Black on White

Remember when I took a purchased white shabby chic ballon curtain (from Target) and sewed on two rows of black grosgrain ribbon?

Now a fixed valance!

I originally strung cords through the curtain rings and positioned several 3M Command hooks to tie the cords in place.

However since the curtain fabric was flimsy it never opened and closed evenly or easily as a full length curtain. 

 Plus the cords were so ugly hanging below the curtain.

Finally last week I took the curtain down and laid it out on my cutting table determined to come to a decision on how best to hang it.

I decided the the curtain cords weren't working out and that I liked it as a stationary valance instead.  

It was too much work to restring the cords, cut and tie them off at the right length.  I needed a quick and easy way to fix the rings together to properly hang it as a valance.

I spied a bottle full of large safety pins on my sewing table.  

Could I hook the rings together with a safety pin? 

 Yes, I could and did...one safety pin for each vertical row of rings and the curtain became the perfect valance.  And the safety pin doesn't show through the valance either.

A large safety pin for the rings work well.

The last step was removing the the 3M Command strip hooks that weren't needed any longer for the cords. 

 All went well until the last hook when I discovered the paint came off with the hook.

It's not suppose to do that...

Cords removed.

I still have a few things to do in the bathroom but at least the valance is finished...my black on white.

Through the looking glass...

A view from the hallway...

Next I have a few more touches of black to add to the room and maybe some white rugs too.

Do you like my Black on White treatment?

More Guest Bathroom Decor

Balloon Shade restrung and hung.

I used the flash for this photo.

The flash made the walls bluish but they are more aqua.

I'm 98% done with my balloon shade for our Guest Bathroom (blogged about here).    

I've made changes and fussed over it for several days.  

I found tying the cord strings on the lowest rung completely covered up the black ribbon trim and lace at the bottom of the shade.  So I moved up one rung on the shade and it looks better now.  

Then I found out stringing all four cords to the right pulled on the lightweight fabric of the shade and distorted it terribly.   Plus when pulling the shade up the curtain sides all pulled in too.  I just wasn't happy with the results and went to bed wondering if I was going to have to make a fabric roman shade instead.

The next morning I thought to myself that all the cords don't have to go to one side.  If I split them up with two cords going to each side I reasoned that should lessen the pull on the fabric.  So I restrung the cords splitting them up and now the shade hangs better.  I also used small safety pins to pin the shade at the rod edge on each side to secure it.

I use small clear plastic 3M Command strips to tie the cords to secure the shade length.

Love, just love those removable 3M Command Strips!

I use another one at the top so the cords pull straight across.  

I still have to finish the cord ends.  

While on our RV tour of Alaska last summer I found these black iron hooks in a gift shop.  

I thought hand towels would look nice hanging from them.  Hubby installed them for me.

New Black Iron Towel Hooks

Still a little bit to do in here...purchasing new floor rugs and I would like to hang a cabinet over the toilet too.  

But it's coming along. 

We've been busy packing our travel van.  

We parked our van in our driveway the last two nights and slept out there to try out the couch/bed.  

After adding another blanket over the mattress pad we were happy campers.  One side had a few more inches length to it so Hubby, at six feet tall, liked it best.  

We're using a tan travel sack which is basically a sleeping bag with sheets hooked inside it for bedding.   I bought several white pillow shams for our pillows.  

We still have to take the camper back to the dealership to have the toilet replaced.  And I'm lining the curtains with blackout fabric for privacy.  It takes more thought to pack it since space is limited.  

We can hardly wait to go RVing camping.  

Thanks for visiting and please join me for:

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

                                Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
                                          Wendy at The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Cielo at The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday
Roomspiration Blog Hop & Link Party

Adding Ribbon to My Shabby Chic Curtains

My Guest Bathroom Window Curtain Project.

OK... I have put off this project long enough.  

We've been in our home over 11 years and except for a Hunter Douglas shade there have been no curtains at our Guest Bathroom window.   

There I've said it.  

I have good intentions.  

My head spins from all the decorating ideas I have but I am terrible sometimes about following through with them.  

I think it's because I can't make up my mind.  

This project is an excellent example.  

 I changed our Guest Bathroom to a black and white theme awhile ago and blogged about it (here) and (here).  

I really liked the new color combination but I knew it wasn't finished yet without any curtains or drapes at the window.  I debated with myself whether to purchase or make roman shades.  I knew what I wanted ~ a simple white shade with black ribbon trim ~ but just couldn't find any at a price I wanted to pay.  I reasoned with myself that I had muslin on hand and could make the roman shades without spending any money.  Not a difficult sewing project but one I never got around to.  

 Then one day we were in Target and I found a white Shabby Chic balloon shade for just $25.   The price was right so I grabbed it and bought it home.  

