So you’ve been on Pinterest and seen those amazing farmhouse curtains right??! The ones that look a little like burlap… the oh so natural looking… the perfect shade of neutral… yes those! Well if you search them online you will find that they are not only pretty, but they are pretty pricey! Here’s how you can get the same look for a fraction of the cost!
Paint drop cloths!!!! These are a super affordable option for farmhouse curtains!
I purchased two of these from amazon for $11.99 a piece. One drop cloth creates two panels so you’ll need just one per window. That definitely beats paying $40-60 per window for panels!
Here’s the link for the drop cloths:
Ok next you need curtain hooks! I also purchased these from amazon! Here’s the link:
These came in a pack of 24 so this covered 2 windows. I used 6 clips per panel.
Next I washed and dried the drop cloths. I added some bleach to lighten them a tad. Then I laid them out and cut them down the middle crease. So these drop cloths had the seam running 6ft rather than 9ft. So the curtains show the seam in the middle as you will see in my photos. However, when I made these again for my living room, I bought my drop cloths from Lowe’s and the seam ran 9ft so I was able to cut along the seam! You can also purchase seamless drop cloths too!
I did not sew the edges because I put the cut edges to the outside of the window and they aren’t really seen. However you could sew these to keep from fraying if you’d like. I don’t sew and as cheap as they are, if they fall apart I’ll just replace! I also am not opening and closing these curtains so in theory they won’t be touched.
Next I folded the tops over and clipped with the clips. Lastly, I hung them up!
Take a look!
All in all these curtains for two windows cost me $36! Since then I’ve also made them for my living room windows and they look amazing! Now you can make them too!
So we’re quarantined at home for weeks and running out of things to do! Here are 5 ideas for easy DIY projects you can do right from home!
1. DIY Farmhouse Signs
An easy way to add some cuteness to any room is to make a homemade farmhouse sign. Computer paper and an empty picture frame are all you need! Take your computer paper and sketch out the words you want to add. You could also type words in a fun font and print it, but if you’re like me you’re out of printer ink so we improvise! Then you use a Sharpie, black marker, or ink pen and go over your words. Let dry and add to any frame!
2. Re-paint something you already have to give it a new look.
Look around your house. You have tons of decor already! Pick something that you’re not afraid to change and paint it! I had an oar that was turquoise which didn’t go with my decor now. So I used some craft paint to give it a new look.
3. DIY Watercolor Art
You can also take watercolor paints and computer paper and paint your own artwork! There are plenty of how-to YouTube videos that give you step by step instructions on how to paint a pretty picture! I love painting florals, greenery, or landscapes! It will add a pretty touch to any room.
4. Wallpaper Shiplap
Make an accent wall with easy to apply shiplap wallpaper! I created a farmhouse entryway with a shiplap wall using wallpaper from Amazon! You can also find wallpaper from Target! These farmhouse hooks came from Amazon too!
Find a spot in your kitchen or dining room and move your coffee pot! I found these hooks from the Target dollar spot but Amazon also has them! Add your favorite coffee mugs and a cute ceramic canister to put your coffee in and voila! You have yourself an adorable coffee station!
There you go! Now you have 5 new ideas that will keep you busy for a little while longer! Stay hone and stay safe!
I write this as I sit here waiting to go into labor. It could be any minute or it could be days. My impatience and anxiety are growing yet I am trying to treasure every last moment. I have all of the third trimester things right now… my body hurts, I spend most of the time going to the potty, I can hardly breathe anymore, and don’t even think about asking me to bend down! But through all of that I am constantly reminding myself how lucky we are and the road that brought us here.
It was the fall of 2018 when we decided maybe another baby was in the cards for us. We have a big family and we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We are literally made up of his, hers, and ours. Gene (my husband) and I each had two children before we got married and in 2015 I gave birth to our son Brady. That pregnancy was a dream. It went by fast and everything about it was easy until my placenta wouldn’t deliver. My ob had to manually remove it but that was the worst thing that happened during our entire pregnancy and delivery so hey, not bad for our first try at babies!
Fast forward to December 2018. I saw those two pink lines on a pregnancy test that told us we were going to be parents again! I called and made the confirmation appointment a few days later, only to be let down later that same day when I started bleeding. They told me it was a chemical pregnancy and if I hadn’t been tracking my periods I wouldn’t have even known the difference. There was no sac. No baby.
I was heartbroken. I had gotten super excited already in just the few days that I thought I was growing a tiny human again. December came and went and with it we lost our beloved pet shih tzu of 8 years as well. December was a whirlwind of emotions and sadness but wouldn’t compare to what was coming.
