...and then I found $5.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely obsessed with my Christmas tablescape.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely thrilled to be hosting Christmas this year.

I’d. Be. Lying.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find any store-bought window treatments that I like or that fit my “vision”, so I set out to make my own. Wandering around JoAnn fabrics a couple of weeks/months? ago I found this pretty fabric that struck me as perfect for our bathroom. It sat in the bag for a long time but finally got to doing something with it today! I got out my sewing machine and went to work.

(I apologize for the picture quality. I couldn’t wait to take/post these so I had to deal with the sun blasting in, therefore causing weird colors. For larger pictures, click through to my Flickr page.)

Without further ado…

Before

After!

From straight ahead. I think they look fabulous! And I’m kinda impressed with myself that they came out straight!

Close-up of the fabric, which I think is Waverly.

What do you think?

Since the snow has gone away (I probably just jinxed us, DC-area…sorry) and there is no more salt and sand covering the sidewalks I decided that there was no better time than today to buy a new doormat! We’ve had the same one for a few years—and I still like it— but winter definitely took its toll on it. So, I printed off my $10 off $30 coupon and headed to World Market! I had Macho waiting in the car so I had to get what I needed real fast. 

I immediately found this cute doormat that I thought would go great with our pink and green wreath I have hanging on the door!

And I think it does! It screams SPRING (and SUMMER!) to me!

But then I looked at the price tag and it said $14.99—needed to spend $30 to get $10 off, which was definitely worth it. I quickly ran to the place mat area to see if they had anything with a deep red color in them since that is the color of our “dining” area. They did! I scooped up 4 of them for $4 each and headed back to The Man.

I got all of this for $22 thanks to my coupon. Without it I would have paid $32! I’m happy with my spring-ified place.

I’m about to do some major self back-patting here, so if you’d rather not read feel free to roll your eyes and move on.

However, for those of you who want to know what I did to amaze myself—I’ll tell you. Tonight I made, from scratch, a valence and curtains. And by scratch I mean scratch. No pattern, no guides…just my eyes, a pencil, a measuring tape and my sewing machine. Oh, and I used the Pythagorean Theorem a few times, too.

This wasn’t just any old curtain, it was a complicated one (for me). My mom sent me this picture and asked me to make it for her with just one triangle for a single window. She found it online, but it had no pattern, no info, no directions, no nothing.

I hemmed and hawed for a long time, I was nervous! My mom had given me really pretty fabric and I didn’t want to mess up and waste it. But she’s coming on Friday so I really had no choice but to get going. So after 5 hours of cutting, hemming, sewing, and tweaking…here is MY version… tassel and all!

Technically I think the shortest pleat is supposed to be the same length as the point of the triangle…and the draping could have been a little more exaggerated, but whatever! I think it looks pretty damn good. I even lined the fabric so the pleats would look pretty. (Don’t mind the hardware…just some tie backs we had in the apartment for the picture’s sake.)

So, do you like ‘em? I hope you do, Mother Dearest.