it's curtain time!

As I have mentioned before, our new digs have a total of 19 windows. Six of those windows are in the dining room and front parlor. The two rooms are open to each other, but clearly divided by beautiful turn of the century columns. It's been a long while since I have had lots of windows. Our little condo only had three and each was in a completely different room; I didn't have to worry about flow or matching.

We have been here for just over two months now. And for about the first eight weeks, we lived with bare naked windows. I didn't want to just run out and buy whatever was on sale for the sake of having curtains. I really love the look of full length drapes, but of course with those, like most things, comes a very hefty price tag. Even the more affordable drapes run about $20 per panel. 

My first thought was to buy inexpensive fabric and sew some lined drapes. I went to the fabric store and picked up some muslin and white lining and made a test pair of curtains. They came out wonderfully, but I am not all that skilled at sewing (I can do it, it just takes me a loooong time.) Three hours later, I had one pair of muslin curtains. They came out great and cost about $15 per panel. Given how much time it took me, not much of a savings. Five more windows at three hours each... ummm... yeah.. no.

Then I decided maybe I should just suck it up and buy the darned things. But honestly, I couldn't find anything I liked under about $35 per panel. I just couldn't cough up that much moola for rented windows. 

I was still trying to figure out what to do, when my friend Julie, an interior designer and owner of Chrissis and Company Interiors, stopped in one morning. She was checking out the new space and I had mentioned my little dilemma. That is when she told me she had made curtains for her apartment out of drop clothes she got at Home Depot. The canvas fabric is basically the same color as a muslin - actually it is a little more brown which I actually prefer. It makes it easier for me to tie in the two rooms. At first I thought the natural color would be to much of a contrast on the sage green walls in the front parlor, but Julie assured me once I had the throw pillows, carpet and curtains in the room it wouldn't look stark at all. 

Who am I to argue with a pro? Seriously - check out her work. She has created some beautiful interiors for premier properties in the Boston area. 

So I head to the Home Depot pick up some drop cloths like this for $10.98 (but I had a coupon for 10% off): 

The drop clothes come in a wide variety of widths and lengths. I purchased 6' x 9' drop cloths to give me plenty of fabric to work with.

It took me about one hour per pair. I didn't take pictures of the process, but basically I cut the drop clothes in half and rolled and ironed a hem (Thank you to my sister and Becky O'Neil of Becky Oh! for teaching me the importance of ironing as you sew), and zipped a straight line to finish of the side. I measured where I wanted the hardware to be and the length I wanted to curtains (mine at 91" finished due to my fabulously high ceilings). Then I measured off about 4" at the top to create a rod pocket and did a simple 3" hem at the bottom.

I didn't bother with a lining - I may add one at a later point but the house has blown in insulation in the exterior walls, new windows that have be caulked with silicone and the land lord is insulating the between the joists in the basement. I don't think a lining will really make a difference at this point. 

She also directed me to get window hardware from Christmas Tree Shoppe. I was a little hesitant because I had always associated CTS with a place to buy next years yard sale crap - but once again she did not steer me wrong. I picked up six rods and brackets for $3.99 each. Wooooo to the hooooo! Did I mention this girl is talented and smart?? 

So basically, each window cost me $13.87 complete with hardware. I feel like a rock star.. or at least I like I deserve a gold star

Of course, because we live in an old home, nothing is perfect. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo or not - but the window casing closest to the fireplace abuts a wall and the left side of the casing is actually more narrow than the rest. Which means, we have to place the bracket up against the wall angle, remove the final and I will probably have to take at least one third off of one panel to "trick the eye" and stop the curtain from "creeping" too much into the actual window. C'est la vie!

Why yes, that IS a full size sofa in our Ford Focus!

{OK, so it didn't look quite like that... but it was close!}

My husband is one determined man. He fit a 80 3/4" sofa into the back of our Ford Focus. How?? I'm glad you asked. But first, let me start at the beginning...

Space, glorious space! Our front parlor just screams turn-of-the-century charm and to me, that says, the new digs required a new modern sofa to balance it out. I love all the original warm honey colored woodwork through out our new home and the architectural details that you just cannot find in home built post-World War II. My personal style leans towards the eclectic, so traditional furnishings were just not going to cut it. Living in New Hampshire, options are limited in acquiring non-traditional furniture. And, as much as I wish it wasn't, money is an object – as is the need for strength against children. So, where does one go when you need to find a sofa that has style, comfort, affordability and durability?

After checking out the local offerings - IKEA-land here we come. Design geniuses extraordinaire, those Swedish designers have the market covered on utilizing small space in a most eye pleasing way, but it is their flat packing that have my most sincere kudos.

