Guest blogger- Welcome Liss!

Intro: Liss is my amazingly wonderful sister who has asked if she can guest blog and share the many projects she has going on right now, the most important of which is "baking"  my wonderful soon-to-be-niece. Welcome super-fabulous-awesome-couldn't ask for a better sister, Liss!

Hi! Thanks for the warm welcome, Amy! Ok, I should start by being honest and tell you I wrote that intro myself. But I'm sure Amy would agree with everything I've written.
Thank you  Amy for letting me join you on drive thirty-three. As Amy mentioned, my little family (hubs and 2 cats) are embarking on a new adventure and will be welcoming our new addition, BG (baby girl) in February. And as I've learned over the past few months, along with babies comes... stuff. Lots of stuff.  

We currently live in a condo with a loft.  The loft has been used as office/guest area/let's-put-it-upstairs-because-we-don't-have-anywhere-else-to-put-it space.  However with BG on the way we have a logistical issue- the loft is not an enclosed space, and we are using the other room for our bedroom. As much of an amazing sleeper as I know our baby will be (stop laughing) I think expecting the little angel to sleep 12 hours a day when exposed to the TV and the hubs' guitar-playing is a little too much to ask for.  So, that leaves us with moving our bedroom to the loft, and making our room the baby's room. Sounds simple, right? We shall see. The transition will be gradual, as BG will sleep with us in her bassinet when she is brand-new, but I'm still planning on moving forward with some design ideas I have in the meantime. My designer and consultant (aka Amy) helped put together a mood board of patterns and ideas which I am hijacking her blog to share and track our progress. It shall be called..... The Great Room Swap of 2013.

Here's where we are so far:

Current Bedroom with planned changes. Yes I am a professionally trained artist.

In an effort to not drive hubs (J) insane, I'm trying to tackle some small projects first. First project up is: 

Dying curtains.

The plan is to hang aqua/turquoise curtains over the windows with blackout linings. Unfortunately I've found it nearly impossible to find curtains that are the right color and aren't $$$$$$. 

The closest I've come to are these curtain panels from ikea, which at $49.99 for a pair are fairly reasonable, but still more than I'm willing to spend (you'll learn quickly that I'm cheap  thrifty.

At a bit of a loss, I consulted my good friend Google and came across this  post on dyeing fabric. Seemed pretty easy, so I went to ikea and bought some cheap white curtains, and then went to Joann Fabrics and bought some Aquamarine Rit dye. I wasn't sure about the color but it was the closest they had in stock, so I took a chance.

Here is the play by play on my Dye Attempt #1:

Step 1: Unfold ikea curtains flat. 
Admire their lack of color:

Step 2: Take Rit liquid dye out of Joann Fabrics bag. 
Admire aquamarine color and read instructions:

  

Step 3: Compare dye to the fabric that the curtains need to match. 

Grow skeptical about color choice.

 

Perfect right??? Umm.... not quite.

Step 4: Soldier on because this is an experiment and if Marie Curie had 

stopped when the going got tough we'd never know there was any such 

thing as radioactivity and wouldn't wear iron aprons when we get xrayed.

Don't give up!

Step 5: Instructions say to fill washer with hot water, add dye, agitate, 

then put WET fabric in there. So, as the washer was filling up I threw 

the curtains in there, and when they were soaked I rolled them up and 

rested them on the side of the washer.

Step 6: Add dye, swish around with something disposable 

(I used a plastic hanger) and add fabric.

Step 7: Let washer run for 30 minutes 

(two 15 minute cycles- yes I'm a math genius too).

Once water is rinsing completely clean, 

wash the fabric in warm water with detergent.

 Already very evident that this color is a no go.

Step 8: Put the fabric in the dryer and run your washer with

 detergent and bleach. I had no bleach so I used white vinegar 

which worked fine.

Step 9: Admire your result, whether it is exactly what you wanted or not:

 

Too blue! Doesn't match pretty patterned fabric at all :(

So there you have it. Dye Job 1 doesn't work, as you can see below. 

I ended up ordering a couple more dyes online from Joann's, 

and they arrived tonight. 

So lucky you, you get 2 Dye posts in one night!

Dye Attempt #2: Teal Rit

Note: I also purchased iDye from Joann's which is a powder packet, but there was a rip in the packet when it arrived and I got powder ALL over my hands. Packet went directly in the trash.

Ok so I don't need to document step-by-step because you all are quick and have picked up on what to do already. So I'll spare you the suspense.

Initial examination of bottle compared to patterned fabric and dyed curtains:

      

   Definitely more promising. While a bit darker than the patterned fabric, 

the teal pretty much matches the outline color on the pattern. So far so good!

I followed the same steps for prepping the fabric and the washer. 

Here are a couple of progress shots:

 Work, dye, work!!

Looking good!!

So I lied- I am going to leave you in a bit of suspense. Curtains are still rinsing, it's almost 9:00, and I'm getting kicked in the ribs by BG who wants to go to sleep. I promise I'll update tomorrow with hopefully successful after pics!

Good night and cross your fingers!