One Project Nearly Completed

We have lived in our house for 7 years and in those 7 years, well, I have done lots of home improvements myself. It is the little things that get to me. Or maybe it is the little things that I just don't get to.

But this time I was serious about getting this done. PJ has the smallest room in the house. He has 2 80" windows in his room. So that does help some in the size of his room. But still, I needed to do something in that room. To make it more like him.

When I first started thinking about curtains for his room, he was very young. He moved in that room in a crib and is now in bunk beds. And making curtains is not such a chore, it is finding the material and paying for it. And, personally, I really didn't want to have to make something like Nemo, then move to Cars and then move to something more mature. So, I really held off on making anything.

PJ loves the beach and I decided that would be the area that I would hit for him. Now to find the right material that would be perfect for him. And some of that stuff is so expensive that I was being very picky about what I would show to him. Granted it is his room, but it is my money. And considering that Eric's curtains cost me about $35 for his material, for just 1 window, I was very afraid of what PJ would have picked out and how much more it would have costed me. To be honest, I can make the curtains just fine, but if I were to pay $80 in materials for his windows, I would be better off buying something from WalMart. And for that $80 I would get both set of curtains, a comfortor, sham and sheet for his bed. But he decided that he would wait for curtains.

Several weeks ago, someone had told me about a place not far from here that was having a fabric sale. They had a truckload of stuff for $3 and $5 a yard. Perfect! That is what I needed to hear. So, we took off to hopefully find something that would be appropriate for his room. And with a truckload of fabrics, I wasn't leaving there until I found what I was looking for.

With all that fabric, you would think something would pop out for him. He looked and looked. They had so much material for girls, for adults, for teens. But nothing too much for little boys. And this is nothing uncommon for boys. It is quite different shopping for them than it is for girls. So, we looked and looked. I was about to give up. The truck was hot and very full of all different kinds of materials. Loved somethings for me, but I wasn't there for me. Eric gave up and decided he was going to sit in the car and listen to the radio. Here we are looking at everything, touching everything and deciding on what to do in his room. Now, his patience was running very, very low. As was mine. But I was bound and deteremined on not leaving without something.

PJ found something! Oh thank you, he found something. Something really neat too. It was red with boat, palmetto trees, and sea shells on it. Hey, this is perfect. The beach theme priced at $3 a yard. Oh yippee! Now to figure out how much I need and talk to him on exactly what he wanted to have done. So he tells me, "Mommy, I like my morning sun. So, I don't want curtains like Eric's but I don't want them just across the top either." Very good, I know what to do. Shouldn't cost all that much, considering the material was 57" wide. That helps a lot too.

Well, I figured what I would need and started to head to go and pay for it. Then I spotted the same pattern, but in green. PJ's room is green with tan carpeting. This should work. "Oh PJ, do you like the green?" He did, he commented on how it matched his room perfectly. Great! It was $1 a yard and I got the entire roll for $12. It is only costing me $12 to make curtains, pillows and a spread or even a quilt for his room.

Well, now I needed to find the time to measure, cut, iron and pin the curtains. I measured everthing, cut once and then figured out what needed to be done as for across the top and a hem.

My dad took the boys fishing, so I had the entire day to do whatever I wanted to do. And that was to make the curtains for PJ's room. And I did just that. I figured out that an 1" on top and 3" on the bottom would be perfect. And I did all three this way. Got them on the rod, they were tight and I wasn't happy with the valance. So, down they come, after adjusting the rod and getting a support all set up. I wasn't happy about my mistake at all. So, I refigured what the measurements were to be and started all over.

This time I ended up with this:

Much better! Much better! I am so happy with these! Perfect! And now I needed to see if it would be perfect for PJ. Yes, it passed his approval too.

Now, I needed to take out the stitching out of the other set and redo them. I got the stitches out, but I don't have them done yet. Chuck has been home for 7 days and I am ready for him to go back to work, because I need to get stuff done around the inside of the house.

I will have the others done this week, and then I will be painting the rest of his room. I have a lovely sand color for the trim around the doors and the flooring. But I do believe that I will be getting that color red to do around the windows.
PJ is quite tickled with the curtains. I think when I get the room done in the next week or so he will really be happy in his space.