Drop Cloth Curtains with Grommets

I know its been a while since I have posted been busy with school starting back up, hanging with my new roommate and everything else that comes along.  However I wanted to share with you a simple and CHEAP curtain idea.  I had been wanting curtains for my living room but just didn't the money to spend on curtains because of the length I needed, as stated in the previous post.  So I started to look on pinterest and saw people using drop cloths as curtains! I knew it would just look perfect! I do not like the look of curtains put up with either those rings with clips or a pocket for the rod to go through, I am obsessed with grommet curtains! I love the look they of them and how much more expensive they look as well.  I had recently finished the curtains my mother had started for me, to put up in my room, that has grommet for hanging.  She found a grommet kit that makes it so easy anyone can do it!  So I knew that was what I was going to do.

 Here it what you will need to make your curtains:

Ignore the rotary cutter I didn't end up needing it

• Two drop clothes ( Mine were around 10 dollars each and were 6ft X 9ft, you can find them at hardware stores like Lowes, which is where I got mine.) 
• Two curtain Grommet kits ( You can pick these up at Hobby Lobby for around $13 dollars each if I remember correctly, I used a 40% off coupon on both) 
• A sewing machine or If you want it to be a no sew project using Heat and Bond hemming tape
• Matching thread for machine 
• Ruler 

The best part of these simple curtains is that if your like me I used the entire drop cloth as is and the edges are already sewn for you so all you have to do is sew the top for the grommets to go!

How to make the curtains:

1. Iron the entire drop cloth.  This will take some time so put a movie in or watch TV while you do it.  I ironed mine while watching Burlesque ( Which if you haven't seen it you must! My roommate and I absolutely love it and sing songs from it all the time.)  

  

2. Next determine where you want your Grommets to be on the curtain.  The last time I did this I wasn't sure how far down from the top of the curtain I wanted them.  I learned from that and this time I made the pocket much larger and moved the grommets down by a few inches.  It all is what you want and what you like.  So eye ball it then measure the width you have set and make sure that's the size all the way down the curtain.  How to create this pocket/hem is by taking the top of the drop cloth and folding it over the length you have picked for the pocket.  Just like this.

Like I said make sure its the same width all the way down the curtain. 

3. Sew along the bottom of the pocket.  This is where you can use the heat and bond hemming tape if you prefer not to sew.  

4. Now that you have your pocket sewn you can lay out your grommets and figure out the spacing you want to you.  If you anything like me you will not figure this out mathematically you will do trial and error till you get something you like.

• Hint: You will want to use a EVEN number of grommets.  Once again learned this one the hard way as well! If you don't use a even number of grommets then it does not begin and end correctly and it lays all funny.  
• Hint 2: You want your first grommet and last grommet about 1 inch from the edge of either side of the curtain for it to look right. 

I used my yard stick to help me space them properly.

5. Trace the inside of each grommet or use the fancy little template they put in the packet.  I have done it both ways and the second time I just traced the inside of the grommet.  

Opps! See where I did this the first time. Had to re-space them luckily it was on the back so no one well ever know...well except y'all.

 6. Now cut out the center of each circle and your ready to start popping, more like snapping, the grommets into place!

 7. To attach the grommets you take the male side and place it on the back (which will be the front when your done) and then take the female side and place it on the front side and push HARD till you hear/feel them snap together.  If your having trouble getting them to snap or are seeing fabric when you snap them together, you might need to cut the hole a little larger.  The best part about these grommets is that they un-snap pretty easily if you need to readjust for some reason.  

8. Now your ready to put your curtains up and enjoy them with the satisfaction that they cost way less than if you had bought them in the stores!  

The lighting and the design of the room doesn't let me take a great shot of the curtains but here is one to show you how they look.  If you notice from the first shot to this one the room is a little different, i.e. I become bored with the arrangement of the room and moved somethings :)

Valentine's Decoration

Hey Redesigning followers! Now that the crazy rush of the holiday season is coming to an end its time to get ready for the next one...DUN DUN DUN... Valentine's Day! Some people love it, others hate it.  I am torn currently, but none the less I of course will decorate for it because come on it gives me the excuse to!  Well as we all know, money after the holidays and post holiday sales keeps us all a little strapped for cash.  Therefore I wanted  had to decorate for with as little money as possible and luckily I was able to do that! Instead of decorating the entire apartment (because I am not really feeling like it) I decided to just do my new wanna be mantle shelves.  I was able to decorate a majority of it for free with things I had already but I had to do a little bit more to fill spaces.

