DIY Part Three - "Mud Room" and Window Cornices

Again, I don't know where my head was. I didn't do before and after pictures of this project! So for the 'Before' picture, just picture a blank wall and a big pile of shoes thrown all over the floor. :)

Anyway, I call this project the "mud room" but it's not really a room, it's just the small space right by our garage door. I have been wanting to turn it into a space for organizing shoes and coats for a long time.

First we started by adding board and batten to the walls and hooks.

Then my studly husband built a great bench for me.

I upholstered the bench with some outdoor fabric (again, I love this stuff- waterproof and dirt wipes right off!)

And TADA!

Here's a close up of the fabric, and cutie face Graham

We also built this little shelf out of the scraps we had leftover from the board and batten. I added some pretty little flowers, a bowl for all of Zach's change, and a box for his wallet. I bought a 3 dollar wooden box from Joanns and just covered it in scrapbook paper. We also added the hooks for keys---if you weren't sure what we used those hooks hanging from the big K-E-Y-S for ;)

I'm loving the organization and being able to keep coats right by the garage door instead of in the coat closet by the front door, which we never use unless people come over.

* * * * *

My next project were window treatments for my kitchen and dining area windows. Since I had such big bold curtains in the family room I wanted to do something more simple. I found a tutorial online for these window cornices. It was a super simple project. The whole base is literally made of foam board duct taped (yes, I said DUCT TAPED) together! Then you just upholster the whole thing, add some wire to the back, and hang it above your window! I found this fabric from Spoonflower.com that I love.

It is pricy, but the upholstery weight fabric is 58" wide so I only had to buy one yard and then I split it in two and used it for both of my window cornices.

Before I show you the pictures of my windows, I have to again say that I have a cheap camera that does not take very good pictures. (Add to that that I'm not a great photographer anyway!) And photographing windows is hard. I tried not to have the light blaring in but when I closed the blinds it just made the pictures dark. And taking the pictures at night just made them look orange. But, you'll get the idea... :)

Above is the window next to our dining table. You can see how close it is to the family room curtains in this shot and why I needed something more simple.

Here's a shot of both windows

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I really love the fabric and love how they give a nice finished touch to the windows. (I'm realizing after looking at these pictures that I need to start getting pictures of the whole room so you can see how they add to the look of the room. Next time.)

And don't you worry, I have more pictures of projects just waiting to be shared, I am in the middle of a BIG BIG project that I am so excited about, and I have a long list of projects to come! ;)