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One of my most popular posts (and by far the most pinned) is the one I wrote more than three years ago about turning sheets into curtains.  Do these photos bring back memories?

I’ve been looking for curtains to update our entryway for what seems like forever. I actually bought a set at Target, but I had instant buyer’s remorse since $30 a panel was more than I wanted to spend and I wasn’t sold on the pattern. As luck would have it, the day I returned those curtains, I decided to take one last stroll down the textile aisles and came upon the motherload!

How could I forget that I didn’t have to stick to the curtain aisle to find great curtains? Check out all the darling sheets I found with great curtain potential!

To make two panels, you’d want to purchase full size or larger sheets, but none of the sheets above cost as much as the two panels I bought and returned that day. If you only need one panel or have two small windows to cover, you could easily do that with the clearance twin sheets above (bottom right) for $12.58!

But why stop at sheets?  A duvet cover would definitely be big enough to turn into curtains (it might require a bit more sewing), or you could hang and hem two $10 tablecloths for practically instant drapes at 1/3 the cost.

I chose a full-sized set of the gray and white striped sheets above and got to work.  This time I made my job even easier and hung the panels from curtain clips, eliminating the need for tabs at the top.

Here’s how the curtains turned out!

And here’s how I made them.

First I washed and dried the sheet set, making sure to pull the flat sheet out of the dryer before it got too wrinkled. Then I folded the sheet in half long-ways (hotdog style, if that helps!) and cut along the fold.

Then I hemmed the long cut edge of each panel by folding, ironing and pinning the hem in place and then zipping it through the sewing machine. If you want no-sew curtains, just use hem tape for this step!

Next I hung the panels up by the curtain rings and cut them to length. I eyeballed this step, but the panels were cut to about 4″ too long and had approximately a 3″ hem at the bottom when finished.

I used the top of the curtain ring packaging as a guide and ironed the bottom hem before sewing. Again, to make these curtains no-sew, just hem them with hem tape.

Once the hems were complete, I hung the curtains and called it a day.  What do you think of the finished product?

I’m happy that this fun update was affordable (under $25 for two curtains), and I love having stripes in our entryway. During the day, the view from outside looks like plain white curtains, but at night you see just a hint of stripe from the light in the entryway.  Cute!

In other house news, we got started on an outside project this weekend (see a hint in the photo above), and I found out I passed my comprehensive exams!  All 4 of them!

Summer’s off to a pretty great start, indeed.

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If you follow me on Facebook, you will know that i found this cute little gun cabinet @ goodwill a couple weeks ago.  I actually saw it then decided against it because im trying not to buy any more projects, but then i couldnt stop thinking about it all night.  It had good potential and it was cheap :)

Luckily, when i went back the next morning it was still there… lovely fake etched glass and all :)

I knew i wanted to add a couple shelves and add something to the back.  I ended up just going through my scrap bin and using what i had.  I also wanted to add crown molding, get rid of the lower cabinet, update the base molding, and get rid of the glass (i had plans to replace the glass with chicken wire, but i sold it before it was done and she wanted the glass).

I cut my reclaimed wood down to size for the back to make a “plank” look.  Then i added two simple sheves, crown and base molding.

After the building was done, i taped off the back to protect it from paint.  I filled in all the nail holes and then gave everything a light sand.   To paint this piece, i used Sherwin Williams pre-cat lacquer in white in a dull rubbed finish.  I havent worked much with lacquer besides over the past few weeks – and i really like the stuff!  It takes the right project, i wouldnt do it on everything, but it gives a really nice finish that you just dont get with latex.

I ended up selling the cabinet before it was finished and she wanted the glass rather than chicken wire that i was planning.  Luckily the glass that it came with only had a fake etching on it and i was able to get the oh so awesome deer off with a little lacquer thinner.

And the after…

Whatcha think?  Got an old gun cab that could use a facelift?!  There are so many possibilities!!

Too see another gun cabinet transformation go here!!  I took an old large gun cabinet and turned it into a craft hutch!