Here is the break down of what you see and their prices (if I can remember them):
Top shelf (left to right):

• Three mercury glass candle sticks - World Market After Christmas Sale for a whopping $1.30 each! 
• Bowl with birds nest made from moss and a spray painted bird - Under $5
• Embroidery hoop with a Bird Heart print cloth gift wrap piece what was given to me - Around $2 for the hoop
•  Three candles - Under $6
• The porcelain bird is being sold currently at Target for less than $3 if I remember correctly with the Valentine's Decorations I bought it in white so I could use it year round! 
• The pitcher was a gift from my mother :) - FREE

 Bottom Shelf:

• Vases from the Dollar Tree ( I am going to fill them with Pink, Red and white candies) 
• Plate from World Market - Clearance $2.99 with a Vinyl Sticker from my old dorm 
• Cute pink owl currently being sold at Khols - Under $6 when at 50% off 
• Heart Wreath - Target last year dollar section 
• Gift box with bow - Juicy Couture box that my mom brought back for me from New York - FREE
• Antique blue mason jars with wooden spools of thread and old cloths pins - total $13 dollars ( a STEAL) 
• Metal piece with flowers - $2.50 at a resale shop 
• Ribbon lights - Under $6 - LOTS AND LOTS of tying

This is the perfect time to look through your home/apartment and see what you have and try and make it work! I really think I didn't spend more than $25 dollars on actual Valentine's decorations most of it I had already or bought for a different purpose and made it work.  This is the time to be creative and remember to have fun!  And as always keep redesigning college!

What I have been up to!

Hey there blogging world! Its been a busy break with lots of family time, lots of food, and lots of projects!!! I finally have a moment to sit down and share with y'all what I have been up to.  My focus this break was my living room because the state it was in had been bothering me! I planned on making shelves that I found on The House of Smiths and fell in love with! Before break I told my dad that our winter wood working project would be making two shelves like the ones I found on her blog for sure.  Being the loving dad he is, he was more than willing to make his little princess happy! This is what we made.  They are decorated for Valentine's Day currently.

The next thing I wanted to make was this art piece I saw on pinterest.  It was a DIY knock off of something that Pottery Barn had sold at some point, I found the directions at 4 Men 1 Lady.  When I originally saw this I never thought I would ever do it but I pinned it anyway.  When I was at home my dad told me that he actually had left over laminate wood flooring from when our house was built! I was really excited, I might have screamed a little.  Once again my amazing father helped me not only glue it all together but cut it to a size I wanted.  This is the finished project I will post my own tutorial in a few days.

Didn't it turned out amazing?! The image I used was two put together.  Here is the JPG of it if you would like to use it. To make the other two branches on there I just used the same one and adjusted it when tracing it on there. 

The last major thing I did in my living room was creating curtains!  The apartment was looking great after the art piece went up along with the shelves but it was still lacking something, CURTAINS! But on a limited budget and the curtains needing to be about 100 inches long I had not idea what I was going to do.  Due to the fact that most curtains I liked at the length I needed were running about $40-$60 dollars a panel!  On a "starving college kid" budget (as my mom loves to say) there is no way that was going to happen anytime soon.  Then I remembered something I saw on pinterest... DROP CLOTH CURTAINS! I looked into the price of drop cloths and determined I could do that.   As luck would have it my mom also informed me she had a very nice curtain rod that she did not need and was going to give me, that was just perfect! After some trial and error, my drop cloth grommet curtains were done and look perfect in the living room! Here are some pictures to show you what my living room looks like right now still some things to be done but I am very pleased with it. 

 As you can see my Christmas break was a very busy one filled with doing what I love...decorating and creating! Well thanks for stopping by I hope it inspired you to redesign. As always I'll keep Redesigning College!