Good-bye Roman Shade...hello Balloon Shade. 

I was one step closer to doing something....finally.  

On one of my trips to Michaels this month I purchased black ribbon.   

Now I had the ribbon and the shade.  

No more excuses.  

Today I gathered together the balloon shade and the black ribbon.    

I decided to keep it simple and elegant - just one band of black ribbon at the top of the shade and one at the bottom.  

I didn't bother to pin the ribbon down I just used the embroidery marks to position my ribbon for sewing.

 It took very little time to sew the ribbon onto the shade.

Tomorrow I will string the cords through the shade and ask beg Hubby to hang the new pewter curtain rod in the bathroom. 

I can't wait to show you the final results.

Heck...I can't wait to see them myself. 

Just curious... am I the only woman who puts off doing home projects? 

Please join me for:

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

                                Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
                                          Wendy at The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Cielo at The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday 

Textured White!

A Granny Tissue Box Cover in WHITE!

For our BLACK and WHITE Guest Bathroom!

I used some white yarn I had on hand to make this tissue box cover for our Guest Bathroom.  It's Lily's Sugar n' Cream 100% cotton yarn.

Again I used Michelle's The Royal Sisters pattern (click here to get pattern).

It's a heavier yarn than the Caron Simply Soft yarn I used on the previous tissue boxes and it gives a more textured look which I like...this is a close up of the shell edging.

I blogged about our Guest Bathroom (here) and (here).    It's still a work in progress.  I bought some lovely black leaf iron hooks for our hand towels that need to be installed.  And I still haven't decided on the window treatment...should I make something or buy something????  I have a huge roll of white muslin that I could sew either a valance or a roman shade or curtains.  Oh, decisions...decision...

I'm slow when it comes to decorating.  So many options run through my head that I can't make up my mind.

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Black and White!

It's Show and Tell Friday!

I blogged about our guest bathroom previously and thought it would make a nice post for Cindy's at My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday.

This is my inspiration piece - a picture we bought of downtown Montreal while on a trip there many years ago.  I love the pastel coloring with the black outlines.

I found this lovely lamp at Homegoods in a black and white toile...

And these pretty black and white bird plates also purchased at Homegoods...

And I added some new white bath towels and black hand towels.  And I displayed a beautiful white crocheted doily I purchased at a craft fair for the toilet top.

And I couldn't resist the black sign (Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often) above the mirror.

I love the simple white shower curtain with the black ribbon trim.  You can see it reflected in the mirror.

I'm thinking of making a shade for the window in white muslin with black trim -- one of these days when we are home and not traveling.  And I need to get new rugs on the floor.

Please join our host Cindy at My Romantic Home (here) for more Show and Tell Friday!  

Thanks for coming on my tour of my guest room.   

You can find out about my wall color (here) in a previous posting.

Sandy at Teacup Lane

The Inspiration...Black!

The true color of our guest bathroom doesn't show up here it looks gray but it isn't.  I will have to look up the paint color and add it later.  We bought this picture on a trip to Montreal Canada many, many years ago.  It is a scene from downtown Montreal.  The black picture frame is the inspiration I had to update our guest bathroom with accents of black.

I found a set of four different bird plates at my favorite store - Homegoods - in black and white and immediately knew where I wanted to hang them.

Another great find at - Homegoods - this cute white lamp with the black toile shade and you can't see it here but the lamp has a cute bird finial. 

Now you see all four black and white bird plates...

Bird plates and black toile lamp together...

Black and white towels added along with a view in the mirror of the white shower curtain with black trim.  I also added a beautiful white crocheted doily that I purchased at a craft fair to the top of the toilet..

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: A doily (or doilie) is an ornamental mat, originally the name of a fabric, from Doiley, a 17th century London draper.^[1] They are usually made of cotton or linen thread, oftencrocheted but may also be knitted. Openwork allows the underlying surface to show through. In addition to their decorative function, doilies have the utilitarian role of protecting fine-wood furniture from the scratches caused by crockery or decorative objects..

I'm not done yet I still have to get the window treatment.  Hope you enjoy the tour of my almost updated guest bathroom.  What do you think of my black accents?  Do you have any rooms with black accents?


Update:  Paint color of our guest bath room is Benjamin Moore's Regal Wall Satin Latex Interior Flat in the color of "Emerald Vapor".  It's a very, very light shade with just a hint of pale blue with a greenish or aqua shading.  The color reflected in the mirror photos above is a more true coloring of the shade.  I wanted the lightest color I could find.  In the same range of Regal colors we painted our master bath in the color "April Sky" which is very pale, light shade too but more of a blue shade than "Emerald Vapor".   I would suggest stopping in at a Benjamin Moore store to obtain a color chart.  The Regals have an excellent selection of very pale, light shades.