The loft final reveal

I have finally finished our loft!

It took me some time to really know what I wanted to do with the space, but thanks to some great comments and suggestions, the playroom is finished.

I added the word "read" above the bookcase. I got the letters from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them red, then attached them to the wall using Velcro. 

I got new chalkboard labels for the baskets off of groupon. 

Yes we do have a separate basket just for action figures!  

I then recovered the lampshade. 

The previous shade wasn't bad, but it just blended in to much.

Notice all of the "art" on the table? You can imagine my frustration when I saw that! All I will say on the subject is that it now has a fresh coat of paint...grrr!

Here is the new shade...much better.

and then there is the curtain. You can read all about that here.

I added some frames to walls next to the window.

The art I found online and just had them printed on cardstock.

I love all of the colors!

And lastly is this gumball machine. I'm still on the fence about it, but I think its so cute. We found it at a garage sale a few months ago and its been sitting in Tatum's closet ever since. I'm a bit scared to put anything in right now. Any thoughts?

Now here is the rooms transformation from start to finish:

and now

This room suits our family needs perfectly and I am so happy with the finished result!

tie up curtain tutorial

As you all know I have been working on our playroom loft. I have to take things step by step to get a room to where I want it. First was the entertainment center, then a rug and now a curtain for the window. I made this tie up curtain for only $8, which included fabric and a curtain rod!

Here is how I did it:

I went to Hobby Lobby and got 1 1/4 yd fabric. It was discounted 30% off! I measured my window which is 34" wide and cut my fabric accordingly. I cut 4 pieces for the ties that were 5" wide and 26.5" long and 1 piece that was 10" wide and 34" long for the rod pocket. Then whatever fabric I had left was my main curtain panel. 

Next I folded all of the outer edges about 1/2" and ironed them. Then I folded all 4 tie pieces in half and ironed them.

Once all pieces were ironed I sewed a straight line across the edges to prevent fraying.

 

Now that all edges are sewn it is time to assemble.

To place the ties I just folded the panel piece in half to find my center. Then I placed each tie piece in the center of each half. I pinned one tie piece on front and on back like so:

Then place the panel piece inside the rod pocket piece and pin.

Sew a straight line across the pinned section and you are done!

Now for the curtain rod, I just got the cheapest one at Walmart for like $1! 

It works perfect for a simple curtain like this.

Once its hung, tie the front and back ties together to gather the panel.

Normally I line all of my curtain to prevent sunlight coming through, but the loft gets such good light that I didn't want to take away from it. Plus this fabric was a bit thicker so it bunched up well enough without a liner.

I hope that was simple enough and made sense. Really its a simple and cheap project that only took me about 1 hour total to make. And if I can do it so can you :)

linking up to:
Not Just a House Wife
Tip Junkie
Homemaker On A Dime
Cherished Bliss
Todays Creative Blog
House Of Hepworths 

A New Rug

Happy Monday everyone! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, I know I did. 

It was busy filled with yard work, house work and a lot of play time :)  

I have some exciting stuff to share coming up but for now I want to post more on my Loft. 

I got a lot of good advice from readers on what to do next and a few people mentioned that a rug would really make this room "pop".  So I started the search for the perfect rug and I finally found it.

I wanted something that was colorful and fun and this is just right. I got it at Target for like $30. 

I tried searching the classifieds but everything either had stains or was way over my price range.

Here is the room without the rug:

and with the rug:

It totally makes the room feel warmer to me and a little bit more like "home". 

While I was at Target I got these little tins from the dollar section. 

So cute and its perfect for the kids.

Now that I found the rug I want to find some coordinating fabric to make a window valance and cover this lampshade.

It kind of matches the room right now, but I want it to pop a bit more. 

We will see what I come up with.

The Loft

This is our loft. Its right at the top of our stairs next to all of the bedrooms. It features an ugly disorganized entertainment center:

and overflowing toy boxes:

For Christmas this year we got ourselves a new TV. Ever since then I have been looking online at the classifieds for a new entertainment center to hold our old TV. This weekend I finally found the perfect one!

We moved it in place, switched around some furniture and before we knew it we had a brand new room.

Take a look:

And the best part is, it only cost us $150!! Where did we spend the $? All on this baby...

I love it! Its got a few nicks but its nothing a bit of touch up can't fix. We now have a place for all of the kids toys and its so organized...it has built in movie organizers inside. 

I took these baskets out of Tatum's closet to store toys.

I moved the table and chairs under the window and added a lamp that we weren't using.

This horse stayed in place, its every kids favorite!

We brought this bookcase out of our room, where it was temporarily holding the old TV. It now is home to all of the kids books.

The shelf above has Tatum's framed art, my favorite!

On top of the bookcase is Tatum's favorite reading book. We read this book every night before bed, he can now read the first few pages by himself!

This room still needs some work. I'm thinking I want to make a window valance, cover the lamp shade, get some more baskets and maybe add some cute kid pics on the wall. What do you think?? What it this room lacking?