No more fish bowl!

My sister is going to pounce on me for this, saying "OMG, you sound just like mom," but I really do hate uncovered windows at night.  It's one of mother's (many, many, many) pet peeves and you can be sure she'll comment if she's around and you don't get the curtains closed promptly at twilight that "I feel like I'm living in a fish bowl!  Anyone and everyone can stare in here!"   My issue with uncovered windows has nothing to do with privacy, however; I just think a big, black expanse of glass is cold and unwelcoming.  This is soooooo much better...

Woot!

a little-bit-closer Woot!

and an other-end-of-the-room Woot! 

I am so, so, soooooo glad to have this part of the re-do out of the way.  I really don't enjoy sewing; I do it only because I can so rarely find what I want in the colors I want.  In the case of these curtains, I also saved a bundle because the fabric was dirt cheap ($2.99/yd), but that's really not usually the case these days.  For instance, I made my daughter a computer satchel and laptop case for her birthday this year and spent a hundred bucks for the fabric and pattern.  Ridiculous!

If you've been reading from the beginning, you may recall I was very nervous about how much trouble my cheap-o polyester satin was going to give me, but because I used broadcloth for the lining I didn't really have any issues with the slip-sliding and instability I was expecting.  It wasn't even necessary to use the spray starch my sister suggested, though I did use it after they were completed to give them a bit more body and the #$@##%#%! stuff left stains all over the fabric which I'm just trying to ignore for now.  (They're very faint, but once I hang the lights in front of the two flanking the bed it may become a bigger issue.)  

In the last photo above, you can see the corner of my eyesore-of-a-chair hidden under a couple of throws I picked up.  The green one isn't really the right shade of green, so I'll probably end up using it in my family room.  The other one is the P.E.R.F.E.C.T. shade of aquamarine, and has a really pretty brocade look that you can't see very well in the picture.  And it was a steal at ten bucks.  But.  Sigh.  It sheds like crazy and the fluff that comes off of it glues itself to anything it touches verrrrrrrrrry securely, so I'm going to run it through the dryer with a wet towel a couple of times and if it doesn't stop it's going back.  Darn it.  

Oh, and in the other photos you may notice I've been busy shopping for fun stuff to set about.  No?  Well then, here...

The little frame is a Hobby Lobby find that I'd like to use for a silhouette of my daughter; the clock I found online and had my Dad order (oh, CRAP!  I keep forgetting to send him a check!) because he has a clock shop and I wanted his discount.   On the other side of the bed...

are a couple more Hobby Lobby finds.  I thought the bird was apropos because of the trees, and I just thought that candle holder was fantabulous (and a measly five bucks at half price).   They'll both probably be moved over the the dresser when I get it painted (Thursday, if the weatherman isn't lying to me about the 60 degree temps).  

Back to the topic of sewing for a moment:  A couple of years ago, a guy on one of the decorative painting forums I occasionally pop into was lamenting that while people think nothing of spending thousands of dollars on custom window treatments, they balk at spending the same amount for, say, a decorative paint treatment that will grace all of the walls in that same room.  I really wanted to give him a piece of my mind, because he obviously has no bloody idea how time-consuming sewing is.  For instance, I spent three times as long on the sewing for a recent job as I did on the painting, but charged three times less because that's what I felt the market would bear (based on how much it would cost her to go out and purchase similar items ready-made).   

Next up:  The Headboard!  I probably won't have it finished until Wednesday, but will post whatever progress I make on it...

Manana!  

(BTW, I love the word "manana" ever since a Mexican guy told me "It doesn't mean "tomorrow morning;" it means "Not now."    And it's so much catchier than "Uh, whenever!")

Building a cornice

This one's going to be short, sweet, and relatively boring, folks!

I realized pretty quickly after pulling out the plywood I had leftover from another project that it was just not going to work for my cornices.  It's just much, much too rough on both sides, and with the added problem of the edges showing (and therefore needing some sort of "hiding" fix since you can see the plies), I finally convinced the miser in me to just make life easier and buy the right thing for the job.

While I was at Home Depot picking up the cornice board wood, I also purchased the plywood for the headboard.  Wow, did I luck out on that one!  They had a couple of pallet loads of  "special purchase"11/32x4x8 A/C plywood for only $25!  (I was expecting to shell out around $40.)   Oh, and puh-lease, lumber guys, what's this 11/32 crap?!?   I stood there looking at that number and trying to figure out what normal number  it would approximate,  then gave up on doing the math in my head and took out my handy tape measure (that I go nowhere without) and it measured 3/4" (which, btw, is much larger than 11/32).  Why can't they just call lumber by its actual measurements?

We left off yesterday with my paper cut-outs, so the next step is to use that to trace the shape onto the wood...

then grab your jig saw and cut it out.

