Paint and PVC

One of the things I wanted to get done over Christmas break was paint our family room and hang curtains. I don’t love doing home décor myself but I do want it to be as low-cost as possible, so that means DIY or die.

First, I tested out 3 colors of blue paint. Sniff, I miss our Christmas decorations.

This was my first-ever painting project. Jeff and Jasen did the kitchen back in the summer of my sickness. This time, Jeff did the roller and I did the edges (we painted after Jay and Rose’s bedtime, of course). I totally stressed Jeff out by gasping and squealing every 2 or 3 minutes when the paint dripped or my edger slipped. It was SO hard and I did not enjoy one second of the ordeal. Plus, we were both pretty lightheaded from the fumes by the end. But we made it out with only one blue spot lingering on the carpet. WHEW.

BLUE! I have ordered a few pictures to hang up there with the lovely temple, but they are taking forever to get here.

The curtains were an annoying ordeal. We got them from Ikea when we were in Seattle in December. We also got a rod there. Well, the rod ended up being about 4 inches too short. Arg. SO, a phone call and a Pinterest search later I got two 10 foot PVC pipes, two wooden craft balls, and a can of spray paint. Then I got to work. [Oh and yes we do need to touch up that paint up top]

I sawed the PVC pipes into four 55-inch pieces (I only used 3 of them), sanded them lightly, spray painted them and the balls black, and "ghetto-ly hot glued the wood craft balls to the ends. When we hung the curtains, we artfully hid the PVC connecters under the fabric. Hey, it beats spending a couple hundred dollars on a 165 inch curtain rod! This version, however ramshackle, totaled $7—the same amount we wasted on the too-short Ikea rod. The hooks to hang it cost $8. Hmmm, I think this project saved at least $200, even if you add in the too-short rod. Win!

Now, for some low-quality pictures. It’s so hard to take a picture of WINDOWS. So the blue paint does not look the same in the pictures as it does in real life.

We only got 4 panels to hang over 3 windows, and I think it looks a little sparse. We may decide to get 2 more if it still bugs me in a few weeks. We’ll see. The curtains were $20 for a 2-pack at Ikea, so this whole “window treatment” cost $55. Weehaw! I will say I’m not 100% sure I like the cream chairs against the white curtains. I think one of them (either the chairs or the curtains) should have some sort of pattern or color on it. Maybe some day I’ll cover those white chairs or something.

Here’s the only before picture I could find—from back in October

annnnd after.

I love my sun-and-sky colors, but whew. I’m SO glad that’s over.