window mistreatments

Striped Drapes

May 21, 2010 By nester

Inquiring minds need to know where I bought my drapes, who made my drapes and if I painted my drapes. Well, I hate to let you all down but, round these parts, I make my own drapes. They are called Window Mistreatments because I do it all wrong, I rarely sew, it takes 5 minutes and it ends up looking good enough. You can read all you want to here at the Window Mistreatment Category. And after reading how I’ve done it before, I’m sure you can figure out how I clipped up my fabric here. I have yet to be arrested for having unlined, unhemmed drapes. If I ever do get arrested, I’ll have to come here and raise my bail money.

Anyhow, I’m working on a Window Mistreatment ebook that will show you step by step exactly how I um “made” these drapes, if you actually need the steps, but every day I get 4 emails asking about the fabric. I don’t know the name or anything, but I’ll find out for the ebook, but, I purchased the fabric from Mary Jo’s in Gastonia, NC. The white is a tiny bit off white and the brown has a hint of olive. Perfect for this room. I started the mistreatment ebook over a year ago. I am the worlds biggest procrastinator.

Mary Jo’s like all fabric stores, has a TON of fabric, what I choose had the stripes running the opposite way than what I decided I wanted so, I did have to pull out my sewing machine to make it work. The shortcut would be to simply buy fabric with the stripes going the other way, which is not hard to find.

In other news, yesterday’s comments were fantastic. They conjured up memories of childhood plants. On the left, Emily and I are taking a backyard garden tour from our Great-Grandpa, I tried to act interested in the vegetables but, I really just wanted to make our way over to the thick row of peonies and pick them all. On the right we are apparently trying out for the circus. But see that stick with a few leafs at the end of it? That was our rose. I think it bloomed once a year and I was enamored with it.

Filed Under sisters, window mistreatments 51 Comments

Window Treatment Makeover

January 25, 2010 By nester

Wondering if your room needs a change? Something I do from time to time is just take down my window treatments {or mistreatments}. Take them down, live with it for two days–48 hours, this is key. You will experience one of two emotions both starting with “Oh my word”:

1. Oh my word, this room looks so much bigger, better, lighter {insert any positive reaction} maybe I need to rethink how I’m dressing my windows.

2. Oh my word, this room desperately needs pattern, color {or whatever it was that your treatments were adding to the equation} I can’t wait to get those things back up.

You might even experience a third emotion.

3. Hmm, I kind of like it bright and empty but I still want something up there I don’t know what to do

If you find yourself saying the third sentence–like I was last week when I took mine down, then first put your old treatments back up and take note of your first reaction. When I put mine up I was instantly happy and once again in love with my yellow and red buffalo checks. I was surprised at how much I liked them when I put them back. If you put your old stuff back up and love it, then yippie, keep them around for awhile. If you put them back up and don’t love them, take them down and start looking for other options.

If you are new here, you need to know about window mistretments–if you are old here, you could teach about window mistretments.

There are many many ways to dress a window without spending thousands. I call them window MIStreatments:

Mistreatment: (n). covering for a window that is quick, cheap and pretty. may or may not need hardware does not require sewing. a real designer’s worst nightmare.

Mistreating: (v). the act of treating a window with dignity and respect without use of the following: hundreds of dollars, sewing, time, crying, divorce, child neglect…

Here are a few I’ve done

fabric+and+sink

5 Minute Topper: Window Mistreatment 101

DSCN2192

Using a Premade Drape as a Topper {just hang it on a rod and hike it up with two ribbons.

Ultimate 3 fabric mistreatments–NO SEW!

Mistreatment Tricks

More secrets–please obey. Even if you love your current window treatments, if your rod is right above the window casing and all your fabric is covering the window, you are missing out on so much light! The fabric should not be covering light–let it cover the wall and end at the start of the window!!!!

Rodless panels

And of course the famous red check fold and poof no sew window treatment. {tomorrow it will be two years since I post this–and I’ve had these mistreatments for 5 years!}

Please tell me I’m not the only crazy person who takes down my window treatments from time to time to make sure they are still relevant, doing their job, and most importantly still something I love…you do it too, right?

