Tuesday, January 8, 2008

curtains

I love fashion, and it's easy for me. But home decor, dang that is a totally different story. I ventured out to Bed Bath and Beyond to get drapes for the living room, because the afternoon sun shines right on the couch, making it impossible to watch TV without holding a pillow up blocking out the sun rays.

I love the thickness of the drapes, the color is gorgeous too. HOWEVER, at 95", they are still too short. The next length up will be too long, and I would have no idea how to hem a curtain. Should I just leave it "puddle" on the floor? Gah. If only this is as easy as pants.

9 comments:

Chrystal Sander said...

They look pretty long to me. I recently got some black-out curtains too because the light was too much and they help keep out the cold. They do reach the floor though and I don't care for that so much because it is messy but I don't know what to do. I'm not a decorator either. At least since it's dark, I can't see much of it anyway.

Staples work instead of hemming. :o)

TRaZ said...

a good steaming, or ironing will lengthen them a bit.

also, weren't we planning on putting some kind of shelf unit under the window?

i don't think we want them on the floor - and all those pictures with perfect length curtains... are well, *made* to be perfect.

kinda like those pictures of hamburgers at McDonalds.

asoon said...

after staring at them, i do think they are a tad too short. Also after putting the curtains up I realize that the brackets are too close and need to be further apart. But that would include screwing them into the plaster wall instead of the wood work. Which also means while I am doing that I might as well plan for my own funeral.

Mutha Mae said...

In the olden days, if your curtains puddled on the floor, it meant you were so terribly wealthy, you could waste material. It was a status symbol.

R said...

Hi Angeline-- thanks for your recent comment; and now I'm here to help you with your curtains! I'm a flip-flop with you, with fashion and interior design!

A puddle is a GREAT thing if you have a soft enough curtain fabric that puddles easily, and as long as it is a small puddle. (And what do you mean you don't know interior design--- you know the word puddle and use it correctly!)

How high are your ceilings? The reason I ask is because the look I prefer is to hang the curtain up as high as possible. . . you are very much 'allowed' to hang curtains ABOVE the top of the window. (It's a great look that really helps lengthen everything.) So you could go up to the next length in curtain, measure up from the floor, and hang the curtain rod wherever the top of the curtain would hit. As much as a puddle is a good thing, it can look horribly wrong with the wrong fabric. So I prefer a curtain that literally skims the floor.

Hope that helps!

R said...

Oh no, I just read about the plaster wall; having plaster walls myself, I understand.

Ok, two questions: is the fabric soft and will it puddle? and, if you exchanged them for the next length up, how much extra fabric would there be on the floor in the puddle?

Next option: I'm trying to look at your photo, and it looks like you have a very nice base board moulding. And it looks as though the curtain hits right at the top of the base board, which makes it look a bit intentional. So what you could do, with the curtains you already have up, is buy some curtain tie-backs (that would go into the wood around the window) to make it a bit fancier. So you can leave the curtains all the way across at the top, and when you want it to look nicer, you simply hook the fabric back. And when you want to watch tv without going blind, you pull them down and cover the window. Voila.

asoon said...

mae: you know so many interesting fact!

pmgirl: hahaha staples is a great idea, that or double-sided tape.

rebecca: thanks for the recommendations. I will see if I can play with the fabric to see how well it "puddles". Also I love the idea of just using the tie-backs with the current length. I'll see if I can post pics after my experiments.

hub: just stay put in your man cave while I er... do some home improvement projects. I'll buy you some McD burgers.

playswithyarn said...

if you go to a fabric store, you can buy a double sided tape made for hems that you iron on. it's super simple.

hemming drapes are as easy as hemming pants, you use the same stitch. I would be happy to help if needed.

asoon said...

hey kat! Thanks for the suggestions, which would you recommend? Tape or sew the hem?