Painting Vertical Window Blinds......

I got the fabric Vertical Blinds painted and new valances sewed! I did all three sets that we have in our big living room. A smaller window, a bigger window, and then the set that covers the deck doors.

This picture shows the original valance and the original faded country blue vertical on the left, and the brown that I painted on the right. Keep this color of brown in mind when you get to the last few pictures...the color looks very washed out in some, but not in this one.

A closer look....and the brown looks beautiful in this one. I am in love with chocolaty brown colors!

I used regular wall paint. I started with the left over Dark Toast from the laundry room walls. Needed more so bought a second gallon. Now, if you do this and your vertical blinds have the weighted chain things at the bottom that keep the vanes connected, you can just just snip the vane off straight right above where the chain and weight runs through the bottom. These blinds are old and two of them I had already snipped the bottom off a long time ago because they were broken. The blinds work fine without them. I removed each vane (Be careful! I broke two of the little hookymebobbers that hold them and had to make shift wire the vanes back up after a failed super glue. No biggie, but try not to break them!) and laid on newspaper taped to the table to paint. I only painted one side. I hung them back up wet and got the next one down to paint. The fabric soaks up the paint, so no dripping. Also, since it soaks up the paint, work quickly and keep your brush moving. If you were going to have these on a window that you care about what it looks like from the outside, you may want to paint both sides, but let one side dry before you do the other.

Here is the bigger window before....

And after.....cept' the blind color is darker than that, these pictures make them look much lighter than they are.

I bought fabric and sewed a flat valance for each window. I doubled the fabric over to make them more opaque. The seam is about 1/3 way down in the back...I ironed them to have a good solid crease on the bottom.

The fabric up close....it is Jacquard, I love it. Chocolaty beauty!

This was a very fast project. I got it done in one day. And I would definitely do it again! It turned out much better that I ever expected it to and it dramatically changed the look and feel of the living room. And I saved a ton of money! I spent $50 on fabric and paint. The fabric I used was $8.44 per yard and I used 3.5 yards. If you have priced new verticals, you'd know they are not cheap! Now...if it would EVER warm up, we could stop using the wood stove in this room so I can get my new carpet in there!! We are also going to do ceramic tiling in front of the deck door (currently wall to wall ugly country blue carpet that is faded and stained) and also ceramic tiling under the wood stove - right now it sits on an ugly black piece of metal that is on top of the carpet! Ugh! :)

Anyone Else Freak Out at the Thought of Painting the Woodwork?

It is just the thought of covering up that beautiful wood. And knowing that it would take A LOT of work to undo it if I ever were to decide to. Seems so permanent. Such a BIG commitment! HOWEVER. I have seen some gorgeous rooms lately with painted door frames and baseboards and they look so put together and wonderful! I love and long for the look of it! Yet I am pretty sure I lack the courage. What is your take on painting the woodwork? Done it and loved it? Done it and regretted it? Eeeek! :)

By the way, I bought a gallon of paint today! It is called Dark Toast. Yummy name, eh? I swear, pictures are coming soon and I will do before and afters. Currently, I took a paint brush and painted a few splotches here and there to get a feel for and decide if I loved the color before I paint the entire thing. Do other people do this too? Hubby seemed to think it was odd! :) I am not sure it is as dark as I want for the little living room, but I think it may be perfect for the laundry room! I know, a brown laundry room?!?!?! Weird-O! I just really have a thing for brown earthy tones! Pictures. I promise!

The Quandry: Strong Urge to Redecorate but Lacking the Talent! HELP!

I need help. I really want to do a little redecorating around our house. Nothing too fancy, some paint, new curtains, maybe some table decorations and DEFINITELY on a budget! The rooms I am shooting for are the big living room, the little living room, the laundry room and my daughter's rooms.

The only ideas I have so far are....

1. To dye the ugly faded 80's country blue cloth type vertical blinds in the big living room brown or tan with RIT dye. Do you think it will work? I have a snipped off piece and it is soaking in hot water right now to see how it holds up. :) I am thinking of getting the dye tomorrow and giving it a go! We are getting new carpet come spring, and also going to put ceramic tile in front of the deck door and under the wood stove. Currently the also faded old country solid blue carpet runs right up to the door (UGH!) and the wood stove sits on an ugly square black piece of metal stuff. I am going with a dark multi tone brown shag type carpet, and thinking of doing tans/browns for the tile, maybe throwing in a little color, in a circle under the wood stove and a half circle in front of the door.

2. The laundry room. Currently the walls are an old gross pale matte pink and the cabinets are white. It has flat utility type carpet that is a pain to sweep/vacuum, but I am not sure if we'll be changing that anytime soon - just the wall and cabinet color. To what colors? I have no clue! And it has one window that I would like to get a vertical blind for and make a new curtain.

3. Youngest daughter's room. It is currently pink bare walls. See? I am not much of a decorator! She mentioned blue with flowers and butterflies painted on. I am fairly artistic and like to make things, so I could probably manage that. Hubby also wants to add a chalk board painted section. She also recently got a bunk bed and the bottom is full size and folds into a futon/couch thing. I would like to make a curtain to cover the bottom bed so she could use it as a tent or hideout or place to read, etc.

4. Oldest daughter...well she is 16 and is probably going to want to do it how she wants to! Luckily she has a lot of style! :)

Now, a couple of barriers....dust. We live on a farm, use wood stoves, and it gets really dusty in here really quick! I am not a nic-nac person for that very reason - keeping up with the floors, walls, fans, and ceilings is work enough! I actually just packed up the baskets with fake plants in them because they are so hard to keep clean. So stuff has to be easily washable. Money...there is so much I would love to do here, like actually remodel and update! But for now, it is just some surface level tinkering to make things look a little nicer. The cheaper, the better, of course. :)

So if you have ideas or favorite websites sites or tips on how to put a room together or pictures of your own decorating...please let me know!