Some of these posts are from two years ago meaning two houses ago, so don’t get too confused when you see all sorts of different rooms!

Filed Under quickies, window mistreatments 66 Comments

Windowless Mistreatments

July 29, 2009 By designer

I used them in the bathroom in the old house but now, they are in the foyer. You don’t need a window to soften a room with fabric. Six yards of fabric at $5 per yard {1502 fabrics, Thomasville, NC} is much less expensive than a 8′ x 5′ rug. Do you have a place that needs softening that could use some drapes–what about that opening to your dining room?

Filed Under window mistreatments 1 Comment

Fabric Buying Tips

July 6, 2009 By designer

Calico Corners

Fabric. If I were stranded on a desert {deserted?} island and could only have 5 tools to decorate my tree house, fabric would be one of the chosen tools.

We’ve talked about where to shop for fabric and many of you are asking how to know what fabric to buy for certain projects. An entire blog could be dedicated to this subject, there are so many things to do with fabric and so many seductive and utilitarian fabrics available. I’m sure if you started a blog like that you could write for years without running out of things to talk about.

I struggled with writing this post because part of me feels like people would like a list of rules and regulations for fabric buying. And I really don’t believe in many rules and regulations when it comes to decorating. Nesting and making your home beautiful combines something creative with something personal and who needs rules for that? For every rule there is an equal and opposite exception where someone not only broke the rule, but did so with style and gusto.

Balance the no rules philosophy with the fact that some things truly don’t look all that great together or work out all that well and we are stuck right in the center of decorating tension. Which isn’t all that bad of a place to be. All you need to do is balance some general guidelines with trial and error and personal opinion and you can come up with a stunning result.

Amy Butler

So if you supply the trial and error, creativity and personal opinion, I’ll supply some general, random thoughts and guidelines regarding fabric. The following are not rules.

What to Take When Fabric Shopping:

1. TAKE YOUR TIME! this is highly important. There is no rush. Southern Living is not showing up at your door tomorrow and if they are, girl, you had better hurry!

2. Take your fabric file, it will assist you in coordinating existing fabrics

3. Take a friend she can giggle with you and be moral support

4. Take away swatches. Don’t leave the fabric store without fabric samples to look at in the room where you want to use them. Label each swatch with masking tape {if the store doesn’t do this for you} and write the store name and cost per yard.

Our local store has remnants labeled, they are all 50% off the marked price, a great deal

What to look for

1. For window mistreatments, you want 54 inch wide decorator’s fabric. If you are doing long drapes you don’t want a heavy upholstery grade fabric that won’t hang well. Pull out the fabric on the bolt out a few feet and grab it in your fist and hold it up and see how it drapes. If it’s super stiff, it’s not going to look all that great on your windows. On the other hand if it’s extremely thin, it could look cheap if not lined. Look at premade drapes and take note of the kinds of fabrics used.

2. For recovering dining room chairs you want a thicker fabric. Stay away from silk it will get stained and worn fast. Look for a little thicker fabric and remember, solid colors will show dirt quicker than a pattern.

3. If you sew and want to line your drapes, consider using a twin sheet. For my duvet cover, I used a coordinating sheet for the back and fabric on the front. That saved me some money and time.

my bedskirt

4. My usual limit on fabric is $7 per yard. We have so many great fabric stores in our area that I have figured out it’s worth the wait for me to look around until I find something in my price range. Most of my mistreatments were $5-7 per yard, my duvet cover was $8 per yard, the bedskirt was a splurge at $30 per yard and I even temporarily lost my mind and spent $45 for 3/4 of a yard of french knotted silk. I’m sure if I would have been patient I could have found something comparable for less. But I admit, I adore the fabric. If there is a really expensive fabric that you are in love with, buy a small amount and use it on a pillow or table topper, runner or even a lampshade.

my expensive french knot worth every penny

Fresh Squeezed Fabric

If you are looking for small yardages of luscious coordinating fabric, try out Fresh Squeezed Fabrics and search their fabric bundles. This would be great for a fabric canvas, pillow, ragamuffin garland and various other projects that take small amounts of fabric.

Want to read more about fabric? Guide to Choosing Decorator Fabric.