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I wanted to devote this post entirely to the kitchen – I think it deserves it – but the floor plan is so open that approach doesn’t really make sense.  So get ready for a monster of a post!

I’m going to walk you through the living spaces from the front door, but first here’s a little teaser of the kitchen.  :)

Swoon!

But let’s get back to our tour.  Here is the former view from the front door – bam, a wall right in your face, making the house feel sooooo much smaller than it actually is.

We made some changes to the layout that enabled us to open the wall straight ahead so that you can see straight from the front door to the back of the house.  Seeing all of that extra space from the get-go is great because it makes the house feel bigger and it shows off some of the awesome features of the house from the very beginning (can you say kitchen??).

Back when we bought the flip, you entered the house through the formal living room, and the formal dining room was that little nook with the bay window on the right-hand side.  The kitchen and huge den were hidden behind that wall on the left.

Since the den in the back is SO huge, we thought it would be a better use of space to turn the tiny dining room into an office (adding a large cased opening) and the formal living room into the dining room.  By making these changes, we were able to close up the original door between the now-office and the kitchen and create the large walkway that you can see on the left-hand side in the picture below.

The front room is the perfect size for a large table and a buffet or hutch, and I love the capiz chandelier centered in front of the huge picture window at the front of the house.

The view looking back at the front door was equally uninspiring.

But it improved considerably once we brightened it up and added a pop of fun color on the back of the (new) front door.

It was very awkward having the kitchen jut into the living and dining rooms…

…but framing in the cased opening for the office got rid of that strange bump out.

Hello, happy front door!

The bay windows in the former-dining-room-turned-office are such a cute feature, but they were lost behind heavy drapes.

Now, those bay windows will bring in tons of light into the office.

Now we’re heading back to the kitchen – you can see here how we closed up the doorway between the hallway and kitchen which became unnecessary when we added the large walk-through from the front of the house to the back of the house.

The old kitchen was…old.  And had an extremely strange layout interrupted by 3 doorways.

Closing up the doorway to the hallway gave us a long, uninterrupted wall for the stove.  We moved every fixture from the original layout, but it was worth it for the improved function of this kitchen.

The washing machine and water heater also used to take up precious space in this kitchen.

We moved the water heater to the attic and the washing machine to a closet in the hallway, freeing up valuable real estate.

Even though the kitchen and den were technically “open” before, the support columns between the two spaces and the low ceiling in the den made both spaces feel dark, cramped and really separate from one another.

A new support beam allowed us to remove the columns and truly open up the two spaces to each other.

You can see the low ceiling that the den had previously – it was a covered patio converted to living space and it had a flat roof – the whole original conversion was done pretty poorly.

There was no choice – the roof had to come off and be completely redone.

But now the den has an awesome vaulted ceiling and feels like a true part of the house.  And it’s huge!  (Like 18

Post from It's Great To Be Home
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I just got this cute little vintage dresser a few days ago that my dad found.  Its rare that i get a piece that doesnt need a lot of work and i can just get to painting it.  But this was one of the rarities and i got right on it :)

The only change i made, was to the hardware.  I just swapped it out with something that still matched the age of the dresser, but with some that i liked better.  I used bondo to fill the old holes.

After sanding down the bondo, i gave the dresser a coat of primer.  Normally when using milk paint, you dont have to prime 1st, but i wanted to do a little test and see how it went.  I also needed to cover up all the bondo’d hardware holes – i didnt want those to show up after painting with milk paint since you never know what its going to do.

I decided on a custom color for this one and mixed up some milk paint in Sea Green and Slate – 50/50 ratio – both colors are from Old Fashioned Milk Paint.

After painting 2 coats i distressed it with a sanding block.  When you go over it with the sanding block, it makes it super smooth and almost burnishes it giving it a slightly shiny smooth as butter finish.  This helps when glazing over milk paint otherwise it would be to flat and porous and make the glaze really splotchy.

I glazed using a new technique that i will show you all tomorrow :)

And the after…this piece is so much prettier in person!  Im really happy with how it turned out.

I love the color with the antique brass hardware – it works perfectly.

