How To Customize and Add Length to Ready-made Curtains

Ready-made curtain panels can easily be purchased at most stores. They are an inexpensive way to help complete a room’s look. However, many ready-made curtains come in standard lengths, which don’t always work in your home. Adding a fabric to any curtain panel will not only add length to the panel, but will also add your own personal touch to them. Select a contrasting or coordinating fabric, solid or patterned, to go with the curtain panels you already have and help achieve the look you want and create your own custom curtains!

Materials Needed: Store bought curtain panels, fabric of your choice, fusible fabric iron on, scissors, yardstick, iron, and curtain hardware

1. Before you get started, measure where your current curtain panels hang and then measure how much additional fabric you will need to add in order for them to just skim the floor. Typically, curtains should be mounted about halfway between the top of the window frame and the ceiling. However, with higher ceilings measure the distance above the window frame to the ceiling and then mount the curtains about 1/3 of that distance.

2. Shop for your fabric! The fabric can be added to either the top or the bottom of your existing panels. The directions given are for adding fabric to the bottom of the panels. As a rule of thumb, the darker fabric should be at the bottom to keep the curtains visually balanced.

3. Lay out your ready-made panels flat and then lay your selected fabric over these panels so that you can copy the width. Add a couple of inches at each edge so that you can fold over for a nice seam. Measure and cut the desired length as well, also leaving a few inches to fold over.

4. Place a strip of the fusible iron about an inch from the edge of the selected fabric, fold over about a half-inch of fabric, and iron the fabric together to create a hem. Do this all the way down each side of the fabric length-wise only.

5. Once the length of both sides of the fabric has been hemmed, position the panel onto the ready-made panel with about an inch of overlap. Once positioned, place your strip of iron-on between the fabrics and iron for about 10 seconds on each strip until you’ve adhered all of the fabric to the panel.

6. Once the fabric has been ironed onto the panel you should have a couple inches of fabric left over on each side. Cut off additional fabric on the ends so that about one inch remains

7. Again, lay down a strip of iron on fusible tape about an inch from the edge of the fabric, fold the edge over, and then iron to fuse fabric together. Do this on both ends and this will finalize all hemming.

8. Attach your new longer curtain panels to the curtain hardware and enjoy your custom curtains!

How To Arrange a Bookcase

Bookcases can be a blessing and a curse to the overall design of a room. A blessing because, when done properly, will add beauty and comfort to a room. A curse because, what is the “proper way?” Here are a few tips and tricks to arranging a beautiful bookcase and containing the clutter:

1. Take account of what you have. If you don’t have a lot of books, plan on putting the books you have on the bottom shelves and leave the upper shelves for accessories. Bookcases should visually be heavier on the bottom and lighter on the top.

2. Think about how you’ll use the bookcase. Arranging the books by genre, subject, or author may be the most useful. However, if the bookcase will be more of a visual piece, then arranging the books by color looks great. You can also do a combination of these techniques. Whatever is most useful to you and looks good!

3. Start placing your books. Put your best looking books at eye level and try to hide the most ragged ones. Remove the dust covers (unless they are collectable) to display the books in all thier gorgeous glory. Sometimes books have beautiful leather and gold embossing which really add beauty and warmth to the bookcase.

4. Paperbacks need a place too. Mix these in with hardbacks and don’t group too many of these together because they tend to all be a similar small size which does not fill up a shelf very well. Be mindful of book sizes when placing books on the shelves together and try not to put really tall books next to short ones.

5. Mix up the orientation of the books. Place some upright and lay others on their side. These stacks of books can serve as ‘bookends’ to the rows.

6. Don’t over crowd the shelves, leave a little bit of breathing room on each shelf. And never pile excess books, magazines, or papers on top of a row of books.

7. Accessorize with some non-book items: picture frames and other knick-knacks work great as bookends, sitting on top of a stacked pile of books, and breaking up a long row of books. You can also hang a framed artwork over some of the shelves if you have enough space (or too much!)

8. Put telephone books, loose papers or magazines out of site. Use nice looking magazine files or storage boxes to hide these items.

Ikats You Need Now!

Following our post on the wonderful world of Ikats, here are some must have accessories for your home that proudly show off this amazing pattern.

For your Living Room...

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1. Fin Rocker, worth every penny! Available at Anthropologie for $1,698.oo

2. Carnaby Flame Lamp, to light up your life... and room. Available at Jonathan Adler for $195.oo-$295.oo

3. Ikat Pillow Covers, too many good ones to choose from, so just get them all! Available from Fabricadabra for $35.oo-$65.oo

For your Kitchen....

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3. 4.

1. Ikat Ice Bucket, for all of your party needs. Available at Decorative Things for $60.oo

2. Ikat Dishtowels, to conquer your mess in style! Available at Crate & Barrel for $3.95

3. Ikat Tray, to serve your guests in style! Available at Decorative Things for $70

4. Ikat Napkins, to put some pizazz to your dining. Available at Decorative Things for $12.oo

For your Bedroom...

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1. Organic Chevron Duvet Cover & Shams, for a modern take on Ikat. Available at West Elm. Duvets, $79.oo-$109.oo, Shams, $24.oo - $29.oo

2. Wakeful Ikat Sheet Set, to wake up to something beautiful. Available at Anthropologie for $128.oo-$148.00

For your Bathroom...

