From Eh to Awe!

So before Thanksgiving I got an itch. I wanted to change the window treatments in the family room, but I had a small problem - I didn't know how I wanted to change them. I knew I wanted something casual and relaxed, but I also wanted it to still be a little formal. Not totally formal, but a little eensy bit formal. So I took a couple of months to think about it.

Then on a trip to Hancock I found the 'perfect' fabric. Only it wasn't as perfect as I thought it was. I mean it is perfect because it has all of the right colors but the background was the color of a natural linen. The fabric was more perfect for summer curtains (do you see the foreshadowing of a future post here?), and it would not match the curtains I wanted to alter. The curtains that were up in the family room were originally from our master bedroom. They're just a woven chocolate brown. Really nothing to write home, but oh the potential of these panels.

The winter mantle is still up in these pictures. Kind of tells you how long ago I took everything down. 

So on another trip to Hancock I found even more perfect fabric. This fabric has all of the right colors, but its background is a terracotta color. Now both fabrics were paisleys but the lighter fabric was more spaced out and a bit more modern, whereas the new winter fabric is a bit more traditionally spaced for a paisley. Either way I love them both. 

So now that I have my new winter fabric, it was time to take down the curtains in the family room and get them washed. I also took down the valences. I did have a wee bit of trouble with the drill and the said taking down of window treatments. It might have had something to do with the fact that I decided to do this task after midnight. Ooops. I wish I could say this was the end of our problems, but alas...its not.

 Of course hanging my new curtains couldn't be easy. I had originally intended to have these curtains hang just above the floor because I did not want dogs and small children furring them up and playing with them. Only when we went to hang the curtains (3" down from the ceiling) we discovered that there was a metal beam in the wall that ran the length of the room and there was no getting any hardware mounted there. Le sigh. So We ended up having to move everything down 3-1/2" and dealing with the fact that the curtains will puddle slightly. Not such a big deal, but the 3-1/2 hours it took to get these curtains up was a pain. The curtains are up now and looking oh so lovely, and completely all the work put into them and the wall. There were a lot of holes to patch.

 I am loving how sweet and simple these curtains are looking. I'm also looking forward to altering the summer curtains, but I have some time before I need to do that. :) I hope you guys enjoyed today's tute and have a terrific day! Tomorrow I'm going to share just exactly how I altered these curtains. I hope  to see you tomorrow!