This time, the milk paint didnt chip or flake off at all.  I assume because i primed 1st.  But you can see in the pic below that i did get some crackling in some areas – i love when that happens!

The 411

Color = old fashioned milk paint in Sea Green and Slate, mixed 50/50

Wax/Glaze finish = check tomorrows post for how to!!

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I picked up this cute little vintage shutter cabinet a few weeks ago and knew as soon as i saw it just how it should look when finished.  When i see old shutters, i always think chippy vintage green – one of my favorite colors and looks :)

To get the chippy, weathered finish that i wanted for this piece – i knew right away that i would use milk paint.  As much as i love my paint sprayer, its nice to paint with a brush now and then and i love the look that milk paint gives.  Its very unpredictable though – on this piece i had crackling, flaking off and some spots where it adhered really well, you just never know!

The beauty of milk paint is that there is no prep work at all.  You dont need to pre sand because you will be doing all the sanding after the paint is applied.  So you can just dive right in with your project – thats awesome because sometimes by the time im done prepping i have lost all my motivation!

To get the color for this cabinet, i mixed 1 part snow white to 1 part tavern green – both are Old Fashioned Milk Paint colors.

After applying one coat of paint and letting it dry, i took a sanding block as well as an orbital sander and distressed it until i liked it.  I followed that up with Howards Feed n Wax.  Super easy and quick project!

I loved working on this cabinet and it turned out exactly as i had envisioned it – gotta love when that happens!!

And how cute is my little vintage wheel?!  My dad found that for me a few weeks ago and i love it!!  You can still see the spider webs and dead grasshoppers on it – gross!!

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A few weeks ago, i scheduled a much needed week of no custom orders.  In some ways i love customs, but it does limit me as far as trying out new paints, techniques, products, etc.  Sometimes i just have to be free of deadlines and trying to give people exactly what they envision so i can do my own thing and play around a little :)

Ive used milk paint in the past and really like it (i posted a cute sofa table here, its actually the same color that i used on this desk).  Im not a fan of chalk paint, but i love milk paint.  Its very unpredictable and hopefully it gives me the chippy look that i love so much.  I will do a post another day about my thoughts about milk paint vs chalk paint.

Anyways – i got this solid wood heavy duty roll top about a month ago.  I really like roll tops, and this one is in great shape.  And the little drawers and cubbies inside are so cute!

This is the best before pic that i had…

The best thing about milk paint, is that there is no prep work, i did not sand before painting.   In this case the desk had a clear coat on it, but it wasnt super shiny and i knew that the paint would stick to the wood.  If you are working with a super smooth, shiny piece of furniture you can add ultra bond to your paint and that will help with adhesion (you can find info about that here on the Old Fashioned Milk Paints website).

I just mixed up some milk paint in a plastic cup – the paint comes in a powder form and you have to mix it.  I find it best to mix it with hot water, it seems to be the best to keep the lumps out.  And you will have to stir it while using, sometimes the paint  can start to thicken and settle at the bottom.

For this desk, i just did one coat of paint – and its brushed on (my sprayer doesnt spray it well).  After letting it dry, i just took a sanding block and went over the entire desk.  Some parts had already began chipping – thats my favorite part.  You never know what its going to do, some parts stuck really well, some you cant even scrape off.

After sanding the desk, i lightly glazed it.  I mixed up some SW glaze in van dyke brown (talked about here) with mineral spirits and went over the whole thing.  With milk paint, you have to make sure and sand 1st before putting on the glaze – its so porous and flat and if you dont, the glaze will just be sucked up by the paint and will be splotchy.

The last step after sanding down and staining the top was to seal with a water based poly to protect the finish.  Milk paint is super durable and doesnt need to be sealed, but i find that it just gives it a little more depth and i like the little but of shine over distressed pieces.

And the after…

The 411

Paint – Sea Green Old Fashioned Milk Paint

Glaze – SW Van Dyke Brown

Stain Color for top of desk – Diluted Kona by Rustoleum

Clear Coat – SW Woodclassics in a gloss

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