Table Make Over...

You know you have a good friend when you tell them you are planning to sand down a BLACK KITCHEN TABLE over the weekend and they show up at your door in scrubby clothes and some sandpaper... I mean seriously, that is super awesome... THANKS MEGHAN!!!

This was my other helper...  He seriously dug in and got a good chunk done!  I could not have gotten as far as I did without the two of them!

I mean, could this boy get any more handsome??

So with just the use of our hands and some gritty paper we managed to scrape mostly all of the hard core black lacquer off my old table!  I was looking for a bit of a cleaner, brighter, fresh(er) look!

Again with the pictures... I am not so good at putting down my sandpaper/paintbrush/DIY project tools for documentation... but here is the final result! 

I am thinking that better pictures will be taken when I no longer exist in a construction zone.  When the floors are in, the dust has settled (and been dusted), and life is simple once again...

But for now I am happy with a white table, even if it is sitting on my front porch!

For the sake of privacy...

It became apparent relatively quickly that covers for the windows were needed for more than just pretty in our new abode.  So to protect myself from indecent exposure I opted for a simple shade that let both light and privacy come together on mutual ground.

Also, I thought I should document it and learned that this is easier said than done.  So here it goes...

First, find a super clean and inspiring place to work in.  Like the stove area where you cooked last nights dinner...

and the floor area in which you have not really scrubbed yet, on a towel that seems clean enough.

Okay, great.  

Now this is where documenting got tricky.  Trying to take pictures of my hands ironing and almost burning the fabric was super fun.  Obviously the lighting was my first priority too...

  Basically I took a fat quarter, cut a piece of muslin to be the same size and sewed them together.  

 

I left two holes at the very top sides for the tension rod to go through and also to allow for flipping it right side out, like so...

Then I ironed it and pressed the sides all nicely together and sewed a top stitch up top (remembering to leave enough room for the tension rod to fit through).  

This stitch does not have to be perfect.   

None of this does.  

In fact, I did not use one pin or ruler or pencil...nada.  This did result in me having to pull them down, flip them inside out again and make one the same size as the other... but whatever.

And there ya have it.  Done.  Privacy installed with a whole lot of pretty!

Here is to a terribly rushed and not so informative DIY post.  If you really want to know how to make these you can call me anytime ;-)

xo