Eric and I made the trek through Boston and into Stoughton/Avon to the nearest IKEA. It's just over an hour away - but it's a far enough distance that if you get down there and they are out of stock on an item, one can get very irritated. I've tried calling and having them hold an item that is in stock until I can get there - but they won't. You can purchase some items online, but you can't pick them up in the store. They will ship them to you and, in the case of a sofa, it's an extra $199. They do have an online inventory check that they say is accurate (because stock moves so quickly, they claim to err on the side of caution on inventory counts). We had been a few weeks prior and found the sofa we liked, but they were 'temporarily out of stock'. That was OK, because at the time, we weren't ready to commit. Now we were.

In our case, the online inventory said there were 6 pieces in stock at 5pm. Surely, there wouldn't be a mad run on sofas between now and the hour and 15 minutes it would take us to get there. We hoped in the car, and drove down. For anyone who have never been to an IKEA, it is a playground of gizmos, gadgets and glorious decor for a person like me. Eric firmly directed me to the sofa section to keep me from straying to a random lamp or pillow case, where we quickly tested the sofa out one more time, jotted down the aisle/bin numbers and went back down to the warehouse to pick up our sofa. We got side tracked in carpeting and lighting, but no more than an extra 15 minutes.

Karlstad Korndal Brown Sofa from IKEA

Eric grabbed a flat cart and we were quickly steering that left leaning cart to our new sofa. There, in our aisle, was a lone man, loading a sofa onto his flat cart. That's OK. There are still four more... three if it's been busy. But man, that bin looked really, REALLY empty. As we peered in and saw darkness, I felt a flutter of panic. We looked at the man with the sofa and Eric was quickly calculating how much cash the man might would accept to hand over the Karlstad... when the man said "You're lucky. There's just one left."

One? ONE! There in the shadows was the LAST Karlstad sofa. (queue angelic music and heavenly beam of light)

Eric loaded it onto the cart. We checked the stock numbers one last time to make sure we had all the right boxes and headed towards check out - content in the realization we had successfully scored our first sofa chosen together.

No Water Bottle Left Behind
Of course that happy, fuzzy feeling quickly faded as I looked long and hard at the main box of the sofa. How they H-E-Double hockey sticks was this going to fit in car? I have a 2004 Ford Focus Wagon that is a little work horse. The seats fold flat down and it is actually roomier than most mid sized SUVS –  but I was definitely getting nervous that perhaps I had over estimated my little wagon this time around.

Hubby said not to worry, it would fit. Cheerily, he folded down the seats, grimaced at the  stash of candy corn (remind me to vacuum and de-goo-ify) and various snacks that made their way in to the seat cracks, and loaded the main box.

It was to big. Not to be put off, he moved the front seat up a bit. It almost fit. Since the box was really just one side of the car, he moved the front passenger seat up again. It fit, IT FIT!!!!! But there were still the other boxes of cushions and covers, I told him to leave the case of water out so everything would fit.

"Nonsense.", says he.

Squish, swish, smush and crunch... (why, oh why didn't I get  picture of this?!?!)

Never mind the fact that Eric had to ride shot gun in the knees-to-nose position, everything made it in the car. And, of course, about a mile into the trek home, those darned water bottles started rubbing together and squeaking the whole trip. It took about five miles for me to stop giggling about the whole adventure.

So there you have it... one part (afore mentioned) determination + one part IKEA flat packing + one part wagon + one part knees to nose sitting position =  new sofa at home! Now to find some fun, bold graphic pillows.

Pouf!

Pouf! Pouf pouf!! Besides being really fun to say - I am in 'adore' with poufs. What a great way to add stylish extra seating or a spot relax those tired toes while hunkering down for movie night with the hubby.

I love the way they can add a pop of color and and element of texture to a room without being overwhelming. My goal in decorating our new home is to make it well designed, yet inviting place where our family and friends can just sink in and be cozy, rather than feel as though there are 'No Touch' signs all over the place... plus, we have kids so 'elegance' has to also be durable.

I saw a home tour on Apartment Therapy not to long ago and started noticing them. It got me thinking about how I could utilize them in our new space. We have a side console table in the dining room that has lots of open airy space underneath. I like the idea that I could easily tuck these away under the table and still maintain a well designed look AND add that splash of color I mentioned. I tend to lean towards very clean lines when I am looking at furnishings. I need to remember to add some softer elements to keep from creating too many harsh edges. Not being the traditional cube ottoman (which is what we have now), these poufs create a more interesting white space.

The coral rope pouf above is from Target and is reasonably priced at just $56 smackers. Sure, they come in lots of shapes, fabrics – leather, cotton, velvet, patterned or plain – but something about this woven/knitted look just makes me smile. It just oozes a casual and comfortable lifestyle while still holding on to a bit of elegance.