Thursday, February 23, 2017

By the yard

I mentioned that on the weekend, I went for a walk to pick up some supplies for a project I've wanted to tackle for a while.

When Dave and I started dating, he gave me a 40 gallon fish tank and stand. Since then, I've kept it full of fishies, and it's followed us from home to home. When we moved here, he put a shelf in the bottom so I could store my various fish-keeping equipment, as well as some house plant accessories. Over time, it accumulated more and more until it looked like this.
And, of course, the fish tank is in the dining room (and the lower level is open concept) all this mess was visible to anyone who wandered in. I've long wanted to sew some kind of skirt that would cover it all, but still allow us access when we needed it.

I had a plan, I even had some fabric in my stash that would work. All I needed was some sticky velcro tape. So off to Lens Mills I went. While walking, I decided even though I already had fabric, it might be fun to use some fish-themed fabric. I only needed two metres, so it wouldn't be too expensive. i decided to see what they had and then decide.

They had some very nice ocean reef fabric... but my fish are fresh water, so that just didn't seem right. They only other thing they had was hunter/angler themed, definitely not what I was looking for. No biggie, I had fabric already.

But... then I made the mistake of wandering past the clearance table...
This beautiful patchwork of pre-sewn tapestry fabrics was on sale for $6.99/metre... with an additional 25% off for their Valentine's sale. The colours nicely complemented the colour-scheme I'm slowly changing the lower level over to (a mix of beige, cream, green, pink and gold). And while I was standing, waiting to get it cut... I started thinking about how the dining room could use some new curtains....

So I got six yards!

On Monday, I set to work and in no time, the front panel for the tank was done
 So much better! And we have easy access whenever we need it - just pull back a corner
And velcro it back up when you're done! The sides got individual inset panels too.
Also velcroed for easy removal.

And as for those curtains... the old curtains followed us here from the old townhouse. They were sheer aqua coloured panels I got super cheap. Aqua is not one of my favourite colours, but I got them because they were super cheap, and matched the ugly aqua couch our old neighbours gave us (again, I don't like aqua, but when you have no couch at all...)

By the time they'd made it  to this place, the couch was long gone and the curtains were faded, full of cat holes and well past their prime. But.. we needed something on the window, so they got put up there and I just tried not to look at them.

But an hour of sewing and now....
Soooooooooooooo much better. It's hard to believe curtains could make a person so happy. But they go so nicely with grandma's pine table.  And when the sun shines through them, they light the room with a warm, pink glow.
A little bit of rough twine made a nice, simple, rustic tie back, too.

And... I still have about 2.5 metres left! So maybe I'll whip up a couple pillows one of these days.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

They give that room a nice glow. You have found your hygge!!!

After 21 years we finally put drapes up in the living room and dining room with really nice rods ...............then we MOVED! LOL

Oh well....I truly did enjoy them while I was there. So did Giroux ---- they were great for hide-and-seek. Even though he never got the idea that your FEET should hide too.

Bridget said...

It's always amazing how a little bit of change makes such a difference! I think that fabric was just waiting for you. It all looks great, congratulations on such a nice job with things.

Vera said...

What a great idea for your fish tank stand! And wow! The light pouring in your window onto your table (which is GORGEOUS) is beautiful! Well done.

Araignee said...

Brilliant! I had the same issue with our fish tank before the fishies went to fish heaven. Fish are nice but their stuff is an eyesore. Same for the dirty bird. She just got a new cage because the old one was yucko. Now if I could figure out how to hide the hundreds of dog toys and cat beds I have all over the place-not to mention the big pen Old Doggie lives in these days.

kathy b said...

Oh my gosh. the fabric is wonderful. .The fish tank hide = perfect. The curtains make a huge diff and the pine table..swoon!

The Well Fed Wheel said...

Nice work! The curtains look so nice with the table top. I had to find homes for my angel fish before the move here. I miss them too. I was afraid they wouldn't survive the three day trip in a car with three dogs and a cat.

Delighted Hands said...

I'm so proud of you and happy to see how clean and fresh and warm you made the room now!
Great job!!!!

Cat Lover said...

Lovely fabric! Your eye is drawn right to the fish tank and your great fish. I understand perfectly how new curtains can make a person happy. We moved into our new home six months ago and were using the curtains left by the previous owner until we got our bedroom painted. That happened last month and up went the new curtains. Feels much more like OUR bedroom now.

Mereknits said...

Great idea with the skirt for the bottom of the tank. Fish are so relaxing to watch.

Rachelle said...

They look great, curtains aren't my favourite thing to sew, but then I'm usually doing the home dec fabric with lining versions which are a pain to manouver. Those look so much more friendly to sew