ALL THINGS GIRLY-GIRL - Part 5

Little Project No. 8...a window treatment

I had an ivory curtain on Lizzy's window while her room was still a nursery. It was a pair of cotton duck tab top panels, which I had removed the tabs from, sewn a rod pocket into, and made tiebacks for from one of the fabric patterns I had dug out of remnant bins at our local fabric shop. Pretty, and functional, they served their purpose while she was a baby. Now 4 yrs old tho, we decided a change was due in a window treatment. 

Joe set out to make shutters for her windows which would serve two purposes...well 3 actually if you were to include the ‘pretty’ function! Not only was she requiring privacy, but now also, a little darkness in her room for bedtime when neighborhood kids can still be heard shrieking with delight in their play on a warm summer's night. It's difficult to explain to a small child that it's her bedtime while other kids are running around outdoors still having fun in broad daylight! I'm not that old - I do remember and it hurts!

I copied the contour from one of our vertical sign designs at www.mypaintedporch.com and of course, painted and antiqued them, as well as the attached hinges. I found glass knobs from eBay for $3 a pce, for a few projects I was working on around the house, and installed a few of those for operating the shutters. They look so sweet in her windows, from both inside and out! One window has nothing but the shutters as a treatment, as the window is quite short and long...one of those odd sizes you're continuously struggling to find a solution for, so we went full length for that window. The longer window behind her headboard would require another treatment.  Where the shutters ended only a little over the halfway point on this window, I re-used the curtain from her nursery, by doubling the panel and draping it over the rod. Using the same tiebacks from the nursery curtain but I repurposed those by installing them from the curtain rod and down and over the fabric, to gather the fabric vertically from the rod, and well...kinda love that too! Here's a bit of a peek at her shutters... 




Little Project No. 9...more than just a mirror


I guess this means the cat is surely out of the bag, as I confess publicly...I LOVE garbage day!!  It was about 8:30 am and Lizzy and I were on our way to her daycare, when driving up my very own street, something wooden lying in a heap at the curb caught my eye.  Slowing down to take a closer look, (of course :-), I could see that it was a full-length freestanding swivel mirror...just what I had been looking for for Eliza's room! Afraid it would be gone by the time I returned home, I got out and inspected it while Lizzy wondered what the heck I was up to...like she shouldn't know by now! Other than the cracked mirror and it’s ultra shiny dark mahogany finish ( both fixable), "that could work!" So I claimed it after wrestling with it for 10 minutes or more...surely enough time for all my neighbors to recognize and memorize my face in broad daylight as the now exposed neighborhood "refuse resuscitator "! Hehe...they'll get over it :-)! 

I had the mirror replaced by an auto service garage, and painted the woodwork in cream color, and distressed and waxed.

My dear father-in-law ("Pa", as I affectionately knew him), whom we lost two years ago, was a carpenter by trade in Germany. He and Eliza hadn't yet met when he passed, occurring just the month previous to our booked family vacation to Germany...the huge anticipated moment where Ma and Pa (not Kettle :-)) would meet their newest grandchild for the first time. Up until that time, it was so important to them both, that Lizzy have something to know them by, until that time would come.  Every so often, we would receive a surprise package of wooden pieces cut to precision, complete with sketched out plans for Joe to assemble, of something a little girl would cherish and know it to have come from her Oma and Opa.  In one of those extra special packages, was a little wooden owl rack with pegs. It was also important to us that Lizzy have something to remember her Opa by while she has since outgrown some of the others, so I painted and antiqued the owl rack as well, and mounted it on the bead-boarded side of her change table (now book/toy shelf)...where  princess Halloween costumes and dresses would hang within easy arm's reach.




The salvaged mirror now with new life as a little girl's best confidante, stands proudly in a corner of her room, next to her play dress-up attire and Opa's gift...playing host to a little girl's dreams and fantasies of Prince Charming, glass slippers and graceful ballerinas.


to be continued next week...we're almost there with project no. 8 -  table and chairs playset

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous9:00 PM

    WOW This is really beautiful Leslie, amazing ideas. Your little one is adorable and it is so nice to see you enjoying every moment with her. It definetly brings me back to when my two were that age. I really miss that time, however, now I enjoy them as the wonderful young ladies that they are. Looking forward to project 8.

    Susan Landry

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