Remember if you are making mistreatments, keep your yardage price low. If you end up spending $30 per yard and say you will need 3 yards per panel for one window you would spend $180. You would be better off buying from Half Price Drapes or Ballard Designs. Mistreatments are best done when you find super inexpensive fabric or fabric that you already have.

Want more guidelines to decorate by? Read The Best Decorating Advice Ever at The Inspired Room. And if you missed this weekend’s Bird Watching, be sure to scroll down, there are some great projects this week.

What are your fabric tips?

Filed Under fabric, window mistreatments 1 Comment

Where to Shop for Fabric

July 1, 2009 By designer

What started out as one post about fabric to go with the top 5 tools list has morphed into 3, maybe even 4 posts because I cannot seem to stop chatting it up about all things fabric. This is the first post in a series on fabric.

Fabric is a luxurious tool. Along with paint, it possesses power that is almost superhero like. Properly place some fabric on a bare window and you can instantly transform the feeling in a room. Mix patterns to fill and personalize a room. Use textures to add interest and depth. Keep to solid colors for a clean cozy feel without interrupting the overall feel of a room.

1. Finding Fabric in Your Town

Yes, Jo-Ann, Hancock, Hobby Lobby and other craft/sewing/hobby shops do sell a little fabric. I’ve purchased fabric from all three of those shops and you can find some nice things at good prices. But if you never step foot in any other kind of fabric store, you are really, really missing out.

You could start by simply googling your city and the words fabric store.

Here’s what came up for Charlotte. You’ve got your Hancock and Calico {if you are not familiar with Calico Corners stop right now and order their catalog: completely inspiring} Midas {large chain in the Carolina’s} and then Boone {no website but one of my favorite shops} Hobby Lobby, Robyn’s–what? I’ve never heard of that!, Front Door {local and small but good remnants} and other stuff. I usually lean toward the local shops.

Right now the best place for me to find fabric at a good price is a little strip mall place called Tony’s fabrics. It’s big, it’s bright and all the fabric is $6.99 a yard. How did I find it? I drove there even though it was a long drive from my house when we first moved here. It was worth it to scope out my new city and see what was kind of fabric cornucopia they offered. Why isn’t it on the list? Here’s the thing, the two best fabric stops in my city, aren’t actually in my city. Make sure you google surrounding towns as well.

Besides googling or pulling your phonebook out of 1986, another way to find the best stores is to ask your friends who sew. These days there are special stores for quilters, hobby fabric stores and more decorator friendly stores. Most likely, if you are mistreating a window, you want to visit decorator fabric stores.

2. Finding Fabric Online

What? Shopping for fabric online? Isn’t that harder than convincing your Mother in Law that you can actually paint brick. {No real mother in laws were hurt in this analogy, mine was totally supportive of our brick painting}. Here’s how I shop for fabric online. Start in the stores. Shop around, find what you like, get a swatch and a manufacturer name {sometimes found on the edge of the fabric, or on a tag on the bolt, or ask the fabriteer (my name for people who work in the fabric store)}. Each fabric design has it’s own name and if there are different colors in the same pattern, a color as well, try to get that too. Most fabriteers will amaze you with their ability to remember a fabric maker and name from even years back.

Once you have the fabric maker and name start looking online. For example. Say you want a P. Kaufmann Central Park Toile. First, just google it. There are lots of places you can find it, right? So, why not start with two online fabric stores and compare. Let’s look at, Fabric.com–which I’ve talked about before. They tend to have great sales and seem quite customer service oriented. Here’s what they have–you can click on the photo to enlarge it:

16.98 per yard plus shipping

Let’s compare that to another online shop, Online Fabric Store.net:

$10.80 per yard plus shipping

That’s just two places out of well, a whole bunch of places that sell this. If you are only buying one yard, it might not be worth shopping around and paying for shipping but, if you need 6 yards this could really be worth it. And, you’ve already seen the fabric in person. Keep in mind, different bolts of fabric may have a slight color variation but, I’ve never had an issue with the fabric being impossible to use.

One more thing, did you notice the color difference for these fabrics? This is why it’s hard to blindly shop online. Most likely they are the exact same color.

More to come in way of fabric shopping well talk about what to buy, pricing, tips and coordinating fabric.

