Show and Tell: Project Glam is underway!

A few weeks ago I shared my Blingy Cushion project tutorial and mentioned that my living room is in major need of some razzamatazz.  Well,  this week "Project Glam" went into full swing.

I wish I had a before-before shot to show you.  When I moved into my house there were sheers on every window in every room.  The previous owners were heavy duty super serious smokers so the smell was in the carpet, in the drapes, even in the paint on the walls.

Somehow I was able to see through the nicotine haze and see how beautiful the house really was, and I bought it.  Now all of the sheers are gone.  The carpet has been replaced with beautiful hardwoods, and I've repainted almost every wall in every room.

Here's how the so-so transformation was coming along.

The big projects are almost out of the way (in this room) but I always feel like something isn't quite right.  I decided it needed some glam, some shabang....some colour!

In my original plans there were pink and rose accents but in the end I went for apricot!  How exciting!  I'm not really an orangey type person but I'm so happy with my choice.  Take a look at the new drapes I made:




POW!

They were so simple that I didn't feel like they even warranted a tutorial.  just two panels, double wide, hemmed at the top and bottom.  The selvedges were laser cut so I didn't even need to hem them.  They're made with a beautiful taffeta that has all kinds of cross grain threads that give them incredible sheen without a tacky shine.

I hit the best deal in town with the fabric.  I think it was around $3.00/metre.  I bought 5 metres because I have 10 foot ceilings and wanted to make them extra long and extra wide to fill up the space.  The window is very off centre and much too small for the wall it's on, but I think the drapes help balance everything out.

But how to hang these lovelies???  I searched for cheapo drapery rings.  I only paid $15 for the drapes, I didn't want to spend a fortune on rings.  But the lowest price of something suitable that I could find was $10 for a set of 7.  I needed 4 sets.  $40 for rings???  Forget it.

And then I hit the next biggest deal of the century:

The rings are perfect.  They're wood with a not so goldy gold finish on them.  I thought they might be too flash but I think they're perfect.  And guess how much!  Go ahead, take a guess!  Whatever you guessed you're way off.  They were $1.00 for each package of 7 hooks!  Now that's more like it!

As for the green drapes that were up there, they were not wasted.  They moved over to the dining room to fill in the bay window area which already had matching sets.

I think this is where Mister hangs out all day when he's not sleeping.  What a life that boy has~

I got a couple more shots of each window without all of the sunlight pouring through:

I have really big plans for the wall by the TV and a smaller project I'm working on for the other corner that I hope to share with you very soon.  (and, yes, those blinds will be replaced as soon as I find the perfect replacement.)

Here's one tip for you....don't hang drapes by yourself.  I did, and I made the error of hanging the rod 1/2 inch too high.  If I had help I probably would've been able to see before I made holes in the wall that they needed to be lowered a tiny bit.  When I feel up to patching and painting I'll drop them down, but for now, they're fine.

Hopefully there'll be more glam to share soon.

Leave a comment and tell everyone how you glam up your space.  I'll be sharing on the linky parties throughout the week so hopefully I'll come across some more great ideas to spruce things up.

Hope you're all having a great week~