Hand-stitched curtains

The previous tenant left behind some very illogical blinds in our bedroom: one side shorter than the other. This left an uncovered corner which allows strong sunlight coming in at 7am which makes the room really hot. We can't even have a lie in on weekends and waking up to bright light gives me migraine for days.

The flat came as it is and we're not allowed to incur any unnecessary cost to the landlord and we really don't feel like spending money on replacing some blinds that are still good. So I thought of putting some curtains over it to screen off the sunlight whilst softening the mood of the bedroom.I tried looking for some simple, plain coloured ready made curtains to go with the window size. Unfortunately, the simple-looking home decor market in Malaysia seems to be catered for very rich people only. So I gave up and went to look for fabric in a fabric store instead.


Lucky for me, I found some a plain off-white thick material and a chiffon-like material with pretty floral motifs on, both are fabric ends and are indeed a bargain.

I did all the necessary measuring and cut them into 2 equal length pieces for each fabric, then hemmed up the top and bottom sides. I then dug out some old buttons saved from some of my old clothes, sewed them on the top panel; found some used parcel strings (from posts and deliveries) and hung the curtains up by tying the strings through the blinds' rail and over the buttons. This way, I don't even need to buy a new curtain rail.


It was that simple, except I don't own a sewing machine so all stitching was done by hand :'(
But the result was satisfactory. I even made a pair of curtain tie backs using an old belt that is no longer in use. The hooks can be removed and reused again, and the tie backs are secured by some old rubber bands tied on the hooks.

How to make picture frames from excessive packaging

We all like some nice pictures to hang on the walls to make our homes more cosy. The problem is: we're renting at the moment and landlords here are very particular about putting nails on their walls, and we don't really fancy spending so much money on picture frames (mind you, they are expensive and cheesy-looking).

I've been toying with the idea of making my own frames using as much of existing material at home as possible, and they have to be quite light so that I can perhaps stick them on with some Blu-Tack. This way I can remove them and not leave any unsightly holes on the walls. But finding the right material and to come up with a solution aren't easy, and I'm just too anal about my own decisions.

Came last Christmas, my sister in law gave me something that came in 2 pieces of thick styrofoam. I then found some old black sugar paper which I collected from old art projects in college, cut them into proper sizes to wrap these styrofoam pieces up neatly (just enough to cover all sides, the back can't be seen when hung up so can save some paper on that). Then I measured another piece that is big enough to wrap around 3 sides to make a pocket, cut a window in the middle and stick a piece of clear pvc (from my leftover stash) on the reverse side before I stick it on to the box.

After securing the pocket, I cut a piece of thin cardboard to just about 5 mm smaller than the box all round. I then stick a little piece of thick PVC (cut from a plastic packaging box I kept for "future use" and boy did it come handy) on the side of the cardboard to make a tab for pulling purposes. I also gave the cardboard some rounded corner to make it easier to slot it in and out the pocket. Now I have a picture frame and a removable picture backing card. I can now put any picture I like as long as it is slightly bigger than the window, and is placed in the middle of the cardboard.



These picture frames are light so I only needed some Blu-Tack to stick them on the wall, and I can change the pictures any time. By the way, these pictures below are from some gardening magazines.


Since the styrofoam box picture frame is proven successful, I went on to make a few more with other material such as some odd sizes mounting boards gathering dust in the spare room.


These are to fill up some pre-existing hooks on the wall (by previous tenants) whilst beautifying the empty wall.

And the best part of this project is: No money spent on new purchases and some clutter is cleared!