New Backdoor DIY Roman Shade and $14 Ballard Rug

Hi everyone!

One of the very last things I wanted to replace in my big "lightening and brightening" quest was my backdoor shade. I loved the old one, but I eventually had to admit it just didn't go very well with my new decor. 

My hubby actually made it for me. Yep. He can sew. :) I asked him to make something for the house a few years ago and he borrowed my mom's sewing machine, read the directions, and taught himself how to sew.  

He knows I don't want anything at all to do with sewing, so he does it for me. I come up with the projects and sketch it out on paper, and he brings it to fruition. He made this dark brown shade for me around 5 years ago, and he made the new one the same way. 

So anyway, back when we had the whole "Tuscan" theme going on, he made this shade for me...

You can see how it really doesn't go very well with my new furniture, etc. With the white curtains in the living room and the grey and white ones in the kitchen, it kind of stuck out a little. I also realized I needed to replace my colorful doormat.  I replaced that frame to the left of the door with some new ones from Kirklands too. I'll show you those in a minute.

I really felt that wall to the left of the door needed two frames instead of just one.

The shade my hubby made actually lifted up kind of like a roman shade. He made the new one exactly like it, so you'll see what I mean in a minute. 

Below is the new shade in its "almost finished" state. I just wanted to show you this so you could see how it now clashed with my old, colorful rug. Hence my reason for getting the new one at Ballard when it was on sale. 

And here are the "afters" with the finished shade, new frames, and new rug.

I just think it all flows together nicely now. 

Here's a close up of the fabric. It's grey and white with a little tan. My hubby added the dark grey trim too. 

Below you can see how the new rug (found on sale at Ballard for only $14!) matches the new shade a little better. 

Here are the new picture frames from Kirkland's. (I'll show you where the other frame went in an upcoming post)

Here's a close up of the frames. I love that they're kind of rustic looking with a little bit of burlap. And they were on sale too!

I kept the same pic in the top one. It's of my boys at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. (although I blurred it because they don't want to be on the blog, lol!)

Then I added this one (also of the Palace of Fine Arts) so they had the same theme. :)

So, I can either have the shade pulled all the way down like in the first pic, or I can have it partially up like in this one...

Or I can have it all the way up like in this one...

I don't have a tutorial for you or anything, but he basically sewed the fabric onto a piece of blackout fabric to keep out the sun. He attached little ribbons on the sides so that when it folds up, it can attach to little hooks that are at the top. It's a metal door, so we used a magnetic rod. 

Here are some pics from my phone showing the ribbons, hooks, etc. 


Here are the ribbons attached on the sides...

You can see how we hot glued the hooks to the rod holder.

It bothered me that the shade wouldn't stay close to the window when down, so we added these little velcro thingys to the shade and window frame to keep it fully closed. 

I know these aren't the best pics, but here it is with one portion pulled up...

And here it is with both portions pulled up...

I hope that made a little sense to y'all. :) I found a tutorial that is kind of similar to what we did. You can click HERE to see it. She explains things way better than I do. :) 

And just for good measure, here's one more "before"

...

And an "after"...

I hope to finally have a home tour up on the blog this week! I've been working furiously for days now trying to get it ready. I should have a "Home Tour" button on the right sidebar you can click on too.

Well, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

~Lisa