With Love, I Give Thee Drapes

My husband, Dave, works as a School Psychologist which means that every summer I get him home with me for 8 weeks....Every time he goes back to work, I cry.  It takes me two weeks to get used to him being around all the time and then two more weeks to adjust to his absence.
This past August, I was whining and complaining about needing wanting new fabric for the drapes in our living room.  I came home with the swatch I had gotten just that day and, lo and behold, it was the EXACT fabric I had envisioned for the room.  Dave feigned interest in my plight....as per usual.  I even showed him how they would coordinate PERFECTLY with the other fabric I planned on using for the Fall.

The coveted fabric...plaid in top photo

I stopped talking about it, kind of, and instead put all of my mental energy into how I could raise the funds needed to purchase said fabric.
A few days later, after a rough day of parenting and being sad and grumpy about his return to work, Dave surprised me with a gift.  As I got into bed that night, I pulled back the covers to find 6 BEAUTIFUL YARDS of the beloved fabric. I think he was hoping for the reaction Debra Barone gives Ray when he starts vacuuming the drapes.   
Debra: You are going to do the drapes?
Ray: No, silly, the Humm Vac is going to do the drapes. I'm just going to take the credit!
(Ray starts vacuuming the drapes)
Debra: I have never been more attracted to you in my entire life.
Instead, I cried.  
How is it possible to teach the lesson of not rewarding bad behavior when I received such a gift?  Thank God for Grace.  Thank God for Dave.  While I was treasuring and hoping the fabric would make me happy, it was the simple act of love and devotion on Dave's part that made me happy.  I was astonished that he picked out the right fabric and the right amount.  He was listening.  He does care about the stupid small things in my life that may not affect him, but definitely affect me.
So, while I write this, I am reminded of the husband who would buy me fabric because he knew it would make me happy.  And, I wonder, what am I doing for him that is seemingly insignificant to me but means the world to him?  I pray that I am showing him that he is the treasured thing in my life that I want to show and tell.

Have a wonderful weekend treasuring those in your life......
Shared with Cindy at My Romantic Home and Melissa at The Inspired Room.

It All Started in the 60's

That's right, you guessed it....hand-me-down furniture.  This lovely lady was handed down as a whole bedroom set made by Broyhill and originally made it's debut as a nightstand.  I can't believe I have lived with it looking like this for as long as I have.  If you think something in your home doesn't look all that bad, just take a photo of it.  As you can see from the photo, it is dwarfed by our very large TV.  You can still see the remnant of white paint in the back from when we first inherited it....9 years ago.  For lack of anything better to use, I decided to paint it brown so it would "blend" in.  Hmmmm....I don't think becoming THE eyesore of a room helps it accomplish that.

I had been wanting to do something about this poor lost soul for some time when I stumbled upon a tablecloth on clearance at Target.  It was just the thing I needed to give this old gal a new look.  I, of course, enlisted the help of my sister and she came with staple gun in tow.  She measured from the center out and began "pleating" and stapling as she went.  Since she made it look so easy, I just let her keep her groove on.  The bonus of using the tablecloth was that once we cut it to length, we didn't have any piece to sew.  The top piece was folded under before it was stapled.  We used the finished edges for the hem and where they met in the middle. (For easy access to all electronics.)

Once you have your fabric stapled up, go back over the staples with your hammer to make sure they have all been pushed in to the wood.

Next, you will want to have some trim to cover all of your staples.  I found some great trim at JoAnn's on clearance for 99 cents a yard!  Just grab your glue gun and get to gluing.

Be sure to fold the edge over on the end and apply a good helping of glue.

I worked my around and the result was this:

Now, here she is...in all her glory.  It isn't my first choice to have the TV be such a large part of the living room, but this just shows you what adding a little bit of fabric can do to change the vibe. I love the texture of the fabric and how well the trim ties in with my couch without being loud.   Hopefully, the 60's have finally left the building.

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Check out all of the other links to great ideas and Do-It-Yourself projects....You'll need a few hours:)