We got pregnant again on our next cycle. Wow! We started telling ourselves all the things you say when something positive comes after tragedy. This is meant to be! God works in mysterious ways! There’s always light after darkness! We just needed to be patient! All the things.
Later in January, we went for an ultrasound at 9 weeks. There was our little bean on the screen! My palms were sweating. Gene looked like he was going to pass out. Something wasn’t right. No heartbeat. To say we were devastated is an understatement.
I had birthed 3 babies with no complications. How could this be happening now? Was something wrong with me? Were we only meant to have Brady and that was it? Should we just be grateful for the beautiful family we have? So many unanswered questions. So much doubt. So much guilt. So much heartache.
I chose to get the D&C because honestly I just couldn’t bare to go home and sit and wait for my dead baby to literally leave my body.
Just when I thought my body was starting to recover, two weeks later on Valentine’s Day, I was in my classroom having a Valentine’s party for ten bright eyed third graders when blood started gushing down my legs. This is graphic so if you don’t want to know the details, skip over this next paragraph!
I went to the teacher bathroom and was passing softball size blood clots. I managed to waddle outside of the bathroom to the phone to call my mom who also works at school to come to me. We ended up going straight to the Women’s Center where I was admitted to (of all places) the Labor and Delivery floor for the next three days.
I had to walk the halls so the clot would pass while listening to newborn babies cry and watching pregnant mamas prepare to meet their unborn babes. There are no words. It was a huge setback.
The following months we tried to get back to “normal.” Finally summertime came and we enjoyed life again, spending more time in the sunshine and with family. Time was healing us.
July 2019 was a good month. In August, I saw those two pink lines again! Only this time I didn’t get too excited. I didn’t freak out like I wanted to. I didn’t tell the world that we were expecting again.
We went for an ultrasound at 12 weeks. Scariest. Day. Of. Our. Lives. Everything was fine! Baby bean was growing. From then on I never got comfortable but I was hopeful. We found out at 20 weeks that I had a low lying placenta. They assured us it would correct itself and it did. We decided that we weren’t going to find out the gender. This was our surprise rainbow baby.
When you are pregnant after experiencing a miscarriage, anyone who has been through this will tell you that there’s always a trickle of doubt in the back of your mind. Even at 38 weeks pregnant, the moment you notice you aren’t feeling baby move will send you into a frenzy. You will be nervous for every single prenatal appointment. You will continue to think “Is this real?” You will pinch yourself just to make sure.
Time is a funny thing. When I look back on this journey in particular, I think about how I felt then. How I couldn’t see past my grief. I couldn’t believe that I could get past that empty feeling. I didn’t think I would ever feel like myself again. Grief never really goes away but it changes.
I think about the baby we lost every day. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wonder what life would look like today if that baby was here. Was she a girl or a boy… would she have had red hair and big brown eyes? She or he would be 8 months this week.
So we made it this far. We are at the end of this pregnancy. Just when we think, “We did it!,” a national pandemic hits the US. Coronavirus. One baby shower cancelled and a change in birth plans… leaves us with no birth photographer and our other children won’t be able to visit us in the hospital. This has tried to bring us down. The anxiety and fear that has set in surrounding this virus has been overwhelming. We are nervous about being in the hospital where there are known cases. We are worried the baby, or any of our kids, will get it and have to go receive treatment without us by their side. It is terrifying. But we will not let this ruin what we have waited so long for. This happiness. This joy.
We are only days (maybe hours!) from meeting our rainbow baby. We are overcome with excitement and gratefulness. Our entire story has led up to this. And I know this isn’t where our story ends and I am nervous about how our delivery will go! We are praying for a healthy baby.
Maybe it’s a “thirties” thing.. but you begin to see your life as a novel God has written for you. There’s a setting and a plot… even characters. There are chapters. There is heartache and tragedy. Love and happiness. We are starting our next chapter and it just feels right.
I’ve always been a homebody. Ask my mama. When I was in preschool, I would cry and cry during nap time because I wanted to go home. When I was a little girl, I hated sleepovers. My mama even had to come get me once from a friend’s house late at night because I wouldn’t stay. As a grown up, I LOVE to travel but my favorite place will always be our home.
After Gene and I got married and we became his, hers, and ours… we began taking trips and opened our hearts and children up to how wonderful it is to travel. We aren’t rich by any means but we make it a priority to take vacations each year. We have made our own tradition to take the kids somewhere different, somewhere they’ve never been, every year. We are fortunate and proud to be able to provide these experiences for our children. Traveling with a big family is definitely something they will always remember!
