Home Decor 102 & 103: what to do with that pretty but useless stuff you've got lying around..

I moved to Montreal last July. It was the first time I was moving into an apartment that was 1) completely empty and 2) completely mine. This new apartment was like a blank canvas waiting to be decored in my youthful chic style. So I thought, until I realized that I was dirt broke!

Home Decor 102: what to do with those pretty sheets that you once bought for some reason but don't even fit your bed

The patio door in my living room faces the street, and as I live on the ground floor I decided the very first thing I needed to do was put up curtains to conceal my everything from the eyes of passersby. Right away I knew that I wanted to sew my own curtains which (I thought) would be cheaper and more personalized since I would be selecting from an entire fabric store worth of fabric instead of packaged panels at Walmart. In the interim, I hung up an old twin size sheet that I had bought for $5 several years ago to use as a curtain for my room at summer camp when I was a counselor.

And then it hit me. The sheet was purple with white paisley print. The colour matched the painting I wanted to use as the inspiration for my decor, and the paisley went along with the prints on both the area rug and the blanket I use to cover my futon. Why buy curtains when this could do just fine? One twin size sheet was just the perfect amount of fabric to make two panels.

So I dug out my sewing machine. I bought white twin size sheets from the dollar store to use as backing for my curtains and got to sewing. Remember y'all, measure twice, cut once. I first sewed the backing onto each panel. This is important because the fabric I had was quite thin, so a white backing will block out more light so the curtains don't look cheap, and keep the sunlight from bleaching the fabric. Then I folded the top down a few inches and sewed that in order to insert a curtain rod. That itself was the hardest part. Only then did I do the hems once I knew how long the curtains needed to be. Finally, I found a sheer black panel in my linens in order to add contrast and match the black of my furniture.

I added that last photo in for good measure. I was trying to get a shot of my cat, Punkin, being just too cute but this offers you an alright look at the finished product.

Home Decor 103: what to do with your grandma's old costume jewelry that you would never actually wear.

So what about tying back these curtains? In my living room I used white ribbons. In my bedroom, however, I wasn't satisfied with the gold ribbon I bought and then I came up with a brilliant new idea...

I recently inherited a bag of my grandmother's old costume jewelry. Some of the things in there were treasures, whereas others looked better suited to decorate a Christmas tree. One day I was looking for something to tie back my curtains and I pulled out one of the necklaces to serve temporarily. I was surprised at how a gaudy piece of costume jewelry added a chic elegant look to my decor.

The gold necklace in the photo below is quite a treasure and I do wear it on occasion. I included it here to show an additional example.