Chevron Curtain Tutorial

 After painting our living room grey, I wanted to add some mustard to its life. And preferable chevron. I looked and looked for some cute fabric, and couldn't find anything. So I started looking at fabric online, thinking I could make them if I had to. I found the CUTEST pattern at fabric.com.

 I got 12 yards of this darling fabric for only $100! That equaled 4 - 84" panels and some fabric left over to make throw pillows as well!

 (Lighting not so great in this pic)

And I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! Thanks to my mother, of course. She came down to stay the night and showed me how to make some fancy curtains. :-P  It actually was pretty easy! I busted out my old sewing skills from high school and she used her years of knowledge from working in a sewing factory. haha. 

I'll walk you through the steps in case you want to know how to make some for your home!! 

Step 1: Take in the sides.
You want the width to be equal on both sides, but this can be done by "eye balling" it. Fold the sides in about .5 inch and press it down with an iron the entire length of the fabric.

Fold the folded/pressed section over on top of itself and press with iron again to ensure no unraveling. 

 Then sew along the inner seam all the way down, staying in a straight line. I used a heavy duty polyester thread. Be sure you adjust your tension setting before starting.

Once you finish all of the sides, all you have left is the top hem and bottom hem. These are done the same way. 

Step 2: Top hem.
You want to make sure your pocket will be large enough for your curtain rod. Fold the edge of the fabric down and adjust the length to the right size pocket.

You can use your finger to measure!

Again, once you have the correct amount of fabric for the pocket, iron down to make a crease. Use a tape measurer to ensure a perfectly straight line. We measured each tip the same length and then ironed it down.  I used just the metal tip of the tape measurer for each mustard peak in pic below.

Cut excess fabric and then iron the edge down .5" - only this time you won't fold it again. Just fold it once and you're ready to sew.

 Sew again along inner edge - you will need to reverse stitch at the beginning and end for a secure hold.

 Step 3: Bottom hem
This is done the exact same way as the top hem, but you will want to hang your curtains in the rod to see where they hit the ground. Use safety pins/pins to measure where you want them to hit along the floor.
(If you are doing two panels side by side, I recommend laying each curtain on top of each other once one is finished and the right length - then you can measure them to be the exact length much easier.)

This hem will be MUCH shorter than the top hem, because you won't be placing a rod through it. 

After you finish, iron the wrinkles out, hang up your beautiful master piece, and enjoy!!

XOXO
Mrs. Phelps

The Windy City

Chicago. What comes to my mind when I think of that city is gangs, some sort of sports team, and people with accents who eat a lot of pizza.

This is no longer the mental connection. Now what I think of is fabulous shopping, gorgeous scenery, and tons of history.

Nathan and I spent last weekend in Chicago. My dad bought a car there and needed someone to pick it up, and we eagerly volunteered. We used his frequent flyer miles and flew for free! We drove to Tulsa Thursday night and stopped to visit some old friends, Steven and Amanda Fisher. It was SO good to see them and catch up - Its been way too long. We stopped at a cool place downtown broken arrow for some fries and wine. Classy combination, I know.

Then we stayed the night at Kathryn and Marks, and got up 3 hours later to head to the airport for our 6am flight. And we saw this man at the airport who apparently needed all 7 cowboy hats for where ever he was going... 

After a long taxi ride and very emotional visit with the family we picked the car from, we were ready to take CHICAGO! 

Headed to our hotel - view of downtown!

After we got settled, we had a list of great suggestions/places to visit from our friend Molly. With her guidelines and our own desires we had an awesome trip. We had a VERY late lunch at Giordano's deep dish pizza. We weren't really impressed. I did feel really cute and fashionable there bc I knew it was such a big city, and that was super fun to dress up everywhere! 

It got REALLY cold, so we went back and put our coats on and were ready to really see the city.  It was so so gorgeous. Ill just post tons of pics for you to see. :)

Ghirardelli chocolate milkshake. :) 

We shopped till we dropped. The forever 21 there was INCREDIBLE. After we had taken in as much of the city as our little, tired bodies would let us, we decided to go back to our hotel and crash. The next morning we set our to the John Handcock observatory, but it was too foggy to get a good view of the city.

Fog. Boo. 

