My New View
This month marks the 5th anniversary of Mr. Agrestic and I living in our current home.
Five years.
Lots can happen in five years.
New neighbors. Babies. Old neighbors. New jobs. More babies. Old jobs. Lots of spit up, drool, and poopy diapers. A return to college. Hundreds of new flowers and shrubs. Preschool. Trees planted. New preschool. Painted walls. Trees cut down. Return to the original preschool. New decor. New boat. Lots of meals - mostly out. New boat finally sold. A few great vacations.
You get the picture?
With all of this effort and time we spend on random priorities, one thing that has sadly never made it to this list is this…
This is the drab, icky, unfinished view I see every time I walk out of my bedroom and down the hallway toward our bonus room (better known as "the play room"). Unfortunately, this is a walk I take many times a day, as it is also the path from my bedroom to downstairs.
The blinds are a dirty yellow color, broken in many places - which is why they remain raised, as shown in this picture.
Now we also have the simple elegance of hail damaged screens, which essentially look like bullet holes in our windows (to be fixed soon!)
Part of the delay in fixing up this dreadful sight is that I've never been good at window treatments. I just don't know what to do with them. Anything I see in the store appears outdated, or not representative of my taste. I've poked around on the internet, but never have much luck.
It hit me one day last week that I must fix this problem. Due to the fact I feel an unspoken tinge of negative energy on a daily basis because of this awful sight, it simply needs to be addressed.
I began with my go-to source of all random topics and ideas, my friend Tom at work. Tom happens to know lots of stuff about lots of things, and frequently takes a premature thought of mine and allows me to fill in all the empty space and details to turn it into something. With Tom, I explored colors, learned about hemming tape (who knew something so magical exists? not a 5' 11" female, I assure you of that), discussed roman shades, plantation shutters, and even drew diagrams of how it might be designed.
After intently researching the topic, I confidently decided a cornice board was calling my name. A cornice board with floor length panels is exactly what our play room needs! Three days ago, I would have given you a complete blank stare if you mentioned the word "cornice" in a sentence to me. Crickets would be chirping. No clue.
But now… I can say that I have built one myself. From scratch. Richie didn't even have a hand in it. It was ALL me! I was up until 4:30 am making it happen, but it's done, and I'm smiling :)
Now, this is my new view down our long hallway…
First, let me remind you this is a play room. I wanted to keep the pattern fun, without being juvenile. I couldn't go too girly - cuz I ain't got those in my playroom. And I was hoping to find something that I won't tire of in three years. I think (hope) I found it. I'll let you know in a few years.
The colors are a little off in this picture. The panels are actually a light mossy green color, not the tan color they appear to be here.
The room still needs some love. Not crazy about the navy blue Lazy Boy chair blocking the view - however, the window is a start, And it makes me smile when I see it. Especially the cornice board :) (I'm just trying to make use of my new word!)
Oh, and another thing about me… I'm not much of a detail girl when it comes to projects like this. I'm much more of a big picture, wing it kinda gal. So the guy at Jo Ann's was quite perplexed when I didn't have my measurements for him to cut my fabric. He was rolling his eyes watching me spread my arms apart saying "it's about this wide, and this tall…"
History of these projects has taught me that we often turn our challenges into the greatest details, which is part of the reason I never fret about the details - I know I can cover it up some way.
This is how the green fringy strip thingy landed on both ends of the cornice board. My fabric was too short to cover the board :) Therefore, I had two seams that needed some love.
I think it's my favorite part :) And I kinda knew it would work out like that.
Now it's time for me to go to sleep - 4:30 am was not very good to me last night.
Nighty night -_-
Five years.
Lots can happen in five years.
New neighbors. Babies. Old neighbors. New jobs. More babies. Old jobs. Lots of spit up, drool, and poopy diapers. A return to college. Hundreds of new flowers and shrubs. Preschool. Trees planted. New preschool. Painted walls. Trees cut down. Return to the original preschool. New decor. New boat. Lots of meals - mostly out. New boat finally sold. A few great vacations.
You get the picture?
With all of this effort and time we spend on random priorities, one thing that has sadly never made it to this list is this…
This is the drab, icky, unfinished view I see every time I walk out of my bedroom and down the hallway toward our bonus room (better known as "the play room"). Unfortunately, this is a walk I take many times a day, as it is also the path from my bedroom to downstairs.
The blinds are a dirty yellow color, broken in many places - which is why they remain raised, as shown in this picture.
Part of the delay in fixing up this dreadful sight is that I've never been good at window treatments. I just don't know what to do with them. Anything I see in the store appears outdated, or not representative of my taste. I've poked around on the internet, but never have much luck.
It hit me one day last week that I must fix this problem. Due to the fact I feel an unspoken tinge of negative energy on a daily basis because of this awful sight, it simply needs to be addressed.
I began with my go-to source of all random topics and ideas, my friend Tom at work. Tom happens to know lots of stuff about lots of things, and frequently takes a premature thought of mine and allows me to fill in all the empty space and details to turn it into something. With Tom, I explored colors, learned about hemming tape (who knew something so magical exists? not a 5' 11" female, I assure you of that), discussed roman shades, plantation shutters, and even drew diagrams of how it might be designed.
After intently researching the topic, I confidently decided a cornice board was calling my name. A cornice board with floor length panels is exactly what our play room needs! Three days ago, I would have given you a complete blank stare if you mentioned the word "cornice" in a sentence to me. Crickets would be chirping. No clue.
But now… I can say that I have built one myself. From scratch. Richie didn't even have a hand in it. It was ALL me! I was up until 4:30 am making it happen, but it's done, and I'm smiling :)
Now, this is my new view down our long hallway…
The colors are a little off in this picture. The panels are actually a light mossy green color, not the tan color they appear to be here.
The room still needs some love. Not crazy about the navy blue Lazy Boy chair blocking the view - however, the window is a start, And it makes me smile when I see it. Especially the cornice board :) (I'm just trying to make use of my new word!)
History of these projects has taught me that we often turn our challenges into the greatest details, which is part of the reason I never fret about the details - I know I can cover it up some way.
This is how the green fringy strip thingy landed on both ends of the cornice board. My fabric was too short to cover the board :) Therefore, I had two seams that needed some love.
Now it's time for me to go to sleep - 4:30 am was not very good to me last night.
Nighty night -_-
Dang, girl. You get yourself a project and there is no stopping you! I, too, covered cornice boards back in the day. They were exactly the look I desired. I loved the fabric. They involved no sewing. And, I had the same sense of accomplishment of having done them with my own two hands. I can just see you smiling every trip through the hallway now :) Well done!
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