I am over the moon about the dramatic new green velvet Gone With the Wind style curtains Paul and I (finally) hung in the parlor this weekend.
I’ve been uncharacteristically patient about window treatments in my front room. I knew I wanted something achingly Victorian. Gorgeous, heavy fabric in a rich color. Like these….
Its something I’ve been thinking about since we moved in two-and-a-half years ago. But trim to floor, the windows are 105 inches tall. Standard big-box store curtains are a major no-go. And curtain panels long enough for my windows online are typically crazy expensive. Even if I sewed (which I do not), covering the room’s 3 windows would take nearly 20 yards of heavy-duty home décor fabric, which runs at least $10 a yard, and typically much more. The math is ugly. For a while, I had an inexpensive Ikea white curtain set on each window, mostly for privacy. The curtains were several inches short of the floor and brought nothing to the room. I took them down to wash them over the summer and couldn’t bear to put them back up. The parlor windows sat naked for 6 months. I spent that time patiently trolling the interwebs, looking for a cost-friendly solution. Once again, Ikea to the rescue!
Sanella velvet curtains are sold in 98-inch and 118-inch lengths in a variety of colors including a very GWtW green, and the 118 inch curtains are only $69 a pair!
You honestly couldn’t even buy the fabric for less. An unexpected, modest holiday bonus meant one thing: it was time to buy those curtains!
I’ll take a moment to gush about my love for Ikea. Their Marketplace is one of my happiest happy places. Sadly, while I had not 1 but 2 Ikeas within a 20-minute drive in New York, I currently live in an Ikea desert in Ohio. The closest stores are 2 hours away. Over Christmas break, though, I used my children as an excuse to take an Ikea excursion. We did a day trip to the truly awesome COSI (Center of Science and Industry) Museum in Columbus, which is a convenient hop, skip and jump from the newish Ikea Columbus. After wearing the boys out at the Museum and feeding them a satisfying Ikea dinner, they contentedly followed me around as I pranced through the Marketplace. All in all, a great day.
The curtains are certainly pretty on their own, but they still needed something. I briefly contemplated taking a foot of fabric off of each curtain panel to make coordinating cornice boxes like these for more visual interest:
But ultimately – I was too scared to take a scissor to my lovely and not exactly cheap new curtains. I seriously can’t cut in a straight line to save my freakin’ life. After some Pintresting, I decided what the curtains needed was: fringe! What’s more Victorian than fringe?
Once again, I planned a day trip around home décor shopping – this time taking the boys to see Aqua Man at a movie theater just across a shopping plaza from Hobby Lobby (full disclosure – I did not mind going to see Aqua Man. Mmmm. Anyway.) I found gorgeous fringe that picked up all the colors of my area rug:
But I needed 20 yards of it, far more than what was in stock. Once again, I exercised uncharacteristic amounts of patience and special ordered it, which would take 2 weeks. This gave me time to contemplate curtain rods and tie backs and explain to Paul why I really, seriously, truly needed $50 worth of fringe.
Stay tuned for the curtain project reveal and tips on curtain hardware for less!
To be continued…
Old, Pretty, and Slightly Broken 