No Sew French Pleated Drapes

I love the look of pleated drapes with their pretty tailoring and perfect folds. Because I don't want to pay for custom drapes I've tried to fake a pleat by pinching the fabric from behind and securing it with a clip. It was better, but it still wasn't quite right. I was frustrated with my messy ready made drapes and just took them down for a while in a few rooms. I decided to check out the pleating tape at the fabric store a few weeks ago to see if I could figure out how to DIY them without having to take a sewing class. I immediately realized after seeing the tape it did not have to be sewn on the drape. I have no idea why it didn't occur to me before, but it can easily be applied to the top of a ready made curtain with fabric tape. Stitch Witchery and Heat n' Bond are common brands. I've used both on fabric projects before and they work great. This one is no exception!

Here are the ZGallerie drapes you may have seen in my bedroom, now triple pleated. I just love the way they hang so nicely now.

I can't wait to show you all the changes I've made in here recently!

The only downside to pleating the drapes is they are a couple of inches too short now, but lowering the rod will solve that problem. I like my drapes to just touch the floor.

Here is how I did it and what I used.

Pleating Tape

I bought mine off Amazon since the one at the fabric store could only be bought by the yard and I had no idea how much I needed. I decided to check Amazon and it was a great deal for an entire roll.

When you lay it out at the top of the drape, the single yellow line goes at the top and the double yellow line goes at the bottom. The vertical white lines are the pockets for the drapery hooks. I don't have them pictured, but you can find them online or in the store. Mine are four pronged with the exception of the single prongs you use at each end of the drape.

Fabric tape



I've bought this everywhere. Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Joann's all has it for just a few dollars a roll. I used less than a roll for two drapes.

I only had a regular hold tape so I decided to use three rows of tape to make sure it would hold.

You'll want to lay out your pleating tape so the pockets at the ends are at equal distance from the edges before you cut it to fit the drape.

Then iron the pleating tape with the bonding tape underneath until it sticks together.

Now, you're ready for the prongs. The single prongs go on the first pocket at each end of the drape. The four prongs can go in the next pocket. After that, I chose to skip two pockets between each prong.

Single prong at the end of the drape

You can see the two pockets I skipped between prongs in this picture.

I attached the round clips I already had to each prong to hang them on the rod.

And, here are both of them finished. I have these pushed further to the sides in this picture. My husband spent too much time and energy on that wood trim to cover it up.



A closer look. They might be a bit wrinkled from being pushed together.

Besides, being very inexpensive it's just a cut and iron project. It took approximately 30 minutes to finish two drapes. The best part is I didn't have to pay an exorbitant price for custom made drapes. You might have noticed I've moved on to my dining room drapes (the gray silk ones pictured above). I'll never have messy drapes again!

Boys Varsity Room Reveal

'Tis the month for room reveals! Last week I showed you the completed mudroom and now it's time for my oldest son's room. I will also be showing you my two younger boys' rooms and a small master bedroom update soon. These rooms have been so close to being finished for a while now, but I was dragging my feet on the last few DIY projects that needed to be done. Most of it was just finishing the trim paint, which is one of my least favorite things to do. I finally hired someone to caulk and paint the trim in all four bedrooms, finish the mudroom floor, and paint my older son's room. I can't believe how much cleaner all the bedrooms feel! I should know because when I was an apartment manager I saw the grossest apartments transformed with just paint and new flooring. Sometimes we needed 100 trash bags and a really good pest control person too, but you really don't want to hear about that. In case you're wondering I have held many different types of jobs for being so young. ;) Surprisingly, being a mom and an apartment manager has been far more challenging and icky than being a nurse. I won't go into details, but let's just say after my son's stomach bug this week I am so very glad I opted for laminate floors instead of carpet upstairs. 'Nuff said! Are you ready to see Pukey McPukerson's room?

 

My son is 12 and all about sports right now, especially football. I threw in some baseball décor because he played for so many years and still loves watching the Astros. I bought him furniture several months ago when Pottery Barn Kids was having a sale and opted for a darker, rustic finish. I kept his headboard because I still like it, and it was one less thing to buy. I found the Eddie Bauer duvet for a great price on Overstock to pick up the red headboard. I decided against logo bedding now that he's getting older. The brown bedskirt was $7 at Target online! I love brown and red together so I was happy to be able to pull these colors together despite shopping at so many different places.

Almost all of the wall décor is from Hobby Lobby. That is definitely the best place for affordable kids' art and wall storage. My son asked to incorporate his Texans and Astros pendants, too.

The bookcase works so much better for him than a nightstand. He loves collecting books. Now, if he would just read them!



