How to Hide Ugly Shower Rods


Those
UGLY
shower rods.

You know I don't care what color you get a shower rod in . . .
but after awhile
they start to show scratches, discoloration, etc.
and
Honestly I am not one who likes to constantly replace them.





So . . .
while I was redoing the second bath
I started thinking about
HOW
I could change the rod 
WITHOUT
buying a new one.

Well,
you know how people make fabric covers for cords
and
chandelier chains.

I thought . . .
why not make one for shower rods.
and
That is exactly what I did.

They are actually very easy.

The hardest part is getting them snug enough on the rod so they don't completely impede with opening and closing it.

It will a little but
SOMETIMES
beauty needs to impede with function just a tad.
Don't you think?




HOW TO MAKE
sorry no images . . . none turned out clear :(

1. grab coordinating fabric about 2 yards

2. measure the circumference of the rod and add on 1inch for seam allowance:
mine was 4 inches and with the seam allowance it was 5 inches

3. then measure the length of the rod and add on 1/2 inch (you will not sew a hem on the ends) 
and cut fabric

4. fold right sides together and sew.

5. turn fabric right side out (which can be the hardest part)

6. Now remove the rubber caps on both ends and slide your cover on
making sure to leave the extra 1/2 inch on either end.

7. Once it is on and all smooth, tuck the extra fabric into the openings and place rubber caps back on (this takes a little work)

8. Once finished, add shower curtain and put back into place.

There you have a rod that is now coordinated with your bathroom.



OH
and if it gets dirty
you can remove it and throw it in the wash.
*JUST MAKE SURE YOUR FABRIC IS PRE-WASHED BEFORE MAKING THAT WAY IF YOU HAVE TO WASH THE COVER IT WILL NOT SHRINK*

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Grandson's Room Reveal


Those of you who visited me when OHM was still open; may remember the reveal of my grandsons room.


Well, back around Christmas time DH and I purchased him a new bed.
One of those neat desk below, bed above pieces. He needed a bigger desk and his room just isn't big enough for that.
So, with the new bed came the next question from him . . . 
Can we change the paint?
I don't like the blue anymore!

Of course being the kind of grandma I am I just had to say yes. And that is exactly what I did while he was in Florida on his spring break!
I'm not sure what style you would call his room . . .
maybe
Eclectic Industrial?
or
Baseball Industrial?
or
How about
Devyns Style?
Yes, I like that one the best.

OK . . .
back to the room.
One of the first things was to replace the fan with something a little more industrial looking.
It is great because we can direct each light wherever we want.

I am not going to show you the whole process of us painting.

So we will go to the finished room:


above the closet doors is a transformer print with his name and beside side the closet doors I hung two black frames with his birth month and year. I saw this on a blog and I cannot find nor do I remember whose blog it was.



Behind his bedroom door, I hung some of his favorite posters.



In front of his closet doors sits his chair with a painted drop cloth pillow.



On the other side of his bedroom door sits his skateboard,
a metal magazine rack from Decor Steals, above that is a rack I made for his ball caps and knit caps. He has more ball caps but he wanted these to sit out for all to see.


His bed, he loves his stuffed animals and each one is special to him. I cut and hemmed a drop cloth to use as a coverlet for his bed.
Although you can't see it I also made a matching sham.



Here is the desk area below the bed. You will see in the right corner below the desk I used a basket from Antique Farm House to hold the shoes he wears the most and his cleats. If you look closely on the desk on the left side of his computer you may recognize a recipe holder from Decor Steals, he uses it to hold his weekly homework to-do sheet. Many of his favorite things are on this desk, from books to souvenirs. I was going to recover his desk chair
BUT
I decided that I would have a hard time keeping the new drop cloth covers clean!!



