DIY Yellow Curtains for the Playroom

<div style="text-align: justify;">There are only two bedrooms on the main floor of our house, the master bedroom and a large-ish room at the front of the house. For the first few months that we lived here, I used it as my office space, but it just didn't really work for some reason. Then I had the idea to move my office to the big space above our garage on the other side of the house and make the old office our playroom.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 16.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/16.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I had been a little worried that toys would end up migrating all over the house with this set up, where the playroom is right by the living spaces, but really, it's been so great. I love both the studio space and this playroom, which we only very recently decided to quickly decorate in time for the Domino shoot. We had been planning on doing Evie's room as the kid's space in the spread, but the playroom ended up being the easier space to photograph in the end, so we threw this room together in about seven crazy days! These yellow curtains were our jumping off point.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I wanted this room to feel girly and playful, and I thought pretty curtains were a great place to start. We had no time and really no budget to make fancy curtains though, so IKEA came to the rescue. I had actually picked up three packs of these white cotton Ritva panel pairs a couple months before (when the room was still an office) and I just hadn't got around to hanging them yet.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5541.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5541.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I almost didn't use them because I wanted the walls to be white, and I wanted the curtains to be a fun color to pop off the white. This image kept coming to mind when I was brainstorming colors. I only wish I had the budget to recreate these exactly!</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><center></center></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo PaulCostello1.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/PaulCostello1.png" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I figured it wouldn't really be a wasted effort to try and dye the IKEA panels because I wasn't able to return them at that point. So I picked up four bottles of RIT dye - two each of Golden Yellow and Lemon Yellow. It's not for everyone, or for every tub, but I felt comfortable with dying the panels in my bathtub. I tested the dye beforehand and there was no staining on the fiberglass, so I felt good about moving forward using my tub. It made the project and clean up about a million times easier than using a big tupperware tub (and I have a front-loading washing machine, so that wasn't an option).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5550copy.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5550copy.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I got three of the panels wet in the shower first (which helps the dye soak up more evenly) while I filled the tub with about six or seven inches of the hottest water I could get out of the tap. I added one bottle of each of the two yellow colors and about half a cup of salt. Once that was all mixed, I put in the three panels and while wearing long gloves, moved the fabric around in the dye bath for a good 20-30 minutes until the color looked bright and even. I turned on the faucet again, to cold this time, and let the dye bath drain and the cold water run on the panels until the water was close to clear. I moved the panels to a laundry basket and took them to the washing machine for a cold water wash on the delicate cycle.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5548.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5548.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I made a hanging station and let the panels air dry over night. And then I started again with the second batch of three panels and two more bottles of dye.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5601.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5601.jpg" /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then we ironed each panel well before hanging them over white fabric shades from Lowes (which were less than $20 for the 48" size!) and white wooden rings and rods, also from Lowes.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 18.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/18.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I love, love, love how these curtains turned out. Because I had bought the IKEA panels so many months before, it practically felt like a $12 project, where I just had to buy the dye. :) And I think the color combo of the lemon and golden yellow colors really worked out perfectly, which was sort of a lucky break.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 17.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/17.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I think when I have some extra time I'll add a thick or even black out lining to these to add some weight and a clean white backside view from the front of the house (though the white roman shades help a bit with that for now).</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 15.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/15.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Have you had any successes with dying big projects like this? Have you used your tub or a tupperware container?</div>

DIY Yellow Curtains for the Playroom

There are only two bedrooms on the main floor of our house, the master bedroom and a large-ish room at the front of the house. For the first...

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Florals on Vintage Furniture

<center></center>Our bookshelves are almost doing being built! I'm so excited to get those installed in about a week! It's got me thinking a lot about furniture in the library. I think I want to float a daybed in front of the bookshelves. Something in a really modern shape would be pretty, I think. I love the simple shape of this one, and that slow curve on the headrest area is pretty much perfection. The legs are sort of weird though, right? A little too utilitarian?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo ScreenShot2014-05-13at104837PM.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda006/ScreenShot2014-05-13at104837PM.png" style="text-align: start;" /></div>These legs are closer to what I'd want to do. This shot was from an eBay listing and above is from 1st Dibs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo ScreenShot2014-05-12at65938PM.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda006/ScreenShot2014-05-12at65938PM.png" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'd love to do a button detail on the cushion, but I think there would need to be at least one bolster to make it not feel like an army cot.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo resize.jpeg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda006/resize.jpeg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've been looking online for something vintage, but I might try making one if nothing great pops up. It would be nice to get to choose the dimensions of the daybed too so it can fit in the library nicely. All the other pieces in the room are upholstered in solid color fabric and the drapes are probably going to be solid too, so I'm thinking the pillows and the daybed cushion would be a great place to have fun with pattern.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I can't stop thinking about how GORGEOUS this chintz looks on this Le Corbusier chair I saw on <a href="http://instagram.com/sarakatestudios" target="_blank">Sara Kate's instagram</a>. The contrast is so cool and fresh to me! Plus, that fabric is unreal. So, so pretty.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_0464.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda006/IMG_0464.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Reminds me of <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-office-chair.html" target="_blank">this office chair</a>. Unexpected fabrics on classic furniture shapes are really fun.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo Picture7-1.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda006/Picture7-1.png" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This little chair makes my heart sing. I would love something like this in one of the girls rooms. :) </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 7562d769f9e220adac78bad2076e7f78.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda006/7562d769f9e220adac78bad2076e7f78.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />It would be easy to do just the bolster(s) of the daybed in a floral instead, if the whole cushion would be floral overload. So much of the battle though is finding the right pattern! I have some options in my fabric stash, but I kind of want something new and different. What's your favorite floral pattern right now?

Florals on Vintage Furniture

Our bookshelves are almost doing being built! I'm so excited to get those installed in about a week! It's got me thinking a lot abou...

Read more »