my weekend window drama

Since I sold my window treatments in an attempt to lighten the living room, and since I had new ones that were ready to hang, I desperately wanted to give our front window a bit more drama.  We live in a home where the builder cut some corners which left us with lots of little windows about 24 inches in between the top of them and the ceiling.  Unfortunate yes, hopeless, no.

I just wanted to take the window from this...

to something more like this...

No big deal. 

So last weekend my husband asked me if I wanted to go on a date.  While I'm sure he had something more relaxing and romantic in mind, I quickly replied, "Yeeeesss! To The Home Depot."  Don't you think trimming out the living room window together sounds lovely? 

My man is a roll-with-it kinda guy, so off we skipped to the HD, holding hands, lovingly gazing into each others eyes.  Kidding, but for me we might as well have been. 

When we got to HD, we met a lovely couple at the wood cutting saw with gaggles of MDF for their garage cabinet project.  I quickly asked if they might have a 9" piece they'd be willing to part with.  Instead of having to buy an entire sheet for one window, I gave them a few bucks and a high five.

We also came home with a stick of shelf edging (approx 3/4 inch) and a stick of 3" crown molding. 

My man got busy right away chiseling off the existing mirrors I had liquid nails'd to the wall.  Yes, I know it was a bad idea but six years ago it felt like the right thing to do.

We nailed the 3/4" by 9" piece of MDF right onto the drywall above the existing molding. 

Then we needed to hide the seam so we cut a piece of shelf edging the same length as the MDF and wrapped the corners using a miter saw.  We were still in love.

Next was the crown molding.  Todd and I had never attempted crown together. 

NOW I KNOW WHY. 

We went out to the garage and screwed up 5 or 6 cuts, came in and tried to find a you tube video, went back out to the garage to give it another try (where it was at least 120 degrees), messed up some more molding, cut Todd's hand, busted the miter saw, called our friend Melanie to borrow her saw and help us figure out how to cut it, went back to Home Depot for another stick of crown, and called our marriage counselor for her next available appointment.

Don't worry though, we got it.

And after all was said and done (trust me, a lot was said) I'm happy to report our marriage is stronger than ever.  Todd is so patient with me when my project OCD rears it's ugly head.  I am sad to report however, this was the moment I realized our dream of re-habing a house together will never come to fruition.  Boo.

After caulk and paint, which I went ahead and did myself, here's the finished project. 

It cost $16.00 (excluding the extra molding we had to buy, which I've already let go)

Then I hung our new window treatments. 

Did you know that just like our sweet husbands, window treatments need to be trained?  Yep, fabric actually has memory, and if you fold your panels and tie them up for a few days, they'll cooperate much better in keeping their shape.  Now, we all know that some husbands are easier to train than others, and it's no different with fabric.  If you're working with a heavier or synthetic fabric, you might need to keep them tied longer. 

If you run your hands all the way down the fabric while pinching the creases a few times a day, it helps the process along.

As soon as I've got em trained (the curtains), I'll show you my up-dated living room.  And if you live in the east valley of AZ and want the name of the cute lady who sewed these panels for a very reasonable price, email meandjilly@gmail.com. 

Oh, and WHO will be the next five followers that will take me and jilly to 1,000?  This is seriously exciting!!!