Bay Window Dilemma

We have been living in a fishbowl since we moved into the house in August.  We have a wonderful bay window in the front of our living room that needs some window coverings.  I have been going back and forth on what type of window treatment I want to put up.  I love the woodwork and arches at the top of the windows, so I want to try and keep that exposed.  But, I don't want fabric hanging where toddlers can yank on it and pull it down.  I love the look of Roman blinds, but they will surely hide the arches. 



Bay Window after it was painted - Photo of Nana with the boys.

After thinking about it for some time, I decided to go with hanging panels and a bay window rod along the top.  Here is an example of what I was thinking about...


Image is from
 http://furniture-showroom.blogspot.com/2011/09/kitchen-bay-window-treatments.html

 I picked up the bay window hardware on Saturday from JC Penney.  As soon as we got home I ripped open the box and was ready to install it right away.  Unfortunately, the hardware was too wide for the fabric panels that I chose.  So, I was on to option 2.

I returned the hardware to JC Penney and headed to Ikea to pick up the DIGNITET wire curtain hanger.  It mounts on the wall and then there are two additional corner pieces pieces that I purchased to string the wire through along the corners in the bay window nook.  It was pretty easy to hang.  It took a couple of hours because I measured wrong...twice.  I hung my panels (see above photo for the idea) and was pretty happy with the result.  As a bonus, we were no longer viewable to anyone who walked by the house at night. I started to tidy up the space, tossed a blanket into the corner where one of the panels hung and suddenly the wire popped and all the panels crashed to the floor.  Ugh.

Sooooo...now I am rethinking the whole project and leaning toward roman shades.  The drawback is the loss of the arch, but I think I will prefer the look over the hanging panels.



Making Roman Shades isn't that difficult, but it requires exact measurements and a good diagram.



Diagram of the shade.  I use Terrell Designs website to calculate the dimensions. 
They also have an excellent tutorial for anyone interested in taking the DIY route.

 I am going to use the fabric panels that I purchased already and will just deconstruct them for the roman shades.  Hopefully, I can squeeze time in this week to get this project completed. 


.

Breast Cancer Walk Team Logo

Jessica Malone, a friend of mine in VA, asked me to help out with a team logo for an upcoming walk they are doing to help raise money to find a cure for Breast Cancer.  The Avon Walk is on Saturday, May 5th 2012.  I was SO excited to help out with this project that all the house stuff got shoved to the side...hence the reason for a lack of recent posts.  She and a team of 4 additional women will be participating in the upcoming walk.  Here is a blurb from their website http://doublejs4doubleds.weebly.com/our-story.html

In 2011, founding members of JJ4DD, Jen and Jess, met around Mile 8 of the Washington, D.C. Avon Walk for Breast Cancer (http://www.avonwalk.org/). Both participating by themselves, they started chatting and by mile 39.3 they formed a friendship and a desire to walk together again in 2012! Along the way they picked up three more enthusiastic walkers and are up to a solid 5 member team!

This page is to spread the word that we are "In It To End It" and are dedicated to raise funds and awareness to finally bring Breast Cancer to it's knees!

We do this for our moms, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmas, friends, each other, ourselves and Y-O-U! Thank you for your support.

So, after talking with Jessica and learning a little bit about the team from their website I put together the following idea for their shirts...

Each unmentionable represents a member of the team, and I offered to customize the bras to their specifications (the fun part!)

After several reviews and changes...here is the final product I think...

It really was so much fun working on this project and feeling like in a small way I am helping with their mission to find a cure for breast cancer. 

I encourage you to check out their website and learn a little more about the JJ4DD team. Have fun! 

Here are links to the JJ4DD team member pages
Donna

Jen
Jessica
Michelle
Stacie



 


 

Halloween

Ok, so I am a little late getting these posted.  I know.  I've been working on a few different projects which have been eating into my blogging time.  We had such a fun Halloween night.  Owen was so excited to be able to walk door to door with his cute little pumpkin bag that Nana brought for him on her visit that weekend before.  We decided a few weeks prior that Owen would be a Fireman. 

First, he is obsessed with fire trucks (which he calls wee-ooo-wee-ooo-wee-ooo's). 

Second, we went to First Friday in October in Phoenixville and it was Fire Prevention night.  All of the local fire departments were there and Owen got to tour the fire trucks and ambulances and even got a souvenir hat which was going to be part of the costume.

Finally, the night before Halloween, there was a 3 alarm fire on Bridge St. in Phoenixville that was pretty impressive.  Us houses on the hill had a front row view of the 3 story high flames.  Owen was in awe.  He spent the next hour saying "Bye-Bye wee-ooo-wee-ooo-wee-ooo's".  Luckily, no one was hurt in the fire.

So, here are some pictures of the evening.  Ryan was Tigger and only made it a block before he fell asleep on Daddy's shoulder. 

Owen tried to run off with our neighbors ghost. 

We tried to get a shot of the boys together, but Owen couldn't wait to get to the next house.  Special Note - see the snow on the ground!  We got 7 inches the Saturday before!

Our little Tigger.  He only made it a block before he was out cold.

Owen's fireman costume worked out really well and only cost me $4 to make.  Nana and Grandma brought Owen that coat on a previous visit.  I believe they found it at a rummage sale.  So, I bought some duct tape (I didn't know which color I wanted so I bought a silver and a bright yellow).  We thought the silver would be best because it really reflected the light well making him more visible at night.  I used a sharpie to write Fire Chief on the back and made a name tag for him on the front.  Because it was so cold that night, the plastic fireman hat that he got from the First Friday event wasn't going to work.  So, I just slapped on a piece of tape on the front of his hat and grabbed my sharpie again. 

Tigger was obviously a store bought costume - but it is so perfect for keeping the little one's nice and toasty.  And he looks pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!