Here are his painted drop cloth curtains.
I was going to show you how to paint drop cloth curtains
BUT
I had to paint these on the floor in the master bath between running after my youngest grandson and pictures were the last thing on my mind . . .  :)
It is rather easy to do:
after you wash/dry the drop cloth,
measure, cut and hem your curtains.
Figure out where you want the stripes to go,
lay the curtain on a hard flat service,
tape off your stripes using painters tape,
making sure the tape is down really well or you will have to much bleeding (some bleeding is ok).
Gather your paint ( I used black craft paint and the paint I used on his walls)
Paint your stripes in a rather hap-hazard way.
remember you want it to look aged.
If you are in a hurry for them to dry, use a blow dryer.
Once dry, I put them in the washing machine and ran it through the rinse cycle only,
this removes any globs of paint from the fabric.
Then I dried them in the dryer on HIGH,
this sets the paint.
Once this was finished a ran them through a normal wash and dry cycle.
I did the same to the pillow cover.



His inspirational poster got a black wood frame. Sorry it is fuzzy, it says:
Direct your own destiny
Believe in yourself
Find reasons to smile
Embrace the journey
Have faith
Conquer New Heights
Follow your heart
Explore new horizons
Dare to dream
Let laughter happen
Share the joy
Write yourself a Happy Ending.


Now onto the other side of the room:


DH brought home some metal shelves, he cut them down and reconfigured them to fit all my grandsons stuff.
I used metal baskets from Decor Steals and Antique Farmhouse to store: movies, games, gaming remotes, tv remote and toys. We also hung heavy duty 'S' hooks on either side of the center piece . . .
This is where he hangs his backpack, his gaming backpack, and his baseball mit.

a closer look:

To the left is his baseball jersey and hat from last year,
2 banks-one holds pennies and the other holds silver coins and bills,
and of course the mickey wizards hat he got last year. Now the wood for the shelves has been covered, but you will notice that the shelves on the left and right are covered with drop clothes,
while the center is covered in faux black leather.


Above his TV are his certificates from playing baseball and if you are wondering what that is laying across the shelf . . . 
WELL
my sons snake Moe sheds, like snakes do, and this piece is actually one of very few completely intact sheddings. Devyn wanted it and his uncle obliged.


here is the right side of the shelves:
above is his jersey and baseball cape from the division championship team he was on last year.
A very heavy train doorstop...
 why is it on the shelf?
Well, the youngest grandson tries to play with it and has knocked it over on his little foot and that thing hurts!
His little boom box,
a paper hat he recieved from Steak n Shake this year on his trip to Florida (yep he is kind of a hoarder already at 8)
and the statue of a rattle snack his uncle bought him.

There it is a room perfect for a growing boy with all the things he loves!!

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Build a Bench for $30


I have been redoing my foyer for quite awhile now and I wanted to do it on a budget . . .
a very small budget.

Unfortunately I could figure out exactly what I wanted.

So, I put pen to paper and started brainstorming.

I do that a lot . . .

After looking at all my options (and prices) for seating . . .
seating that really won't be used on a daily basis but would still look nice.
I decided to build my own bench
on a budget of . . .

$30.00
 for the bench itself


and
the pillows and fabric I already had.

SUPPLIES
*the supplies depends on the size of the bench*
{My bench is 18 inches (from the bottom of the legs to the top of the bench) x 48 inches long x 24 inches deep}

3 - 1x4x6
1 - 1/2x24x48 pc of plywood, mdf, etc
*as mentioned above I was on a strict budget and all the legs were either ugly at my price OR pretty but more expensive, so I improvised on these too*
3 - deck rails(!) 36 inches long
wood glue
paint or stain or both
sandpaper
wood screws
nails and nail gun
miter or compound miter saw
measuring tape
wood buttons
wood filler

1. you want to map out where you want the braces and bench skirt to be attached. I wanted my skirting to be 1 inch in from the edge of the bench seat. Plus I wanted all the wood screws to be counter sunk on the seat area.



2. Cut wood to size for skirting making sure to miter the corners, this gives a more finished look, then glue and nail.

3. Then cut your braces to length.

4. Use your legs as a template to make sure the braces are in the proper place to support the bench; then glue and nail.



5. Now place the (rectangle) skirt w/supports on the bench where you marked it off. Making sure to line everything up. Clamp into place and drill you holes in the bench top.

