Windows Week, Part 5: Master Bedroom {Plus a Sunset}

Let there be many windows to your soul,

that all the glory of the world may beautify it.

~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Today's post concludes Windows Week here in the Loop, and in our master bedroom, all I can say is, "You've come a LONG way, baby!"

Below is what our master window looked like in July when we took the first look-see at our townhouse rental.

Before

iPhoto; July 2011

Yes, another Roman shade.  In fact, every window in the townhouse possessed a Roman shade!  Don't get me wrong-- I like Roman shades, but these were dark and very dirty!

And here's the view from the master window.

Lovely, ain't it?

After

I sheered this window with more dreamy, creamy gauze, hemmed with pinking sheers!  Then I clipped simple panels of creamy linen/rayon to wooden rings.  I'm still toying with the idea of lining these panels before I machine stitch a series of tucks into them, beginning about two-thirds of the way down and then finishing them with a deep hem.  After they're finished, of course I'll share!

Folks, thanks for stopping by!  If you haven't already shared your own thoughts, please do about:

The Office

The Downsala

The Kitchen

The Guest Suite

and, of course {this post} the master!

I conclude this week of windows with a lovely time lapse Arizona sunset captured earlier this week by David of Daso Photography.  I think I'll watch it again tonight and every other sunset every other night from here on out.  Arizona is soooooo dear to the hearts of Hot Lips and me.  When we're 80 we plan to retire there.  ",)

On a sad note, though, I'll share a heartbreaking event that occurred on Monday of Windows Week.

Linking to Sew Country Chick's Sew & Tell Saturday #6.

Windows Week, Part 4: The Guest Suite

So they all went away from the little log house.

The shutters were over the windows,

so the little house could not see them go.

It stayed there inside the log fence,

behind the two big oak trees

that in summertime had made green roofs

for Mary and Laura to play under.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Isn't that a bittersweet quote?

Did you catch Windows Week, Part 1?  Part 2?  Part 3?  Today we're in the Guest Sour Suite.  Slooooowly, surely it's coming suite-ly together, although it's been pretty sour since our furniture arrived from Guam in September.

Here's how it looked in August when we took possession of our townhouse rental.

BEFORE

Standing in the Guest Suite door

Looking toward far right

At right, those are a pair of closets

below, Standing at the windows above,

looking toward the left side of the room

The chest of drawers was removed by the owner at my request.

This is the view
from the window shown in the previous photo.

This is the view from the far right window,

in front of the closets.

Owned but unoccupied townhouse nextdoor

And here's what a portion of the room

looked like in mid-September.

iPhoto

AFTER

For these window treatments, I used the Hawaiian barkcloth from our master bedroom on Guam, plus more sheers of dreamy, creamy gauze.  

Far left window

For the toppers, I

* chopped off the lined panels I'd used on a Guam house slider door,

* hemmed and pressed the panels, and

* pleated and stapled them to the window frame.

Far right window

For the middle window, below, I knew I wanted to place the double bed there, so I

* lined these West windows with sheets of styrofoam leftover from our refrigerator delivery,

* hung a layer of the dreamy, creamy gauze sheers over the styrofoam, and

* hung 3/4 of this cranberry-framed bamboo screen (from The Firstborn's 2003 bedroom) right on the window frame.  Ta-da!  Headboard!  

The bed's not prettily decked yet!

Remember that we have two seasons here in Manila-- HOT and HOTTER-- I treated this "headboard" window in this way because this entire room is going to catch a lot of heat in just a few weeks.  In case you're interested, this double-bed area on the top floor of our townhouse is directly over my husband's office windows.

Thanks for exiting on Kelley Highway!  Tomorrow we'll conclude Windows Week in the master bedroom!

Windows Week Posts
Part 1:  Cornices Anew
Part 2:  Downsala Drama
Part 3:  Grrrr!  The Kitchen

Windows Week, Part 3: Grrrr! The Kitchen

Life's ups and downs

provide windows of opportunity

to determine your values and goals.

Think of using all obstacles

as stepping stones

to build the life you want.

~Marsha Sinetar

Today's Windows Week post will be quite simple.  Here's our kitchen.

Before

September 2011

Remember, sometimes 

I'm the Other Carol Burnett.

The Roman shades after they were taken down

SMOG!

The window's view

(identical to Hot Lips' office windows)

After

January 2012

This is the first window in the Loop which I sheered with this economically dreamy, creamy gauze.  I like how it

a) covers the breathtaking window scenery

b) filters yet allows sunlight from these West windows

c) was easily hemmed using pinking sheers. *wink*

However, although I got rid of the ugly wall tiles with my adorable rattan and wicker furniture store samples, I am still Grrrr! and in need of inspiration for covering up the tiles that surround this kitchen window.  Remembering that this is a rental, folks, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Miss the first two Windows Week posts?

Part 1:  Cornices Anew

Part 2:  Downsala Drama

Tomorrow we'll go upstairs to the Guest Sour Suite!

Windows Week, Part 2: Downsala Drama

Begin challenging your own assumptions.

Your assumptions are your windows on the world.

