Dear Diary...Dressing Up My Kitchen

Have you ever walked around your house and suddenly something jumps out at you that you never noticed before? A few weeks ago, my kitchen windows suddenly seemed very naked. After that, every time I walked through the kitchen (only about 40 times a day!) that was all I could see and I had to dress them!

I stopped by my local Boca Bargoons and found a fresh, floralish print from PKauffman for only $29/yd (vs probably closer to $69 retail-score!) Bonus-it's actually an outdoor fabric which makes it even more suitable-it's made for moisture & South Florida humidity!

First, I measured my window & sliding door and added 2" width & 18" height to the window & 6" width & 18" height to the sliding doors. (You'll see why in a minute). Next I cut the pieces of fabric, intentionally centering the pattern on each piece.

Don't throw your scraps away! Keep scrolling for a special additional DIY project at the end of this post!

I pinned, then sewed under the bottom, then the two sides, leaving the top for last. (Sewing in this order will help to avoid messy corners.) Each seam should be about 1". For the top, I sewed the seam at 2" to leave room for the drapery rod. I chose a tension rod for my window as I had cabinets flanking either side and a single curtain rod for the sliding door.

I had to show off the cute-as-a-button cupcake pin cushion my mom made me! It comes in handy on ALL my sewing projects! (she'll take your orders!)

While I was pinning, Gatsby was doing THIS to my other valance cutting! Needless to say, I had to add an extra step to the process to re-iron & lint roll the fabric...

Back on track, next I measured the total height I wanted my valance to be. (Remember, I still have 15" extra to play with.) I created overlapping folds shown in the below photo & hand stitched them every 4-6" as needed.

About 2 hours & $55 invested, and I wound up with this as my finished product! Not to shabby if I do say so myself!

Now, do you remember when I told you not to throw away your scraps? Well, here's why! "Trash" gets up-cycled in our house! This weekend my husband picked up some new office furniture from Ikea and I nabbed myself a few nice pieces of cardboard from the packing materials.

Rectangular pieces shown below measure 8"x26" (I used 2 for extra sturdiness) and each "pocket" measures 5"x 11" x 8". I've included a FREE template below!

(Score along dotted lines before folding.)

I used my hot glue gun to adhere the fabric to the cardboard. Then used hot glue to attach the pockets to the back support & add the decorative trim.

Voila! A virtually free, one-of-a-kind mail organizer! Hope you enjoyed this week's post, leave me a comment below if you did!

Yours Truly,
The Decorating Diva