6. Now the legs, measure and find center. Cut at your mark. THEN make sure they are all the same length. If the are NOT (mine weren't) go by the length of the shortest, mark the longer ones and cut; make sure to cut at the top of the rail NOT the bottom




7. Now before everything is glued and screwed I like to stain,paint and/or distress. It makes life so much easier!



8. Once all that is finished and dried it is time to assemble.
9. Now you can Poly or wax.


OK . . . this is where y'all give my DH applause.
He builds (although I can do it myself, he works faster than I do) and I sand, paint and/or stain.


**DH has built me a second one for the Dining Room**
(which you will see in a later post)

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Did You Know | Spanish Moss

Did you know that Spanish Moss
ISN'T
a moss?




But is actually related to the 
PINEAPPLE
or should I say it is in the same family as the pineapple!

Can grow
25 feet long!

And DOES NOT
rob it's host of their nutrients.
It absorbs all life sustaining nutrients through the air.

The only time harm will come to a tree is if the moss becomes so thick that it blocks out the sunlight.

It can be found adorning trees from Coastal Virginia to Argentina.

The Native Americans called this plant
"tree hair".

In some areas it is referred to as
"Greybeard"

So, how did it get the name 'Spanish Moss'?

There are a few legends out there as to how it got this name.

One:
Early French explorers are said to have given it the name Spanish Moss as an insult to their rival Spanish explorers. It is also rumored that these Spanish explorers in turn called it "French Beard", as a returned insult.

Two:
"Gorez Goz was a bearded brute who bought a beautiful Indian maiden for a yard of braid and a mere bar of soap. The mere sight of the Spaniard so frightened the girl that she ran away from him. Gorez Goz chased right behind her, until at last he climbed up after her to the top of a tree. The maiden dove into the water and escaped, but Gorez Goz's beard got hopelessly entangled in the tree's branches. There he died, but we can still see his "greybeard" on trees throughout the Lowcountry -- as the Spanish moss out on the limbs."

The third legend, which has a little more romance to it and the one I think all will agree is the best;
Was recited to a young girl (Sherry Hicks) by her great-grandfather (Rufus Joseph Tillman from the gulf coast area of Alabama)

A Spanish soldier fell in love at first sight with an Indian chief's favorite daughter. Though the chieftain forbade the couple to see each other, the Spaniard was too lovestruck to stop meeting the maiden in secret. The father found them out and ordered his braves to tie the Spaniard high up in the top of an ancient oak tree. The Spaniard had only to disavow his love to be freed, but he steadfastly refused. Guards were posted to keep anyone -- the chief's daughter above all -- from giving food or water to the poor Spaniard.The Spaniard grew weaker and weaker, but he still would not renounce his love for the girl. Near the end, the Chief tried to persuade him once more to stay away from his daughter. The Spaniard answered that not only would he refuse to disavow his love, but that his love would continue to grow even after death. When at last the Spaniard died, the chief kept the body tied up in the tree as a warning to any other would-be suitors. Before long, the Indians began to notice that the Spaniard's beard continued to grow. The Indian maiden refused ever to take a husband -- unless the Spaniard's beard died and vanished from the tree. As the years went by, the beard only grew stronger and longer, covering trees far from the Indian maiden's village. Legend says that when the Spanish Moss is gone, the Spaniard's love will have finally died with it.

Did you also know that during the months of April - July "Spanish Moss" is adorned with tiny fragrant flowers?
and
They are edible?
I didn't!
and
Now you know!

Plus almost every area where 'Spanish Moss' is found has it's own legend as how it came to be.



 You may find me joining in the fun here . . . MONDAY: give me the goods monday TUESDAY: creatively tuesday , nifty thrifty tuesday , tuesday at our home , tuesday the scoop , WEDNESDAY: rock-n-share , whimsy wednesday THURSDAY: tutorials, tips and tidbits , open house party FRIDAY: frugal friday , freedom fridays
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