Scrub them off every once in awhile,

or the light won't come in.

~Alan Alda

Did you make a pie yesterday for National Pie Day?  I'd love to see your photos!  Would you e-mail them to me?  I share my e-mail address in my profile, "About the Driver."

Click here to see yesterday's Windows Week, Part 1!

Now, for some downsala drama.  First of all,  we call this space the downsala because it's the sala (Filipino, "living room") and it's in our townhouse rental's first floor.

BEFORE

October 2011

Yes, more impractical Roman shades, plus the furniture in the photo, above, eventually was removed by the owner at my request.  I also removed all the clip-on lampshades from the chandelier (visible in upper right corner)-- much easier than the dining room's chandy.

Before he left for a short trip to Amsterdam a couple months back, I asked Hot Lips to install the curtain rod hardware.

This photo gives you an idea of the height of these windows.

I still can't believe I climbed that ladder and removed the Roman shades myself so I could wash the windows.  Like yesterday's post, cast your eyes on the water.  And the cloth.

*sigh*

After I sewed the new panels of camel linen, the pressed panels inched their way over the dining room railing from the second floor to the first floor.

Each panel is four yards long.
Yards.

Lined.

After the panels were hung, each window was then sheered in creamy gauze because I just can't handle the view...

Left window

Front window

We require at least a little privacy and lots of light.  Here's what one window looked like at Christmastime 2011, before neither the panels nor the gauze were hemmed.

December 2011

Annie and I at work on the candy cane mice

AFTER

January 2012

I hemmed the panels like a good sewist would.

I hemmed the gauze sheers

with pinking sheers.

January 2012

Still no furniture in our downsala

except two of the eight

new dining room set chairs,

but there's plenty of time to furnish this room!

I like the new windows.  I really do!

Yesterday:  Windows Week, Part 1:  Cornices Anew

Tomorrow:  Windows Week, Part 3:  Grrrr!  The Kitchen

Windows Week, Part 1: Cornices Anew

Friends are like windows

through which you see out

into the world

and back into yourself.

If you don't have friends

you see much less than you otherwise might.

~Merle Shain

Although today is USA's National Pie Day, as promised, today I kick off Windows Week here in the Loop.  Let's get right to it, shall we?, and state that I'm shopping the house as much as I can after moving for the twentieth time in thirty years of marriage.

Yes. You read that right.

Today I'm treating the windows in my hubby's Manila office.  These office windows provide such a lovely view, don't you think?

You're looking into two townhouse garages.

Because
(1) of the breathtaking scenery, and
(2) my husband enjoys as much natural sunlight as possible in his office,

I changed out the window treatments from this

September 2011,

BEFORE our furniture arrived from Guam

and this

October 2011

to this

December 2011

and this!

December 2011

Here's how I did it.  Remember, I'm shopping the house.

First, I removed the filthy Roman shades from the office windows.  I didn't record their images, but to give you an idea of the smog we deal with here in Manila, Philippines, this is what the kitchen's Roman shades looked like after they came down.

Terribly impractical in Manila, Smogland, agreed?

The owners left these here for us to 'enjoy.'

Next, I washed the office windows.

Cast your eyes on the water.

This is what it looked like as I got started!

On Guam, where we lived previous to moving to Manila, my husband's office, below, possessed a single window which I corniced in this masculine Hawaiian tropical print barkcloth (palm leaves; no orchids) in shades of brown, tan and a soft green.

Guam office, circa 2008-

definitely larger than his present Manila office

So, shopping the house, I not only used the Guam office cornice, I also used this one, below, from the Guam dining room-- a cornice that would have otherwise sat in storage here in Manila.

Guam dining room, circa 2008

{I miss our stackable $5/piece garage sale chairs:

I finally gave 'em away the other day.)

Fortunately I had plenty of leftover barkcloth fabric from when I covered the Guam office cornice.

To cut the cornices down to size, I peeled back the fabric and batting of the original Guam office cornice.  (Hot Lips and I have been making cornices since the late '80s, so we can practically do this stuff blindfolded.)

The original Guam dining room cornice, below, possessed two layers of batting (polyester batting next to the wood; cotton batting over the polyester) under dreamy, creamy ecru burlap. I peeled off only the burlap.

My honey cut the cornices down to their correct sizes and, with their original screws, reattached the ends.  At left, below, you can see the naked end of a cornice, leaning against the wall, awaiting its new garment.

With my staple gun, I covered the cornices with the barkcloth and then we hung them up. And that's how I gave my husband's office cornices anew!

The matchstick shades were custom made for us in the province: P600 (about $15) per piece.  Oh, yeah!  They

(1) don't block the view completely,

(2) allow light, and

(3) add a tropical element to the window treatment, which I think coordinates with the cornices.

In just a matter of weeks, a very hot sun will be heating up this room via their West windows.  Hmm.  Hot Lips might want/need me to line the shades then. Thanks to my staple gun, that'll be a piece o' cake!

Tomorrow, Windows Week, Part 2: Downsala Drama

Linking to Creative Bloggers Party Hop 01.22.12!