curtains at last

We started our apartment renovation in September and we really went at it full force for at least 3 months. I was so happy to have the time and energy to be able to make our place feel like a home. It has been a real challenge lately as the real world of job searches and obligations have been sneaking in and spoiling the fun. I would love to figure out a way to do this full time and make money at it. (if anyone has any ideas on how this might be possible please let me know) At any rate I have been focusing more on details that have been left undone to sort of finish things up. I say sort of because it will never be finished. You bring things in you take things out. You rearrange or you get tired of a color what have you. Anyway for those of you that have followed us from the beginning you know that we have been needing curtains for months. With all of the cold weather we have had combined with my unwillingness to look at the fabric that had been stapled up in lieu of curtains for even one more day I was finally motivated to stop everything else and make the damn curtains already.

Staying within our general theme of faded Cuban glamour as our bedroom inspiration I bought fabric a while back that had the best old world striped pattern. I also went on an ebay mission to find curtain hardware that I liked. This took a good month to round all of the hardware up. I ended up choosing the finials, brackets and curtain hooks that you see below. I really looked for things that I liked and it turns out that all of the hardware is from the Victorian era. The curtain rod holes are small so we were able to buy a dowling rod to use as a curtain rod. Richard stained the rod to match the color of the brackets and we were able to screw the finials into the ends of the rod. I don't really like big bulky curtain rods and hardware so the dimensions worked out well for me. Richard likes it too.

What follows are photos of the finished product. I am including a few 'before' and 'in progress' photographs so you can see where we started.

This last photo is a close up of the tie backs. Its funny because I usually like things less decorative but something about wanting this bedroom to be a little decadent inspired me to use these hilarious tie backs. Now I can finally stop waking up cursing the tacked up fabric over the windows. I have another set of curtains to do over the doorway that leads from our bedroom to the living room but I lost one of the brackets. I am thinking about casting a set from the one that I do have in ceramic or metal. I might even make enough to sell as they are such an easy solution and no one makes that type of bracket anymore. Anyway on to the living room curtains and all of the other unfinished details that make me crazy daily.

Thanks for looking!