I didn't want or need these cornices to be very deep, as the curtains are going to be lightweight and the rod and rings just your average, cafe rod size, so I used a 2"x3" along the top of each cornice and finished out the sides with pieces cut from the same material as the face...

It's all glued and nailed together snugly, and I really do have all of them built...

...and I was so excited to get them primed and base-coated, but the @#$!#$!@ wood putty I used to fill the nail holes needs 24 hours to dry if you're using anything but latex paint.  I always use B-I-N primer, which is white pigmented shellac, for...practically everything.   Fun fact:  Did you know shellac is made from bugs?  The lac bug, to be precise!   I love, love, love the stuff because it cleans up with ammonia rather than mineral spirits and it leaves a super smooth finish for your next coat of paint.  Which I will be applying...

Manana!  

Designing a cornice

The next thing I feel I really need to get done in the room is the curtains.  It feels so cold in there, especially at night with the blackened windows staring at me.  I would really prefer to hang the curtains from simple, silver rods, but the window on the south wall butts right up to the closet wall....

...which of course means there's no where to install a bracket to hold the curtain rod.  I actually considered drilling a hole in the wall the same diameter of a drapery rod and just sliding it through and attaching the finial inside the closet, but that would just look weird.  So I'm building simple cornices instead.  On the plus side, this should save me a bit of money, because I can use those simple (and uber-cheap) cafe rods and rings to hang the curtains under the cornice.  

Building a cornice is pretty easy, if you're not afraid of power tools.  I'm sure there are scads of other "how-tos" on the web, but I'm going to do a blow-by-blow of my method anyway.  (Mostly to kill time, since I haven't gotten any farther than my paper cut-outs!)

My design for the cornices comes from the shape I've chosen for the upholstered headboard I'll be making.  Initially, I thought I wanted a very simple, rectangular headboard, but then I saw this...

and realized that was IT.  Actually, I love the entire bed, but I don't have a cool platform bed like that, and my bedding is obviously not as minimalist.  I do love the minimalist look I've been seeing in a lot of bedding over the past five years or so, but I always seem to opt for pillows, pillows, and then another pillow or two for good measure.  Nonetheless, I think the headboard shape is going to work well in The Room, so I'll be repeating it in the cornices.  

To get a pleasing and symmetrical curve I just use some brown kraft paper, cut out a rectangle the same width as the finished cornice, draw a straight line down the center and start drawing curves to meet the line...

That top curve was waaaaay too pronounced; then I realized why - I hadn't cut my rectangle to the proper height!  I want the cornices to be nine inches at the outside edges and twelve inches at the deepest point in the center, which corresponds to the lower penciled curve.  When I had what I felt to be a pleasing curve, I folded the paper in half along the center line and cut it out...

Then I did the same thing for the slightly larger cornice that will be needed on the second window, and I have my two patterns...

Then, so long as I had my handy-dandy pattern board out, I decided I may as well make up the pattern for the headboard as well.  First, I took the pattern board up to the room and balanced it on the bed to get a sense of the size I was going to need...

And as luck would have it, the pattern board itself was just about the perfect size, so I just took my pencil and started drawing the curve right there in place to get a sense of it.   

Then I pieced together some brown kraft paper so I had a 56" x 32" rectangle.... 

and drew my curve, cut it out and ran upstairs to tape it in place.  Whereupon I felt like I had tumbled into the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...  

Goldilocks thought the center top of this curve was too flat.

Goldi thought the overall curvature of this one wasn't pronounced enough.

Goldi thought this was just right!  Last night, that is.  Today, Goldi much prefers version number two, so it's back to the drawing board.  I my need to re-cut the cornice board patterns as well, as I just feel the curves are now too pronounced and lending yet another feminine air to the room.  

Once my patterns are perfected, I'll lay them down on the wood of my choice, trace them out with a marker and cut them out using a jig-saw/saber-saw.   I'm a bit on the fence about the wood right now.  For the headboard, I'll just use a piece of either 1/2" or 3/4" thick C-grade plywood.  Since it will be upholstered, the wood just needs to be sturdy, and plywood offers that quality.  For the cornices, I would really love to use a couple of scraps of plywood I have in Studio A, but they're also C-grade which is not really suitable for painting (I intend to paint the cornices rather than upholster them).  On the other hand, I'm going to be doing some dimensional stenciling on them as well (using Liquitex Modeling Paste rather than drywall mud), so that may solve the problem of the face not being smooth.   I'll have to do a trial run to see if the plywood will work.  Hopefully, I'll have that figured out and the remainder of my goofy little cornice tutorial ready by tomorrow.  Believe it or not, I do expect to have the cornices and headboard finished by week's end, and the curtains started, if not finished.  I guess I should quit dallying here and get busy, huh?

Manana!