Living Room: Curtains

I had been working on the living room curtains for a lot longer than anticipated. I think for a solid 2 months, I only had one panel hanging up. But at least it was one pretty panel. :)

I was just completely burnt out on making curtains after all the ones I did for the bedroom and guest room - not to mention all the other little sewing jobs like pillows and shams, etc. But I knew I had to get both the living and dining rooms curtains done by the first weekend in October because one, I was planning a surprise baby party for my cousin and one curtain hanging up wasn't going to cut it, and two - not only was all the fabric, lining and grommets sitting around in my sewing room - everything had already been cut. I was really out of excuses.

And you know what? If I knew that curtains could make everything so much better (and I'm talking life in general here) I would've done them months ago. Sometimes I get bogged down by all the house projects and my one...two...three(?!) jobs, I forget that something as small as hanging up a set of curtains can make the world fall away a little. Instantly, you see a change. Instantly, you see progress. And for someone who feels like they are just treading water most days, progress is a good thing.

Apologies in advance for the first shot here - my camera doesn't handle bright windows well...

I had a shop card from Crate & Barrel left over from when I returned all these plum Marimekko sheet sets months ago, so we purchased the modern, brushed nickel rods using that (making them almost free, ha!). Originally I was going to make the sheet sets into curtains, but didn't like the look once we bought the house, so I opted for this modern print from Ikea instead:

You'll see this fabric pop up again soon!

For the tops, I decided on grommets - I used the large Dritz ones that you can find at Joanns (although I got a better deal on them at Create For Less, online).

Mike had to handle the grommets for me - they were tricky to pop together and keep together, but otherwise really easy to use. I really, really didn't want to get into any fancy pinch-pleating (as much as I love it!) or anything more complicated for these - just kept it simple, clean, and modern.

Granted, I probably should've done 4 panels total, 2 on each side, for a window this wide. But we have no intention of ever closing them, so really they just frame the window. The best thing about living in the middle of nowhere is not having shades and drapes block any light coming into the house!