (or cat...)

damion left for volleyball camp with our digital camera in tow. that leaves me with no project picture this week. which, really, isn't such a bad thing because i'm ready to throw my window treatment project out the window. so, i wracked my brain about what to show you this week. i think i've dug up almost every project i've ever worked on already!! then i remember my 'cat in the sidebed' picture.

eden slept in our room for the first few months. we had her in the little bassinet on the floor by our bed at first. then, one day, i came across this brilliant idea. a side bed. because we have a platform bed i could make a knock off that i could screw right into the wood of the bed base. although the bottom piece was long enough that when it was slipped under the mattress the weight of the bed kept it pretty securely in place. i made it out of 3/4" plywood. the foam came from the local craft store.


i can't tell you how many times i thanked the designer of this little bed during the 3am feedings (and apologized for ripping off the idea)! it was perfect.

i have a whole series of pictures of my cat, oli, sleeping in eden's things. i think it was his way of adapting to her presence. i have him in her car seat, her bassinet, her little vibrating seat, her sidebed...not her big crib though, sadly oli is too fat to make the jump up and over!

window treatments

i try to keep my home as bright and sunny as possible. for me, that has meant minimal (read, only two in my whole house) window treatments. great in the summer, maybe not the best during a drafty winter. i shouldn't be thinking about winter yet, but we just got a notice from the oil company telling us that our bill is going up by $100 a month this winter! so, i've come up with a window treatment idea that will keep out the drafts and maybe even help heat the place up a bit. while i work away on my prototype i'm showing you the window treatment i currently have in our master bedroom.

i apologize for the terrible picture quality. i should have waited until the sun came over to the front side of the house before taking pictures. they are very dark.

i got the idea for a pulley system type of window treatment from watching an old episode of Home to Go . i took a piece of fabric that i backed with blackout material and wrapped the top and bottom hems around wooden dowels cut to size. i screwed in two eye hooks to the top dowel (through the fabric) and attached rope to each of the two eye hooks. i then threaded the rope through two pulleys that i attached to either side of the top of the window.

it's great. it works just like a pulley - when you pull on the string the curtain goes up and when you let the string go slack the curtain goes down.

the paper laterns on the ceiling have been there for awhile. i love laying in bed and watching them sway to the wind. it probably is time to swap them out for something new, maybe something a bit more colourful. i'll keep my eyes open for new ideas!

swatch storage

i created a place to hang our coats and store our shoes...but, what about the piles of hats, scarves and ever multiplying supply of canvas bags (you know, the ones that you buy for the grocery store but inevidably end up forgetting and having to buy more and then before you know it you wonder why you have so many of these damn bags!)...

so, i created a little storage for all that stuff and managed to hide my washer and dryer a bit from the outside world at the same time - my laundry is in my entrance way.

this storage is my 'signature' white box. yes, i know, i love white boxes! for this one i added a series of 1/2" holes that i placed paint swatches behind to get a gradient look. i added one row of black swatches to help blend in with my big black tree hook.

i hung the whole thing from the ceiling using hooks and threaded 3" stove bolts to hang the boxes from each other.

summertime relaxing

i have been la-zy! part of it has been imposed (my husband is in full swing beach volleyball coaching mode - which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for me to get away and work on my projects) and part of it has just been that i'm loving the summertime. as a canadian, the sunny days are especially precious to me - if you've ever spent 8 months wishing for nice weather you can understand! so, all i have to show for my week away are some photos of the place i have been spending all of my time...my back yard.


one of the great things about living in the country (if you can call 20 minutes outside of the city county!) is not having to worry about what the neighbours think! because i'm pretty sure our neighbours would think we were crazy. i mentioned that my husband was a beach volleyball coach so it may not seem too crazy that we have a regulation sized beach volleyball court in our backyard. add a trampoline, a big fire pit, a hammock and all sorts of space to run and play and you can see why i've chosen to spend more time outside relaxing than inside working!

stay tuned

i'm going to be another day or so with this one! stay tuned....

bathroom mirror

when i was a teenager my parents bought my sister and i the 'coolest' mirrors from ikea. i have dragged these mirrors around with me on every move since i was 18. they have been used in all sorts of different designs. this is just the latest.

i rarely work with hardwoods. but, for this design, i definitely wanted to splurge and work with mahogany. what a gorgeous wood to work with...makes it hard to go back to mdf!

this is a simple design made of up just four pieces of wood. the only details are a drilled out hole for a cup and making sure the top shelf is thinner than the bottom to allow for the mirror to rest on a slight angle. i hung the shelf up using l brackets (attach to the wall first, rest the shelf on it and then attach the shelf).


update - shoe storage



in last week's post i promised you i would upload a photo of the finished project...here it is, shoe storage and all.

i followed not martha's directions. her directions called for 2" l brackets for hanging...but, i think i'm going to have to swap them out for larger ones. the shelves are definitely drooping under the weight of the shoes (my shelves are a bit longer than hers were - and, i'm sure the shelf was meant for cute stylish shoes, not my and damion's big clunky sneaker collection!).