Arizona, Mesa - Saturday, January 31, 2015 - Val Vista Villages RV Resort

We have three more valances done – only one more to go.

The dining room window is the widest one we have done so far, the one we have left that goes over the sofa is the same size.  One of the biggest challenges is getting the fixture that holds the privacy screens and blinds back into the brackets.  We have the MCD brand blinds on all of the windows and just love them when they are installed.  The concept is simple: put the bracket in a groove and snap it into place – in reality it’s not that simple J.

 

 

One side of the living area is done also.  Getting to the one on the right was a bit of a challenge.  Greg had to take out the desk which is fastened against the wall so it won’t take off while we are traveling.  Under the desk is a wine cooler which also had to be taken out.

We decided today we were only going to get one finished, doing two a day is just a bit too much.  It takes between two and three hours for each of us per window from start to finish, depending on what size the window is.  Which will figure into about 72 hours of work by the time we are done with all twelve windows.  I don’t have any idea what it would cost to have this many valances professionally done.  Our process is including some things I don’t think we would get with professionals – the window casings are getting vacuumed, the windows are washed, the screens are taken out and given a shower, the privacy screens and blinds are getting a wash and we are washing down the walls before the new valances go back up.

We chose to reuse the frames and padding from the old valances.  A big time consumer is getting all of the staples out to get the old material off – where they used two hundred staples we use about 30 and that is plenty, I’m not sure where they thought that material was going.  We did purchase an electric stapler for around $30 to get through this project.  My antique electric scissors have been a real timesaver cutting the material.  We use the old material as a pattern for the new.  When you see how the professionals do the parts that aren’t going to be seen you have a lot more confidence that you can’t screw this up too bad.

I finally got the Christmas table runner completed, I’m pretty proud of my first quilting project.