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1. Azure Ikat Towels, to impress your guests! Available from Anthropologie for $8.oo-$58.oo

2. Blue and White Ikat Tray, to keep your vanity tidy and stylish! Available at Target for $12.99

For your Windows...

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1. Ikat Ogee Window Panels, to keep things light and airy. Available at West Elm for $59.oo-$74.oo/panel

2. Ikat Rose Curtains, to show the softer side of Ikat. Available at Anthropologie for $138.oo-$198.oo/panel

For your Floors...

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1. Expanding Colorscape Rug, for some thing soft and stylish at your feet. Available at Anthropologie for $698.oo

2. Mag-neat-o Floor Tiles, for the wow factor! Available at Flor for $24.99/tile ($9.29/square foot)

3. Sophisikat Floor Tiles, for a punch of Ikat. Available at Flor for $13.99/tile ($5.20/square foot)

The Best of Valentines Day: Decor and Crafts!

So we’ve finally got you in the spirit, huh? Now, let’s get your home in the spirit! Here are some simple crafts that you can make and a few simple design tricks that will instantly give you a Love Shack!

Make your own Heart Garland or Heart Wreath to hang in your home. These are simple and fun crafts for you to do with your kids, your friends, or even by yourself!

This year, buy yourself some flowers! They don’t have to be a splurge, even the classic and inexpensive carnations will do. But this time skip the pre-made arrangements and buy one or two of the types of flowers all in one color. Make your own bunches by varying the textures of similar colored flowers like the images below.

These main bunches should be placed at your most seen area of the home, like your entry table, your main eating table (kitchen or dining room), or family/living room coffee table.

Leave a few steams out and place those in smaller vases throughout your home. A few on the bedside table, in the bathroom, or at the family/living room side table will instantly give your space face lift.

Make red or pink a bit more prominent in your space. Do you have any red-binded books? Group them together on a shelf or give them a more visual location to sit this month. A red bowl, platter, or mug? Put it out on the table with some candy or snacks, or place it by the front door to throw your keys and wallet in, or use these as a temporary vase for a flower or two. A red or pink blanket? Throw it over the side of the sofa or the back of the chair. The more visual you make the holiday colors in your home, the more decorated and put together it will seem. And since these colors are eye catchers, a little will go a long way!

Happy decorating!

Ellenor

Furry Family Wall

Most of us are familiar with the modern “Gallery Wall” in today’s homes. It is the personal gallery that showcases one’s beloved photos, paintings, life mementos, art, and collectibles in a creative and artistic way to create a single visually striking piece of art. Gallery walls have moved out from the hallways into more prominent rooms of the home to become both a conversation piece and a personalized backdrop to our lives.

At Ellenor, we believe that today’s gallery walls should not only showcase photos of dear ol’ mom and pop, grandparents, siblings, etc. but they should also include our “furry families,” i.e. our beloved pets. Because they are as much your family as the two-legged kind!

Even more daring would be a complete Furry Family Wall! A gallery wall dedicated to those photographs of the member or members of your family with the most personality... the one wagging his or her tail at you right now. We recently met up with Kim and Sarah, founders and artists behind Bark Pet Photography. Bark Pet Photography does a brilliant job of capturing the personality and essence of our furry loved ones. These unique images are the stand out pieces that will push your gallery wall from good to fantastic! Just look at some of these incredible images!



Creating any kind of gallery wall can seem daunting, but with the right photos it can be stunning! What are the “right photos” you ask? They are the photos that make you truly happy. You should select the photos that speak to your personality. Without personality to your photos, your family wall will fall flat, so fill your wall with things you love... Your pet included! If you do this, your family wall will be something that makes you happy every time you see it.

With that being said, a few key rules do apply to gallery walls. Whether it be a Furry Family Wall or not, here are the most basic guidelines to creating a fantastic gallery wall:
• Having a good balance between staged photographs and artistic or candid photographs on your family wall is key. Mix in a few non photographed items as well (framed or not).
• All photos should be hung in close proximity to one another, 1 ½” – 2” is best.
• Mixing different frame styles is fine, but don’t select too many frames with “stand out” features (i.e. something very ornate, or colored should be kept to a minimum, otherwise the wall becomes too busy)
• Have fun with it! Lay all your photos/items on the ground in front of the wall and play around with the layout. Something will catch your eye and you'll know when it's right!

Take a look at these great gallery walls…



What makes these galleries so great? Where they all read as a single statement, each wall has those few “wow” pieces amongst the rest. You can achieve an equally stunning family wall by making one or more of your photos into a piece of art. This can be done by printing certain photos on a canvas, taking a particularly artistic photograph and printing it in a larger format, or even varying the balance of colored photographs to black and white.

Bark Pet Photography is able to make these special pieces for your wall by printing “triptych” images of your pet that are reminiscent of the old photo strips. By hanging several of these close together, a very simple Furry Family Wall can be made. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, hang one of these in combination with other smaller photos. See this sketch for the variations you could do using a triptych image...

There are many variables in creating a successful family wall. You need to have patience, a fun personality, a good attitude, and of course great images to pull from. If you only have one of the listed qualities, then you need to rely on the experts… Ellenor and Bark Pet Photography can help!