Changes in Valances

If you've been following along with the transformation of our sweet little fixer-upper, then you know that we are about ready to reveal our first completed room. We were set to post the final before and after photos of Guest Bedroom #2 today. 

But,over the weekend I decided not to do the fabric valance. 

The fabric isn't a good choice for the beach cottage theme. I think the green is too "grass" green. No worries though, the fabric will still be used for the valance and will now go in Guest Bedroom #1.

 If you think I backed out of the valance to go with something much easier.

Well, you'd be wrong. True to form I took on a much more labor intense project. Why wouldn't I, right? Here's what happened.

Friday evening, I dragged Mi Miguel to Home Depot. I had looked everywhere for a long big piece of foam core board. While waiting for Michael to get his drywall. I saw a long cardboard sleeve that was over a heavy box on a freight cart. The worker slid it off the box and gave it to us. I was set to draw the template for the asymmetrical valance.

That's when I suddenly realized, the valance and the green fabric just isn't beachy enough. I didn't say anything. Because Mi Miguel is always, always so very good to me. He'd get me the moon if I asked him for it. When we collapsed into bed Friday night, I'm sure Mi Miguel thought of absolutely nothing and simply slept. He is that exhausted. Me on the other hand, my mind whirred around thinking of that valance and how to make it beachy.

Saturday morning I was still pondering the valance situation. I got busy removing the unsightly vertical blinds hoping it would come to me on what to do about a valance.  

The exposed window looked so much better. But, I quickly learned why so many people prefer the vertical blinds. They do a great job of blocking the intense sun.

I found that out upon removing the second set where the sun was at full peak directly into that window. Wow! BRIGHTNESS!

Once the blinds were down, I still didn't have any inspiration on the valance. So I sanded and painted these two tables.

I want each twin bed to have it's own nightstand rather than the shared one I painted a few weeks ago. In the photo above I deepened the green paint to give it more color. It too now has a grass green. Not beachy at all.

It's okay though, I have a new use for this table now. It will go in GB #1 with the grass green fabric.

I loved the way the replacement nightstands turned out. The other one was nice but there was room for two, so why not use two, right?

While I'm yanking down blinds and painting tables, Mi Miguel is busy removing the doorway to the hall closet and knocking out a hole in the bathroom wall for a new doorway to that same closet.

Sunday morning we got up to make a Lowe's run for a tool of some sort for Mi Miguel's project. I saw the Lumber sign and thought about all the cornice and valance photos I had seen online. Bam! It hit me. I knew just exactly what to do for a valance. I asked Mi Miguel if he would get me a big piece of wood. He said, "Sure!" The nice worker cut the four pieces out that I would need.

I painted the pieces to prime the wood so it wouldn't soak up so much paint. 

I painted over the primer with a light color that I had on hand so it wouldn't take so much of my actual paint to cover the black. 

I remembered a birthdy gift that my daughter got years ago for her sixth birthday party. One of the mothers and her daughter (Jeri and Katie) had drawn overlapping circles on the paper and then colored them in. It made beautiful paper. That inspired me to do an overlapping fish body shape on the wood.

I painted over the pencil markings so that the lead wouldn't show through.

The word pieces are really long. It took a while to get all the shapes drawn.

I went back over the shapes again to really bring out the color. They aren't finished yet. 

While the boards were drying I painted these five letters that I picked up at a craft store. They too will go in GB #2. I forget what it feels like to be able to relax. It's just not in the cards for us right now though. We also cleared out the garage this past weekend and I finished pulling the rest of the previous owner's belongings from the house. Last night before winding down we put tinted film over the GB#2 windows.  

This morning I woke up bright and early and got Mi Miguel off to work. I savored every drop of my percolated coffee and then made a set of curtains and finished painting the valances. If everything goes as planned we'll have the valances installed. Thursday I'm hoping to post the before and after photos of this bedroom.