What Would Nester Do?

If you're here from Nester's Mistreatment Party, check back later for updates on other mistreatments. Thanks for visiting!

I have some fabric odds and ends


and a house full of untreated windows.

I found a blog a couple months ago that caught my eye. In fact, this Nester person has been my new best friend as I have gleaned every bit of information from her archives. Well, I mean, I think I would like her if we knew each other IRL. She has revolutionary ideas about easy, fast, cheap, cute home decor. Perfect! I've been daydreaming about how I can use the fabric I already have on my windows in the style of her "window mistreatments" for a high-style, low-cost upgrade. You can read about it here.

You know how it is when you have big plans for a project, start the project, and realize that it's not going as well as you thought. This happens to me a lot, and frequently, I ask Randy to help with the bail-out. He doesn't sew, scrapbook or knit, so for those projects I manage to work it out; however, if it involves hanging something up or assembling something, I sometimes give up when I run into a roadblock. (By the way, it's not all one way on the bail-outs, as I still fondly recall the great Fescue-to-Bermuda changeover of 2000. Our month-long, dirt lawn endeared us to new neighbors for years to come. Yes, we laugh about it now.)

So when I tried one of Nester's mistreatment techniques, I ran into some problems. In fact, I became so irritated that her breezy description of the instructions so did not match my actual experience that I began to use her name in vain. I found myself uttering, "Oh, Nester" when a tack came out of it's hole in the wall, or when a tack bent, or when said tack fell 9 feet to the floor, or when I got a cramp in my foot from balancing on the top of the stepladder (there's a reason the warning sticker says not to do this) and the top of the toilet tank. I began to think, "What Would Nester Do?" when faced with these unforseen dilemmas. At this point, I realize that I am officially obsessed with these windows, and now I am stuck. I finally got the folded fabric to stay up on one side; however, I don't see how I can possibly get to the other side of the window to finish this and artfully arrange it. There's no floor space for a ladder! Here's where I stopped. I moved on to the laundry room window and decided that I should have started with that window, as it is lower and has floor space all around it for my stepladder.

To be continued after regrouping with a curtain rod (that Randy will figure out how to hang in that inaccessible corner) and clip rings . . .

The laundry room window didn't turn out much better, as my fold and poof skills need some work. I think I would like a more tailored, pleated look, which I plan to try with a different fabric remnant I have on deck.

Speaking of the laundry room, have you seen my light fixture? It is a copy of a fixture in the idea house that turned into our house.

Back to the window mistreatments (on a happier note),

I found this fabric and fringe that I love for the dining room.

I love the sheen and the lighter weight works so much better for the fold, clip, poof technique. My current roadblock: how do I glue the fringe on if the fabric folds over (kind of like a hemmed edge would fold) and the back of the fabric is actually showing at the top? I need to hide the raw edge all along the panel's inside edge. I'm still trying to sort out this spatial relations dilemma. Any advice would be appreciated! I know this attempt can be awesome if I can figure this out.

One more question to blogland, can someone please tell me how to use Picasa to send more than 4 pictures at a time to blogger? The extras aren't transferring.

I'll leave you with Randy's idea of a mistreatment:

Correcting this injustice has been on my to do list for 11 months, I'm ashamed to say. I'm eager to try this.