Are there good stores in your area? Feel free to leave a shout out with your town and favorite fabric store.

Filed Under window mistreatments 5 Comments

They look even better in person!

May 7, 2009 By designer

This is a article was originally posted in March of 2008. It’s one of my all time favorite posts…enjoy!

I wanted to share this with you so that you can be at the ready when going into some of these wonderful fabric stores! Kimberley just emailed this to me–it’s a play by play of her experience with a fabriteer as I like to call them. Read on, and enjoy…

here’s Kimberley:

I simply must share my conversation with the clerk at the snooty fabric store where I purchased my mistreatment supplies!

Clerk (middle-aged, attractive, though not pretty, uptight!!!!): How can I help you today?

Me: I need 4 yards of this fabric (a fabulous animal print that was only $13.95/yard, which is a miracle at this store!!!!!)

Clerk: This is a lovely fabric, what are you working on?

Me: (Here we go…) A decorator’s table skirt and two window treatments.

Clerk: Are you sure 4 yards is enough fabric?

Me: Yes, I believe so. I need 3 yards for the table, and whatever is left will be used for the windows.

Clerk: You don’t know how much fabric you need for your window treatments?

Me: Not exactly, but I’m sure a yard will do the trick.

Clerk: Are you working with a designer?

Me: Yes.

Clerk: Well, what kind of window treatments has she designed?

Me: Upholstery tack valances.

Clerk: Are you using one of our recommended designers?

Me: Nope.

Clerk: Who exactly is your designer?

Me: Nester.

Clerk: Who? I’ve never heard of Nester, and I know all the designers in town!

Me: She’s not in town. She’s online.

Clerk: She’s an online designer? How does she conduct her consultations online?

Me: She doesn’t.

Clerk: Then how do you know what you are doing?

Me: I don’t, I’m just looking at her pictures online and following her step-by-step instructions.

Clerk: I’ve just got to see this. Do you have her website? (She boots up her laptop.)

Me: Go to thenester.com. Yep, there she is. Click on the right hand side where it says window mistreatments. There you go!

Clerk: (After spending several minutes scrolling madly!) Well, these do look nice online, but I can guarantee you they don’t look all that great in person!!!

Me: I don’t know about that! My kitchen and family room look pretty fabulous–And all I needed were some upholstery tacks and unmeasured fabric with rough edges!!!

Clerk: (flustered) I’ll have your fabric ready for you in just a minute. Did you say you needed trim?

Me: Yes.

Clerk: How much?

Me: Oh, I don’t know, lets just eyeball it!

Let’s hear it for Kimberley!!!!!!!!

Talk about facing the giants! For a minute there I didn’t think the fabriteer was gonna let her make a purchase! I know she was just trying to be helpful but shesh! Can a person not go in a fabric store and buy $60 worth of something without being grilled? I mean, my checkout girl at the grocery doesn’t ask what I’m making for dinner and then continue to tell me how I’m gonna burn it and mess up the recipe!

I sometimes feel like some of those women were just waiting to convince me that whatever it was I was doing couldn’t be done without the help of them and a $100 per hour designer. When they ask me what I am doing with what I am buying I’ve learned not to tell them! I’ll just say that my mom asked me to pick up a few yards of such and such for her or mumble something impossible to understand.

I’ll be the first to say that there are some wonderfully, brilliant, encouraging fabriteers/designers out there–let’s hear it for Jennipher {yes, that’s how she spells her name so funky!} at Printer’s Alley–this girl encouraged me to sell my tassels at a local shop! And I cannot forget Debbie out at 1502 she walked me through a purchase of 60 yards of fabric for a COM order! These girls really helped me make some great decisions!

But for all those poshy 50-something ladies {edited to add: poshy 20-something, 30-something, 40-something, 60-something and 70-something [thank you readers for pointing that out]} out there who believe that it must be perfect to be beautiful–give us mom’s a break! Maybe we want our house to be beautiful but we also want to have enough money left over to sponsor a compassion child. Maybe we were nervous about even walking into your fancy store. Maybe we can only come with our children. Maybe we just want to be encouraged that we can do it ourselves and within our budget. Maybe we need to to be reminded that

it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful!

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