Feeling a Little Loopy

Last week I was working on cleaning up the studio because, well, this was happening!

 

 

That woman sitting on the floor with the camera is Hellen and she is a photographer for the Denver Post (aaaaaahhh!). She came over this weekend to shoot some pictures for an article about Ikea Hacking! It's in the paper to-day (I am literally bursting with excitement) if you happen to be in Denver. But if not, here is the online version. Anyway, while I was cleaning up my room I was wishing that a few more things were done in here. Countertops and some sort of window treatment to start off with, and since I didn't have anything that I could make into a countertop lying around I chose to work on the latter. What a sad little barren basement window.

 

 

At first I thought about sewing a simple pair of curtains that I could hang in there with a little tension rod and then call it done. But that's so easy, if I had really wanted to do that I probably would have done it by now. On to further brainstorming... I knew I didn't want to block the small amount of light I actually do get in there, but I wanted something to soften that little box of a window. That's when I remembered this post from Kara's blog about a backdrop she made for a wedding. It's pretty awesome looking. Hers is made out of receipt rolls, but I wanted to use some fabric I had left over from who knows what. I also picked up a little more fabric, some starch, and a piece of foam core board for under $7.

 

 

Even though I was using fabric instead of paper, I still wanted that paper-y quality in my loops. After ripping the fabric into 2-3" strips I ironed them with lots and lots of starch.

 

 

Once they were all crispy I turned to the foam core board. I cut it so that it would be thicker on the side of the window that doesn't open. I wanted more loops on the left side (the side that doesn't open) and fewer and shorter loops on the right so that I could still open it easily. Once I had my shape cut out I started glueing the fabric strips to it.

 

 

Once the front was covered with fabric I put it in my window with a few screws to hold it in place.

 

 

 

At this point my window treatment reminded me of all the spooky movies where the curtains are all torn up and stringy, but not for long. Using some hot glue I started creating loops with my fabric. This part was more visual than technique, just step back and look at the balance now and then and you'll be fine.

 

 

After getting the first row looped and glued I just kept adding strips and loops to fill the left side in more until I was happy with how it looked.

 

 

 

 

I love how it looks like something you'd find in an Anthropologie! In fact, I wouldn't mind if my little room ended up like that at all. They really do have the best displays. Ok, I'm off to buy 50 copies of today's newspaper and show them to everyone. O__O

 

Nikki Kelly