This pandemic has put a halt to life as we know it, especially to anyone’s travel plans. Who knows if we will even get to take a vacation this year. As sad as that makes me, it doesn’t bother me to stay home. I’m not one to always have to go somewhere. I value the time I get on the weekends to stay home and clean. I always find a way to be productive around the house. There’s always a project that can be done! Gene is the same way. He would much rather be at home in the yard with the kids or grilling in the backyard than running the roads.
I know there’s many of you that say you aren’t cut out for being a stay at home mom or that homeschooling isn’t for you. But for me, I could actually swing it. If you know me, you know how organized I am. Creating my own schedule for the day and organizing our day for the kids is definitely something I could thrive on.
I know this isn’t true homeschooling fashion. I’m totally fine with letting them sleep in, and letting them go outside to play. Honestly, what’s being required of them now that school is out is too much. Yes, they are used to sitting in a classroom at a desk for 7 hours a day but they can’t possibly do all of that work they would normally do at school, at home.
Number one, there are too many distractions here. My home is not set up to be a learning environment. Number two, I might be a teacher but I’m not a Spanish teacher, okay? I can’t assist them with everything. They need help from teachers that they would normally receive in the classroom but it’s not that easy to receive that kind of support at home. Number three, our kids don’t know what to do. This is a crazy time and they are just as unsure of everything as we are.
So no I’m not going to make them sit at our kitchen table all day. I’m going to let them go outside and play. I’m going to let them watch movies. I’m going to let them go on 4-wheeler rides and sit by the fire pit past bedtime.
I know this pandemic is an awful, terrible thing that has caused so much disruption and chaos, illness and death. We are disappointed that we, like the rest of our country, are having to sacrifice many things we love. We may not be able to travel again for a while. We aren’t going to be able to have the kids visit our hospital room when the new baby is born. We can’t spend this spring going fun places. The girls may not be able to celebrate their birthdays the way they’d like to.
But above all of that, today we are healthy. Today we are together. Today we can hug each other. And we are just going to take one day at a time being grateful that the world has slowed down a little bit.
We may be quarantined, but honestly there’s no other place I’d rather be.
Have you ever had a piece of furniture you didn’t know quite what to do with and were debating on dumping it?
My husband wanted to take this dresser to the dump….. here’s the story: We purchased new dressers for our bedroom from IKEA and gave our old dresser to our daughters to use because it was in much better shape than this one. So this old thing went to the front porch until I could decide what to do with it.
Right before it was about to go to the dump I had the idea to paint it.
This dresser has lived through 3 generations. It was my mother’s when she was growing up and matches and entire bedroom suit that we still have pieces of here and there. I used this same furniture when I was growing up too and then passed it on to my daughters.
Over time, it has gained a few scratches, pen marks, crayon coloring, and broken handles.
This project took two days. However, I’m 8 months pregnant with 4 kids in my house so I’m certain someone can do it all in a day.
First, I removed the handles. Then I cleaned the dresser and the drawer faces really well with a multipurpose cleaner. It was already pretty clean other than some minor “guk” and marks so nothing more was necessary for cleaning. However I would recommend something like “Krud Kutter” if you have a really dirty surface.
Next, I sanded the dresser with a hand sander. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. I always see where people are posting “no sanding required” projects. My hand sander makes it super easy and since I did this on my front porch there wasn’t any mess! I went over the faces of the drawers and the entire body of the dresser several times to take the old finish off.
Then, I primed the entire thing and drawer faces with KILS paint primer.
Once that was dry, I started brush painting the dresser then the drawers. The paint I used was Sherwin Williams Swiss Coffee. This is the same paint I used for my kitchen cabinets and was leftover. I’m famous at using things I already have laying around! Be careful that you don’t have any drips. The hardest part was getting into the little crevice that made the unique design on the dresser body.
I let all of this dry for several hours. I put a fan on them to help the drying process.
After everything was dry, I inserted the drawers back into the dresser and brought it in the house to finish setting so that pollen and bugs from outside wouldn’t cover it!
I let it finish drying and setting for several days and then applied a coat of poly to seal it and keep the paint from getting easily damaged.
Finally my new handles came in and I installed those. These came from Amazon! Added some decor and voila! Project complete.
It turned out great and I’m so happy with it! I love having pieces of furniture in our home that are meaningful. This one is definitely full of memories!
