Stripe It Up!

Prior to our move, back at the end of April, I had big plans to use the 2+ weeks after we were moved into the new place, but still had the old place to complete some DIY painting projects (since Kairo wouldn't be in the way), including:
+ Painted stripe curtain panels for the living room
+ Magnetic chalkboards - for us and Scott & Amy's
+ Sand and paint bar stools

Well... things didn't quite happen as planned. Who's surprised?! I know G$ wasn't...

Scott & Amy, I know your wedding present is now over a year past due, but I promise, it will eventually happen!

Fast forward two months to the end of June. I finally got around to completing at least one of my planned DIY projects - the painted wide-striped curtains for the living room in a white and yellow/gold stripe. Since I was planning to this project in April/May, I already had all the supplies:
+ Small Foam Roller and Paint Tray
+ Paint
+ Fabric Medium - to make the paint less stiff once it dries
+ Cheap White Curtain Panels
+ Painter's Tape

BTW: It was actually more difficult to find cheap white curtain panels than I had thought. Target online was sold out, Target in stores was sold out, Amazon only had nicer panels or they were super sheer, I wanted something opaque. I ended up ordering them from walmart.com.

I had decided to do painted stripes, rather than sewing for a couple of reasons. 1) Sewing is a little intimidating to me and 2) I don't have a sewing machine.

Anyways, since I had all the materials, I only needed one other thing: dog-free space to paint. Our friends that we met through Kairo - Tom and Hope, with dog Chester - now have a yard and Hope very graciously offered her backyard anytime I wanted/needed for craft projects, so I took her up on it and went over one Sunday morning. She was also going to do a canvas painting for her soon-to-be-born son's nursery (now born) and wanted help, so it was a two birds, one stone kind of thing.

If anyone recalls, it was HOT in DC this weekend. We got together somewhat early, but after a Michael's trip for paint and canvas, it was already late morning and unbearable in the sun. Luckily Tom and Hope have a huge dining room, so we move the table aside and set up shop in there.

First, we measured and taped off the stripes. I had 84 inch curtains, so I did six 14-inch stripes. FYI - it's probably a good idea to actually measure your curtain length, since my bottom stripe was a few inches shorter than the rest. Not the end of the world, but just an FYI. While taping, we marked the tape lines with arrows, so we knew which side the paint should be on. I went over all the tape lines again with my fingers, pressing firmly to ensure I'd get a smooth paint line.


After both panels were taped, I laid the first one out on the floor, pressed the tape once more time just to be sure. I then dumped some paint into the tray and squirted some fabric medium in (yeah, I kind of winged it), mixed it with the roller, then started painting. After the first panel was finished, Hope and I carried it outside to bake in the sun. Then I started with the above steps on the second panel and moved it outside to dry.


Then got to the fun part - helping Hope paint her canvas. I hadn't painted probably since high school, but I really enjoyed it. I found it very soothing, and makes me want to do some more art projects for our place. Excited, G$?!?!


Once the canvas was painted, the curtains panels were dry, so I folded them up and went home. I had purchased curtain ring clips to hang them, so as soon as I got home, I unfolded them, hung them. After they were hung, I worked to fold them into a pinch-pleat, so they hung the way I wanted to, which is actually one of the pluses to having done the stripes with paint, the slight stiffness of the paint helped keep them pleated.


The one downfall to the yellow/gold color of the stripe? It kind of takes on a pukey greenish/yellowish hue at night. Hope actually has yellow curtains and when I explained my problem with the striped curtains to her, she said she has the same problem with her yellow curtains.

In hindsight, I think in the next house, if I decide to do these again, this is what I'd do differently:
+ Sew them: a few straight lines and hems can't be too difficult and it'd probably be a good beginner sewing project
+ Go with a tan/greige color rather than yellow/gold to avoid the possibility of puke-colored stripes in the evening.
+ Make them longer, so the bottoms touch the floor: granted I was using the cheap pre-made curtains that I knew were going to be too short, but went with them over the longer version so I wouldn't have to hem them - lazy, I know. :)

And there you have it, my first DIY blog post! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

<3
K$

Memorial Day Beach Recap

I know, I know... you're asking, "Are you really going to do a Memorial Day beach recap almost two months after the fact?" Yes, yes, I am. Mostly because I had to share the pics. I did spare you the paleo diet recap that was written 3+ months ago, but never posted.

So you've been warned, this is going to be more of a photo dump to share the trip.

It was a great vaca! We all had a blast, especially Kairo! We stayed in Duck, NC in the Outer Banks, which is one of the only beaches in OBX that doesn't have a leash law for dogs on the beach. It was completely legal for Kairo to be hanging out on the beach without a leash. It was great!

The days usually started off like this. Kairo heard my parents waking up with their dogs at 6AM, so he was whining to go out of our bedroom to play. So I got up with him, while G$ continued to sleep. My mom and I took the dogs out to the beach to play in the ocean while there weren't tons of people out there yet:




















Then, we came back inside. G$ then graced us with his presence. Just kidding, I had no qualms with him getting more sleep - it was silly for both of us to get up at such an early hour! But he was usually getting up, so we made breakfast. Then it was time for family nap time upstairs. Kairo and I slept, while G$ caught up on the news/surfed the internet.

Then we had lunch with the fam. I love the beach, since it's one of the few times I'll actually eat Doritos. I looooooove Doritos, but I know they are horrible for you, especially when you have no self control and want to eat an entire back. So it's rare that G$ eat them, or any other chips for that matter.

Then it was down to the beach for the afternoon. I didn't take an pictures while down there, since I didn't have my phone. But Kairo alternated between digging in the sand and some how managing to throw sand on my mom despite being really far away from her, laying under the umbrella, or stalking birds. He enjoyed being down at the beach. He was not, however, a fan of the water. The waves really threw him off - he was not the biggest fan, and would quickly run away backwards, when the waves would come up to where he was. It was kind of funny. The water was pretty chilly, so neither G$ nor I went in, but my dad and Scott did from time to time and Kairo was very intrigued/concerned/interested when they were in there.

After the beach, we'd head back up to the house, shower, prepare drinks/hors deurvres and enjoy them out on the deck before dinner. This is where I got some super cute shots of my nephew Brandon and new niece Ally, plus of course some more of the K-Man, Abby and Hunter:
























It was a great way to spend Memorial Day and I can't wait until next year. Although, we are trying something new and staying down in Hatteras Island, so it will be a new and exciting adventure!

<3
K$