Curtain Call
November 25, 2007 | blogger birthday bonanza!,NaBloPoMo,the homestead
LIZA! Hey, you, busy mommy?! It’s your birthday. I hope you haven’t forgotten. I’m sure Jill didn’t forget, and you’ve probably got the little guy already singing the birthday song and giving you LOTS of hugs and kisses! Happy BIRTHDAY to you! I hope your day has been filled with joy and may your year bless you with your greatest wishes (squeee!)! BIG HUGS from me to you (sorry if that reminds anyone of the Barney song!)!
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Ok, we need your help over here at Squirrel headquarters. Since we moved in over 5 years ago, our front window covering situation hasn’t improved. Well, ok, it’s improved since the first day when we ripped the dusty (and I mean that both literally and color-ly) pink drapes. See? This was how the living room looked when we first walked through the house.
For several weeks, we went without curtains, which was fine — we didn’t need extra fabric to get in our way while we stripped wallpaper, primed, painted and then scraped decades old wallpaper paste, primer and paint from our floors! Once we finished the walls and ceiling, we simply put back up the curtains that covered our ginormous windows in our drafty Chicago apartment.
They’re fine. Neutral. Bland. From IKEA. They’re too long, though. We prefer the longer curtains, but as you can see below, our HUGE and OLD heating system sits right below most of the entire front window, so the curtains really only cover the smaller side windows because we’d rather have heat than privacy. Dontcha love how we twist them together? When my mom’s here, she ties the two panels on each side with our red dinner napkins. She works it.
Actually, we stopped closing the curtains altogether after last winter. According to one of our friends who used to walk her dog past our house in the evening, we are “the most exposed house” in her 7 block walk! Honestly, we just don’t care. If I’m in the basement doing laundry and need to wash the jeans I’m wearing, the rest of the evening, I’ll walk around in my underwear. I just don’t care. I probably should, right?
Ok, well, I must a little bit care since I’m asking for help in remedying this home decor/Squirrel family dignity situation!
Below you’ll see another picture of the front window in relation to our what we did to the fireplace (that’s another whole call for help, as you can see), but it’s much more tolerable to look at! You can also see more of the “look” of the room, including part of our neutral colored microsuede couch. The balloons and streamers only come out at birthdays (such as Jojo’s!), so disregard those when considering suggestions.
People have recommended blinds or shades. I’m not sure that would work with a 3-panel window. Are the shorter curtains really THAT bad, or did the dusty pink ones cloud my judgment? And what COLOR(S) would work here? The color leading up the stairwell is like a dark orangish red, and an orangecicle would be lost in our dining room (both can be seen from the living room).
Help? Please? Colors? Thoughts? Websites? Pattern/No Pattern? I’m desperate.
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November 25th, 2007 at 8:47 pm, jill Says:
how about 3 miniblinds, one for each window? they make a lot of sizes ofr various windows, then you could open each one as necessary.
November 25th, 2007 at 9:02 pm, Nic Says:
My honest opinion is that you don’t need them. If you’re only using them to have them on the side, and you don’t need to close ‘em, I think that the window is cool enough that you can go without. I think you have the right idea with the panels if you want to have curtains. Going beyond panels would probably be a HUGE pain in the tush because you’d probably need to have them custom made. If anything, the changes I would make would be the following: move the curtain rod closer to the ceiling like this and get the cool drawbacks http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/1190751287288.xml (available at Target)
I did that on the sides I’d probably put some type of shade in the middle, probably a roman shade http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/product_category.jsp?sch_cat=Roman%20Shades&nav_cat=-18001 http://www.bhg.com/bhg/slideshow/slideShow.jsp?slideid=/templatedata/bhg/slideshow/data/1176501265844.xml&page=11I would go with a pattern since everything else is solid. You could do deep blues or green, even bringing some of the deep reds and oranges you have going on into the mix.
November 25th, 2007 at 9:17 pm, SJ Says:
I’m really fond of those window blinds that you can either expose the top half of the window, or the bottom half, they go either way depending on the situation. ((Look here: http://www.levolor.com/products/cellular-shades/)). Or shutters, or maybe roman blinds?
