Curtains at Last

It all started with the wood floors and has snow balled into the never ending project.  And that project is our dining room.   It has been the “If you give a mouse a cookie” of home improvement.

I usually start with the before pictures but I can’t wait for all of you to see my almost finished curtains.  I say almost because these panels are so heavy I have decided to let them hang for a week or two before I hem them.  I am pretty sure that they are going to “grow” a bit.

Here is a close up of the floral print.  The fabric has a bit of a shabby chic texture and I feel in love with at first site.  And it was on sale.  Not just any sale, it was on the $2 per yard table.  For designer material.  Unfortunately there was not quite enough fabric to cover the length I needed.  The ceilings are very high in my dining room so I needed 90 inch long panels.
But as luck would have it they had a coordinating stripe fabric.  Also on sale for $2 a yard.  My purchase totaled a whooping $18 plus tax. 


I also needed lining for these panels but I didn’t have to wait long before the fabric store had, you guessed it, an other sale.  It was $4 per yard, which was a bargain since it was the black out lining.  As you can see it is on a bolt.  Some of you fantastic seamstresses out there might already know that the store will cut it for you and then roll it back on to a bolt.  They even covered it in plastic.
So finally after a few months of planning work on the panels started.

Even with all the leaves in my dining room table, the panels hung over all the edges.  And these beauties are heavy, that is why my silver champagne bucket is holding it in place, otherwise the weight kept pulling it off of the table.

So I moved my work area to the kitchen bar but that was only a tad better.  I had panels folded up in the bar stools to keep it off of the floor.  And I was terrified that I would get something on them while I was cooking.

I decided that I wanted a third pattern for these curtains and I found a beautiful green with red and gold dragonflies woven in to the pattern.  I placed a 4 inch strip of this green fabric between the floral and the stripe.  I am using the same dragonfly material to cover the seats to my dining room chairs.
I made a coordinating valance for the bathroom right off the hall from the dining room.
So here are my new panels.  I am so glad they are done for now because I have so many other projects to complete this room.

I am thrilled to say that these panels are done.  I usually work at a snails pace anyway but the weight of these panels really slowed me down the process to a half my usual pace. 
Up next, recovering  my dining room chairs and making lumbar pillows for two of the dining chairs in the saga of the never ending dining room,
Giveaway Reminder.  I am having my first giveaway.  To be given a way is $50 GC.  So pop on over to read about the giveaway HERE.
Thanks for reading
Traci

I will be partying at these wonderful blogs.