Domestic Diva

I should have my own show called: How to Do Everything

I mean, what can't I do? I'm a regular Martha Stewart, without the jail time.

I just finished my latest home betterment project. Because we are thrifty (i.e. cheapskates) we really couldn't bring ourselves to putting in nice blinds in all 11 of our 35 X 62 in. windows as of right now. We tried the bamboo roman shades which were great looking, affordable, and completely see through at night. Nope, wouldn't work for me. Matt suggested the CHEAP vinyl blinds, but I absolutely refused, even though they were cheaper than the paper temporary blinds come to think of it...hmmm...Anyway, after 7 years of apartment living and disgusting vinyl blinds in each place, I just couldn't take it.

So that left us a couple of choices:

1. Live in a "fish bowl" (as a friend of mine calls it): go blindless
2. Pay money we don't want to spend on blinds we only sort of like
3. Put temporary paper blinds throughout the house
4. Buy curtains
5. Make curtains

Up until now we've only had temporary blinds in our bedroom (I mean, there are a few things that take place there I didn't want public) and the rest of the house is a fish bowl. It has taken considerable restraint for me to refrain from walking around the house in a towel or in my underware! I'm too much of a free spirit to remain much longer in the fish bowl.

All of the "affordable" faux wood blinds at Lowes and Home Depot were only so-som, although we'll probably end up putting them in the kitchen; curtains would just get too dirty and greasy from my amazing cooking. Yeah, they'd probably end up looking like my old cooking jacket, which I can assure is quite disgusting.

Temporary paper blinds throughout the house would be plain tacky because if we were to do that they would likely be as temporary as our entire stay here. We're cheap, but we're not that cheap. Buying curtains seemed like the best idea for awhile, but once you factor in the rods and the curtains, it was still more than we wanted.

So that left one option for the living room: Make curtains out of Wal-Mart $1/yard fabric and buy cheap but nice enough looking rods. The only problem with this was my lack of a sewing machine. I've asked for it the last two Christmases, but it's just not practical when you're traveling. I figured it's a good investment because I'm a domestic diva who'd surely use it for many future projects. So I researched and found an affordable but good machine and began my first project.



You can't really tell, but these are made of a nice thick cotton weave of burnt orange and white. They're actually a little darker than this because there's quite a bit of light shining through them. I didn't have a pattern, but as you can see they're very simple because that's how I like it. And don't mind my eclectic thrift store furniture. I promise it's not permanent.

Matt hung the first rod before his whole surgery thing and because he's technically still "in recovery" I couldn't bring myself to pester him about hanging them. So today with a little coaching from him I hung the other two. Oh yeah. Not only am I domestic, but I'm handy with a power drill too. (And I mowed the lawn yesterday! Though I used to have a "lawn mowing service" in High School with my little bro., Matt generally does it because it allows him to contribute to the household upkeep. It was dirtier than any other lawn job I've done, but it was kind of fun...Tangent.)

And for an update on the coffee table: It's completely stripped and I have the stain, but I forgot to buy a brush. So that will probably end up taking place tomorrow.