He really wanted a desk for his room and he does use it all the time. I noticed a full size pinboard with a nice frame was pricey. To avoid a DIY project I decided to buy two smaller frameless ones at Target and break it up with décor from Hobby Lobby.



 

 

My son has no idea how stylish he is with the gold trend in his room.

 

 

 

If a cool new sports bedroom and desk weren't awesome enough, look at the view from his bedroom. I wish I were my kid.

 

 

 

 

I like the new dresser, but it is on the small side. I had to go with this one because his room wouldn't fit any of the larger ones.

 

 

 

Tight squeeze! This room is narrow at only 11ft wide. If we just had one or two more feet it would make a world of difference. I would like to put the tv over the dresser to have more room in front of the bed, but we need to add a tv outlet behind the dresser for that to happen. It was much cheaper to buy this $99 stand from Ikea than to add an outlet. My son doesn't seem to mind the narrow walkway. I'm sure that will change as he gets older and bigger. He's only 2 inches shorter than me and I swear he grows everyday.

 

 

 

This sign is the only thing he picked out for his room. I had to bribe him with the promise of food to get him to the store. I always have hooks in the kids rooms because there is no way they are going to hang up their sweatshirts and jackets in the closet. I like them to be able to see their hats also since the one they need for baseball or golf is always missing.

 

There's no better place for hooks then right by the door.

 

My husband installed the baseboards and the trim around the doors and windows. I'm so glad I didn't have to caulk and paint this! The wall color is Nantucket Dune by SW. I chose a color that's a little bit lighter than before because his room is very dark most of the day, which is why the pictures look a little funny. I had to brighten them up as much as possible. My son loves the cave look when he's playing video games so this dark room works for him.

We also replaced the brass closet pulls with oil rubbed bronze ones to match the doorknobs.

The most important thing about this room is my son loves it. I initially wanted to go more trendy, but he gave me the "Are you crazy?" look. He loves the dark wood furniture, plaids, and sports memorabilia. I had the hardest time getting him to agree to even look at decor for his room so I decided to just work on it without any more input from him. Once I was all done with it he told me it looked cool. Thank goodness!



 





Mudroom Reveal

Finally!



I started on this project about a year ago so let me recap a little. This is what it looked like before as an awkward shaped under the stairs closet.

These shelves were difficult to build because of the angles. We even ended up partitioning off the right side because the low ceiling made it unusable.

We added shoe storage, beadboard and hooks on one wall.

Now, it's all painted, organized and the flooring is in.

 





This area on the left wall is all we need to keep my kids organized. I like having a wall calendar to remind me of upcoming dates. I am really bad about checking my phone calendar in advance. Each of my boys have a folder with their names on it for school papers, including weekly homework packets. A pinboard is a must since I seem to have an out of sight, out of mind mentality no matter how important the paper is.

 

Check out this storage! We had a Costco open up near us recently and my husband loaded up on paper products and drinks. I was nervous we wouldn't have enough space for everything, but I reorganized a bit and was able to fit it all.

Shoes, shoes and more shoes! At least there is a door so I don't have to worry about Mario using them as chew toys. That dog truly has a shoe fetish. Well, if someone forgets to shut the door he might eat a shoe, but it's usually my husband's. Mario recently chewed up his sandal and "marked" his backpack, but left everyone else's things alone. I think Mario sees my husband as competition for alpha male in this house.

Look at all this pink! You can finally tell a girl lives here.

Don't laugh! If you are thinking this light looks like a deck light then you would be right. This is the only light I liked for this closet. A bonus is it was only $7.

The basket on the top shelf is perfect for gloves. We don't use them much, but when we do one is always missing. Keeping the basket up high keeps the kids' little mitts off them. 

We have so many paper products store in here I decided to just write "paper" on the basket chalk label. Now, that I see it in a picture it looks a little strange. I also store extra cleaning products and seasonal décor in these baskets so you never really know what's going to be in there. Maybe I should just write "?" or "guess."

 

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have this space. It's a mudroom, pantry overflow, storage room, and school organization center all in one under the stairs closet. It's definitely the hardest working room in our house besides the kitchen. For a closet it's not too hard on the eyes either!

 

New Homebuilding Trends

If you've seen my Pinterest page you might have noticed I've been stalking model homes again. I showed you new home trends last year and was impressed, but what I have seen this year far surpasses what I posted last year. Take a look at these model homes near me.

All of these homes are suburban homes by Huntington and Highland homebuilders. The ceiling beams, marble, lighting, huge vent hoods, wainscoting, and double doors are features I haven't seen before in typical model homes. Have you taken a look around what is being built in your area lately?