Some Pinterest Love

Have you tried Pinterest yet? If not, you need to take a couple of minutes to sign up!
I don't know if anyone else is like me, but when I find a website that I like, I keep that tab open on my computer for days, until I have literally 10 tabs open at once. Until one day I open up my computer, and it has RE-STARTED on its own because of some completely pointless really important update. And all of my beloved tabs are now gone forever, never to be seen again. I guess you could call me a tab-hoarder (is there a show for that on TLC yet?). And so I never have any recipes or DIY tutorials and I can't ever find that one picture that I wanted to use as inspiration for something.

OK. Maybe I'm the only one that does this. But regardless, Pinterest lets you immediately save all of these sites/pictures/ideas/whatever you want to one spot.  And you can categorize until your heart's content. It's pretty great.  I am still getting started, but am already loving it. You can also see what everyone else is pinning and can follow friends or whoever you would like.
Take a minute to check it out!
http://pinterest.com/perkylauren/
Like I said, I am still new to this, but am already loving it! 
If you are already on Pinterest, let me know and I will follow you!

A mini-den makeover: part two of creative drapes

Last week I posted about thinking out-of-the-box to make drapes.  You can read about it HERE.  I wanted to lighten the look of my den, and make it less cave-like.  I also sewed some new pillow covers in greys and whites in keeping with the light and airy theme.  I can easily add some bright pops of color in accessories, but I think these light fabrics make a world of difference against the dark leather!

As a reminder, above was the den not long after we moved in.

Here is pretty much the same view now.  It's amazing how much lighter everything feels! 

 Here's another view of the couch and chair.  I am loving the grays.  A couple of the fabrics I used I have used in other jobs, and I loved them so much, I ordered some for myself!

 I like to sometimes mix fabrics, and I used a striped velvet gray as the backer for the pillow on the chair. 

I also used a different fabric for these backs as well, just in case I want to add a little color I can just flip them around!  This is also a great way to stretch out expensive fabric over several projects! 

 Here is a view looking into the kitchen.  I know, the fireplace is pretty terrible.  I will probably paint that mirror white soon to brighten up that side of the room.

Here is the couch again in its darker days.

Last shot of the room all bright and cheery.  I love how it turned out!

Creative Drapes...who says sheets are for sleeping?

My original intention for this post was to show you some of the pretty flowers that have come from my yard over the past couple of weeks.  As much work as our yard is, I love having an endless supply of fresh flowers in the Summer!  The post ended up taking a different turn, but I thought you might still like to see some of them!

These are some of my day lillies and hydrangeas.  I love how bright the colors are!

Here are some more hydrangeas that I have in my den.  These cute cups were a couple of dollars a piece at Tuesday Morning.  I love using things other than vases to hold flowers! (PS, can you spot the lazy dog on the couch?  I didn't even realize he was there until after I took the picture!)

These ended up on my mantle.  Anything to make it not look so...ugly.  And this is where my post changed...I realized that in the previous two pictures you might have seen that my den drapes are no longer dark brown...so let me take a couple of steps back... 

This was our den a few months after we moved in...these drapes were left over from our previous home, and I wasn't about to buy new ones if I already had some...they were too short, so I fixed that HERE.  I didn't mind them, its just that our floors are dark, our furniture is dark, and so the room was kind of cave-like.

Last year, not to help the dark situation, I got a new rug...which is dark.  I did refinish my table HERE which helped, and DIY'd some pillows HERE and HERE, but it was still SO dark.  So after seeing some inspiration a few months back from Jenny at Little Green Notebook, I finally decided to try what had been in my head for a while.

I headed to Wal-Mart, and picked up 6 packs of rings for about $5 a piece.  I already had the rods. 

I then picked up 6 single flat sheets for $10 a piece.  I probably wouldn't sleep on these, but they were perfect for my project.  A flat sheet is 96 inches so that makes for a perfectly sized curtain panel.  No sewing necessary.  I did want the top of the "drapes" to be a little more enforced though, so I used some universal tempo tape and watched THIS tutorial to figure out what I was doing.  There are 4 easy parts to the tutorial.

You can see in this picture how the tape helps give the top some structure. The mirror picture is a good example of what it looks like without the tape.  Since I have only gotten around to doing this on one set of windows, I don't have a complete AFTER picture yet, but I should finish that up soon and will post about it. There might even be some new pillows to debut! 

This is a great and inexpensive way to create a certain look.  My total cost was around $90 for 6 panels I think.  And that includes the rings!  It gives me the exact light and airy look I was going for.  Have you ever used something outside-the-box to create window panels?  I would love to hear other ideas!