On Wednesday of last week I asked J which room he wanted to paint this weekend. We both agreed that the Master Bedroom needed our attention. After all, I had finally finished the curtains in that room and they were garish in comparison to the poop brown wall color. On Friday, however, when I got home from work, we discovered that we had done a bit too much shopping for the house last week with the new kitchen faucet, the new curtain rods, and the (fabulous) sewing cabinet. In short, we were out of money for paint.
We did think ahead, however, and had purchased the 5 gallon bucket of primer, knowing full well that every wall in our new home was in need of repainting. We figured that instead of painting, we would get the rest of the rooms ready for whenever the money did reappear in our checking account.
It turns out, we had run out of steam as well. By Saturday afternoon, after spending a nice morning having breakfast with friends and strolling the antique stores in town, it became very clear that no one was going to be priming anything. Instead, J created lesson plans for his classes this week and I converted two 84 inch sheers into three curtains.
When we first moved into the home we had expected to have the window treatments left behind as it said on the spec sheet for the house. After moving in we realized that the Master Bedroom, with a window that looks directly out to the street, was left window treatment free. Having been Christmas time, I put up some very festive, very green tissue paper to block our bodies from the street but after about a week of living with a green hue J implored me to find another solution.
After a trip to Target I had purchased and installed pressure rods with 84 inch sheers over the windows. It didnt keep us from flashing our neighbors at night if we happened to leave the light on, but it kept random pedestrians from glancing into our private bedroom during the day. At $7.99 a piece, the sheers were a economical solution to our immediate problem of privacy.
This weekend I took one of the sheers, turned it horizontal, and sewed a pocket for a curtain rod. It happened to be just the right length to cover the glass portion of the window in the Master Bedroom and allowed the navy curtains to hang at the appropriate length since the sheers were no longer gathering on the floor. The result is a sheer curtain with sleek horizontal lines that forms a flat panel behind our grommetted navy faux-silk curtains. The sheer cannot be pulled to either side, but given that our window faces the street I figured we would never want to pull them aside for any reason anyways.
I turned the other sheer curtain into two cafe curtains for the kitchen. It just so happened that the top and bottom hem of the sheer were the same width so I folded the curtain in half, cut them to the right length, hemmed them, and stuck them up in the windows. The pressure rods I had purchased for the bedroom were reused in the kitchen since the window was the same width.
The new sheers for the kitchen also solve a privacy issue since we took down and tossed the blinds that were in the window last month given that they were totally disgusting and dirty from the prior owners. The sheers let light in and block the view of our kitchen from the alley which is important since we sometime run for a glass of water in the evenings around bedtime in the nude.
On Sunday when J was at work, I took the time to sew the curtain for the guest bedroom. I purchased the fabric from Joann.com at 40% off and found a free shipping coupon online as well. The fabric was originally $40 and I got it for something like $24 a yard and saved $12 on shipping. It was a deal. I hadnt actually seen the fabric in person which was a bit of a gamble, but I found a blog where the person had used the fabric in the office for curtains and they looked lovely, so I took the chance on it too.
The fabric was the most luxurious I have worked with yet. It was soft and smooth and rich and I wished I had bought 6 more yards of it to make a blanket with. Its a cotton and linen blend and the design is a damask that mimics ikat style. The background is slightly off-white and the greys and yellows are variegated. I purchased just three yards so that I could do a single panel curtain and pull it back to one side to let in the light. The window in the guest bedroom is small and the room is narrow so I didnt want to make the room feel cluttered or more narrow with a curtain on both sides. In addition, I didnt want to pay double for the project.
As always, my kitties were a big help in making sure the fabric didnt float away. Once the room is painted I will post photos since you can see the fabric design here and the wall color is so hideous still that it doesnt do the curtain any favors. With grey walls and yellow accents, the guestroom is inspired by some homes I saw when visiting New Orleans with my mother last October. The color combination was so regal, elegant, and timeless that I wanted to reproduce it in my own home. I think this curtain fabric is the prettiest thing I have seen in quite a while!
We did think ahead, however, and had purchased the 5 gallon bucket of primer, knowing full well that every wall in our new home was in need of repainting. We figured that instead of painting, we would get the rest of the rooms ready for whenever the money did reappear in our checking account.
It turns out, we had run out of steam as well. By Saturday afternoon, after spending a nice morning having breakfast with friends and strolling the antique stores in town, it became very clear that no one was going to be priming anything. Instead, J created lesson plans for his classes this week and I converted two 84 inch sheers into three curtains.
When we first moved into the home we had expected to have the window treatments left behind as it said on the spec sheet for the house. After moving in we realized that the Master Bedroom, with a window that looks directly out to the street, was left window treatment free. Having been Christmas time, I put up some very festive, very green tissue paper to block our bodies from the street but after about a week of living with a green hue J implored me to find another solution.
After a trip to Target I had purchased and installed pressure rods with 84 inch sheers over the windows. It didnt keep us from flashing our neighbors at night if we happened to leave the light on, but it kept random pedestrians from glancing into our private bedroom during the day. At $7.99 a piece, the sheers were a economical solution to our immediate problem of privacy.
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| Notice the spacing of the grommets has been corrected as well! |
I turned the other sheer curtain into two cafe curtains for the kitchen. It just so happened that the top and bottom hem of the sheer were the same width so I folded the curtain in half, cut them to the right length, hemmed them, and stuck them up in the windows. The pressure rods I had purchased for the bedroom were reused in the kitchen since the window was the same width.
 |
| That's our Vomer kitty in the window watching the rain. |
The new sheers for the kitchen also solve a privacy issue since we took down and tossed the blinds that were in the window last month given that they were totally disgusting and dirty from the prior owners. The sheers let light in and block the view of our kitchen from the alley which is important since we sometime run for a glass of water in the evenings around bedtime in the nude.
On Sunday when J was at work, I took the time to sew the curtain for the guest bedroom. I purchased the fabric from Joann.com at 40% off and found a free shipping coupon online as well. The fabric was originally $40 and I got it for something like $24 a yard and saved $12 on shipping. It was a deal. I hadnt actually seen the fabric in person which was a bit of a gamble, but I found a blog where the person had used the fabric in the office for curtains and they looked lovely, so I took the chance on it too.
The fabric was the most luxurious I have worked with yet. It was soft and smooth and rich and I wished I had bought 6 more yards of it to make a blanket with. Its a cotton and linen blend and the design is a damask that mimics ikat style. The background is slightly off-white and the greys and yellows are variegated. I purchased just three yards so that I could do a single panel curtain and pull it back to one side to let in the light. The window in the guest bedroom is small and the room is narrow so I didnt want to make the room feel cluttered or more narrow with a curtain on both sides. In addition, I didnt want to pay double for the project.
As always, my kitties were a big help in making sure the fabric didnt float away. Once the room is painted I will post photos since you can see the fabric design here and the wall color is so hideous still that it doesnt do the curtain any favors. With grey walls and yellow accents, the guestroom is inspired by some homes I saw when visiting New Orleans with my mother last October. The color combination was so regal, elegant, and timeless that I wanted to reproduce it in my own home. I think this curtain fabric is the prettiest thing I have seen in quite a while!