November 25th, 2007 at 9:24 pm, Erin Says:
You can definitely go with multiple sets of blinds…we did on some of our larger windows. We also bought a very big bamboo roman shade for another of our gigantic windows. The bamboo shades were really affordable, but look a lot nicer than just plain old mini-blinds!
November 26th, 2007 at 12:05 am, Cindie Says:
Why don’t you do cafe curtains on the lower half with a valance on the top. then you could open them and close them easily as you see necessary.Also, do the same with the little window on the fireplace wall. (or am I really dating myself???!!!)
November 26th, 2007 at 8:42 am, Erika Says:
I like SJ’s suggestion, those accordion blinds on cords that you can pull up from the bottom or down from the top. Or white shutters, which is probably expensive.
I’m not really into curtains at all other than valances, which wouldn’t help for privacy, and I only like long curtains on long windows (like french doors). And I agree, short curtains above the heater may be a little Ramada Inn-ish.
We have and love faux-wood blinds, and we several three panel windows with 3 sets of blinds (although our center windows are not as wide as yours and those things get heavy in a hurry, so be sure to get rid of the extra blinds at the bottom that you don’t need). You can get them custom cut for free at Home Depot. Actually…4 sets of those blinds on a window wouldn’t be THAT bad.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:51 am, Ree Says:
I immediately thought of three sets of blinds, too. But, if you’re not into blinds, you could always go traditional with long sheers (which wouldn’t block the heater and a really fab (um, sorry, inner designer trying to escape) valance. Short sheers would probably work as well.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:07 am, Carrisa Says:
plantation shutters.
word.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:47 am, sallyacious Says:
We have short, louvered blinds covering our 3-panel front window. They’re from the previous owners and are a ghastly 1980′s swirl of taupe, pink and light blue. However, the short louvers works really well in the space, and if we ever get around to replacing them, we’ll do it with a nice, neutral color of the same style.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:33 pm, Becca Says:
I’d say three sets of pretty wood blinds with a nice valance in something like blue toile would look good. But not a ruffly valance, one of those nice flat ones.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:53 pm, Liza Says:
Thanks for the happy birthday! Jill and Noah did a great job of making me feel lucky and special, and with my folks visiting, we even got to have a Grown Up Date. Is it embarrassing that even with a movie and dinner, we were home by 8:30 pm?
I have no “window treatment” suggestions. I’m decorationally challenged.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:40 pm, Isabel Says:
I just remembered that you sent me some curtain suggestions in the mail a long time ago. If you want, I can send them back to you. They might come in handy!
November 26th, 2007 at 3:08 pm, Liz Says:
I’m with Molly’s mom (WORD!)… cafe curtains will provide you with some privacy but plenty of light. Thereby keeping then neighbors and “friends” from seeing your half-nekkid self. Unless you’re an exhibitionist. Which you might be?
Anywho…I’m also decorationally challenged, but the cafe curtains solve all the world’s problems. I also heart those blinds that go both up and down…
November 26th, 2007 at 3:39 pm, Molly Says:
You and I have the same front window! And I’m having the same problem, trying to figure out what to put on it. At first I thought I would go with pecan roman shades, but not only would they have to be custom ordered, but I’m afraid, very afraid, to try to install them. Now I’m thinking cellular as well. I dunno. You do something – and fast – so I can copy!
November 26th, 2007 at 7:14 pm, Heidi Says:
If you do end up doing curtains of any sort, I think a chocolate brown would look nice. You could do it in a solid or in a paisley-type print. Or a dark cinnamon-y red or an olive green would look nice, but I’m partial to brown.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:40 pm, Danielle Says:
I think I’m in the minority here…but I actually like curtains. Maybe you could install some hold-backs on each side of the window so that they’re not twisted together (or whatever you are doing with them). And even upgrade your IKEA curtains. Not that IKEA is bad. But maybe add some color.
I’m also a big fan of the effect of top-down bottom-up honeycomb shades. But I don’t like the cables that are visible when the top is down.
I’m no help.