So then we got in the car and headed to St. Louis to visit Nathan's Aunt Suzi, Uncle Mike, and Cousin Maci! It was a great fun time.

Im so legit driving a Mercedes... haha.

We had a lovely dinner with great convo, and Maci showed us all of her American Girl dolls. So cool! The next morning we got up and drove another 6 hours back home.

Wow. Talk about an eventful weekend! I seriously can't wait to go back to Chicago.. it was really incredible. We didn't even get to walk down Navy Pier, look at the art museum, zoo, or any of the other amazing stuff she offered. We saw almost everything though, and it was really gorgeous. It was a big city with a small town feel.

The Windy City - Check off the ole bucket list. :)

XOXO
~Mrs. Phelps

The Dashing Diningroom

My next big project was the dining room. Talk about a total makeover. The walls in this tiny room were dark, navy blue. It has white bead board along the bottom half, so that helped brighten up the room, but it was still too dark for such a small dining room.

Step one was painting. I wanted to go with a creamy/tan/neutral. To match my place mats, duh.  Here is my lovely dining room! I LOVE it!!

Here are my place settings. :)

Here is the before, very dark and drab. I wish I had a picture of what it looked like when I had my old wood table and 2 non matching chairs! haha. 

  I literally could not have found a more perfect table. It is french provincial (my fav). I literally got it at garage sale price at The Rink!! I looks and fits perfectly. 

I found the chairs on craigslist for super cheap! They weren't the right color, so I painted them white and the look so great for the price I paid! (Obviously I would've picked french round back cushion chairs is $ wasn't an issue. ;) )

Anndd for the wal decor. I went with white and light aqua to match my dishes.

     
                          

                      

There are a lot of  cut outs and built ins in our house, so decorating was kind of tricky. I feel like I did a good job finding things for these spaces.

Lastly, the curtains. They are stenciled pattern. From Target! Woo! And my settee looks great underneath!! The color looks a little off with this camera lighting. They match very well.

Ta Dah!! Hope you enjoy!!

XOXO
Mrs Phelps

Our Peaceful Bedroom

So I've heard that you're supposed to make your bedroom a safehaven. It should be the most comfortable, welcoming room in the house. That way, you want to spend lots of time in there (Nathan was excited to hear that) and always feel relaxed. Its really important to keep it tidy so it can be a place of rest and refuge.

I have accomplished that for Nathan and I. It's been awesome to see the transition of our bedroom. When we first moved in, we slept on a full sized mattress in the middle of the floor in a room with macaroni and cheese colored walls.

Here's the color of the old walls:


Thanks to Estate sells in Edmond and The Rink (the most amazing vintage market I have ever been and frequent wayyy too much) I have been able to furnish our bedroom house while spending a fraction of retail costs.

My sister in law Tiffany came over and helped me pick out a color of paint for the walls and our built-ins, and then she even helped me paint!

My favorite decorations in our bedroom would be the picture collage above our dresser. It was a hodge podge collection of frames/mirrors I've found and loved, and they all ended up looking great together!! :) I found these shutters at the rink and I think they add such a cool touch!

The east wall is all built in cabinets with a window seat (I haven't gotten my last knob yet, forgive me). These vintage lanterns finally found their perfect place right here. I love them!

As you have seen our bathroom, its tiny and has no outlets!! So Nathan suggested we get me a vanity to keep my makeup and hair stuff in.  Now I feel like a princess every morning when I get ready, AND we don't want to kill each other at the sink! Its perfect. All my hair tools are already plugged into an extension cord ready to go in the drawer.

We found our headboard at an estate sale and our friends Molly and Jude helped us move it in and put it together. This was an exciting day bc it meant we were no longer sleeping on the floor. haha. I registered for the comforter at BB&B.  I found our awesome chandelier at the rink (shocker!)

Here are our nightstands: His and Hers

                              

If you haven't been able to tell already, I love french provincial style furniture. When I saw this at the rink, I had to have it. It's an old lingerie dresser. Yes, there is lingerie in it, but that's not the only thing it has in it. :) 

Well, that is our bedroom. If you can try to envision it all together - it looks so great! We love it. I just want to hang out in there all the time! I never thought I would have a green bedroom, but I wouldn't have it any other way!! I hope you enjoy!! :) 

XOXO Mrs. Phelps