I have a tough time purchasing store-bought window treatments. Not that there aren’t great ready-made choices (now many even include interlining)…but as someone who loves to sew, I just don’t get the same satisfaction. And… I. want. them. to. be. just. right.
With freshly painted first floor walls in a new color, I have my tasks pretty well laid out for me.
One I’ve been ignoring for a long time though, is the master bed room (“master” lol). Some time ago, Hubs painted the walls in Valspar’s Eddie Bauer Mercer Blue, and I really liked the contrast with the white molding and wood blinds. But he’s been asking for blackout curtains for, well, forever.
What I needed was what I call band-aid decor, a quick fix that takes care of a problem fast and frugally. Lush, interlined panels would drape beautifully, but when stacked would cover more of the window than I wanted (which is why I originally chose wood blinds).
The biggest challenges:
-finding a good color to match/coordinate/pick up Mercer Blue (blue/grey/green)
-stacks thin because the windows are close to the wall corners
-not wanting to spend weeks or lots of $$ on them
-wanting them to look like I spent weeks and lots of $$ on them
During a recent visit to the local Homegoods store I discovered faux-silk panels in “Indigo”– that were thermal lined (and an unlined version in the same color by a different name: Mallard Blue). A rose is a rose, baby! They looked Mercer Blue to me!
The “thermal lining” is white on the back (all my window treatments are lined in white), and the thickness causes the panels to be black-out dark.
I knew that they were short for the window…we wanted the panels to hang just below the ceiling. But c’mon… that color was spot on! …and so was the price: three pairs of panels for about $90.
(Play I Spy and see if you can find the purchased panels in this picture)
What I needed was a way to get some extra length. I did a week-long-ish time waste internet study of pelments as a way to bring the look to the ceiling and hide the rods hung at the top of the window molding.
But… the pelmets would need to be deeper/taller than I really wanted them to be. So,while surfing for ideas for other windows I came across these instead:
from http://www.dreamhomedecorating.com
and these
from http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net
and these
from Kristi at http://www.addicted2decorating.com
So that’s the new direction I’m headed. And I’m excited, as it will give me an opportunity to tie in the sand colored sectional in the other half of the room.
So…I’m off to the fabric store. If I’m not back by tomorrow, send help!
HEY!!! Guess what?!!! I started AND finished this project…see the AFTER here!
Hmm, a 2-9-1… perhaps I’m not the only one who has trouble making a decision 🤣
My answers listed me as a 5, a lot of which I agreed with, some of which I didn’t. The obsessive studying of obscure things… completely me.
I guess there may be some wing influence, but that would require me to read up on it.
What are you thinking of sewing?
Interesting! My husband is a five (definitely true – a thoroughgoing investigator) and one of my good friends is a five – a somewhat rare number among women, from what I’ve read.
My friend is a fascinating person, a teacher of physics, biology, computer coding, and a number of other science/math subjects. She’s always reading/thinking about something unusual – and has a mind like a steel trap…full of far-above-average morsels. She also has a delightfully dry and spry sense of humor which is a complete scream when it peeps out. She apologizes for having “too many interests” like that’s some kind of failing – but that’s one of the things I love about her.
I wonder, from reading your writing, what you and she might have in common… 🙂 You fives are extremely FUNNY! I remember the first day I happened on your blog (by way of Julia’s or Bettye’s, I believe). Your humor and writing style stood out!
You’re so right – at least according to the tests, I’m almost exactly equal parts two and nine – and only a point below that, one. All the rest of the numbers were super low. So who knows exactly where that lands? 🙂 [And who knows about these tests, anyway?? But still, I like to learn.]
Sewing…I watched three video tutorials yesterday! So! Anything could happen. 🙂 Inspired by your exploits, I forge ahead…
as someone who loves to sew (I wish…I did finally GET a sewing machine…is that when it happens? you start to sew? And then you love it?)
*****
-not wanting to spend weeks or lots of $$ on them
-wanting them to look like I spent weeks and lots of $$ on them
week-long-ish time waste internet study
haHA! 🙂
*****
I. want. them. to. be. just. right.
here, I have a question (you owe me nothing):
you come across wonderfully laid back – humor-so-lively – feet on desk – Reese’s noshing – Tiger King ‘Do!
also significantly detailed and aesthetically aware and NOT laid back (definitely not an insult because I dig that detaily side just as much)
(I have no right to ask)
I wonder if you’ve ever done the Myers-Briggs and if you have, what it said? if you thought it was right?
specifically do you think you’re more of a “J” or a “P”…?
or are you a delightful both?
how often do strangers ask you personal questions during pandemics?
well that depends how grey and dull their morning might, otherwise, be
my cats say dustanddoghair is far (!) more entertaining than scouring the tub (I said *far* and meant it)
so for now, we’ll indulge
CiM
I’ve done versions of the M/B over the years, but don’t remember the outcomes. The kiddos had us taking the Enneagram test last week.
I would guess that most ppl don’t actually see me with my feet up, (or know if I’ve chosen blog writing over tub cleaning, which I would).
But I know the limits, and when I can’t put that stuff off anymore.
So I suspect I’m a P… but I’ll pick “delightfully both” because I like how that sounds—with the hope that the people who live with me likewise find it delightful.
Also…I grew to love sewing when fewer things I made stopped ending up being wadded up in a ball in the closet. And when it helped me make things I couldn’t/wouldn’t afford.
I wonder – where were you on the Enneagram, number-wise? (Or is this a you-could-tell-me-but-then-you’d-have-to-kill-me ? 🙂
I’m supposedly a two or maybe a nine which then (if I understood the wings more, I guess I’d know) might mean I’ve got some one hanging around. So, somewhere around that segment.
Your sewing has inspired me. I hope I will get brave here in the next week and give it a whirl.