A Pocketful of Licorice: curtain-making

Getting curtains up on some windows was one of the goals I had for this vacation. Curtains are problematic for me for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm not a huge fan of capital W capital T Window Treatments. I'm very fussy about fabric, so often I just end up going for basic, plain white. Also, curtains can be pretty expensive. Even if you choose to make them yourself, the fabric can cost a lot. So I got really lucky when I found these...

Two awesome vintage floral prints that I totally love. The one on the left, I found at the antique store in Putnam a couple days ago. Over 5 yards of it for $30. If you have tried to purchase home decor fabric recently, you know what a good deal this was! $6/yard is crazy. The one on the right, I purchased at Brimfield last year and forgot about until I was digging through my fabric stash yesterday. Again, there were at least 5 yards and I think I paid $10 for the entire length. $2/yard is even better!

Last night I made curtains for my office...

I'm cropping these pictures carefully because the rest of the room isn't ready to be seen yet, but at least I have curtains now. To make curtains for two windows, I had to do the kind that end at the window sill. And for now, they are tied back with lace hem tape. Which isn't really how one does windows, but whatever.

At some point, I'd like to hang them from nicer poles and replace the blinds with something different - wood or bamboo maybe, but for now the room looks a lot more finished than it did before. I love the pattern and color. Gray and yellow. So perfect and pretty!

Now, downstairs I have just one big room - a living and dining area all together, with three windows and some sliding doors leading to a deck. And since I didn't have enough fabric to do all of it, I decided to make curtains for the dining area for now.

The dining area only has one window. I'll do the living room area in a coordinating but different fabric when I find the right one. I need to make some proper ties for this window as well. For now, hem tape will have to do. Since I was only doing one window, I made floor to ceiling curtains so it would look more dramatic. So far, I've only hung Margot and Richie in the downstairs area. They are my favorite pieces of wall art, at the moment. The china closet in the corner is really exciting to me. It's not mine, it belongs to my landlords, but I'm pretty sure it's from the thirties or forties. It holds all my wine and cocktail glasses, and I'm using the top for my bar, at the moment. And the portrait up there is my Pepere in his Navy uniform. It seems to fit.

I'll re-cover the dining chairs with a better fabric at some point, I think. I took this picture standing in the living room area, looking towards the dining area. I can't show you the living room yet because the couch is too horrible and either needs to be slip-covered or replaced entirely. I shouldn't exaggerate. It is a comfortable and well-built couch with upholstery that is not at all to my taste. And it will have to do for a while.