Monday, January 3, 2011

Before and After: Living Room Drapes

I finished a work in progress this week- yea!! When we bought this house, the main level was painted beige and we had these lovely (also beige) linen-look drapes in the living room. Here's what the house looked like when we moved in.


Living room before


Then we had that AWESOME water leak that basically destroyed our house a few months ago. And thanks to that water leak, we got all new wood floors and a new coat of paint through the whole main floor. We chose a grey color, Olympic Grey Ghost. But the beige drapes had to go. And they are LONG drapes, almost 100 inches each. Do you know how hard it is to find long drapes in a color you like for a price you can afford? And do you know how expensive drapery fabric is? So I went unconventional on this project and dyed the drapes myself in the washing machine. [Don't worry- I have experience. The first washing machine dye job I did was on part of my wedding dress. Way to start safe, huh?] So as of a few weeks ago we had grey walls and grey drapes.


Living room in progress


Except now I had another problem- shrinkage. Major drape shrinkage. Look at how terrible that is! Dying them in hot water in the washing machine caused them to shrink to different lengths. High-water drapes are so not in our design scheme. So while at Ikea this weekend I purchased a dark grey curtain panel, cut it into sections, hemmed the sections, and then attached to the current drapes. Voila!


Living room after


Not only do they look like fancy custom made drapes (because they are!), but this project was completed for a tiny price- many hours of work, some RIT dye, and one Ikea curtain panel. Even Husband (who is normally not so gung-ho about my 'happy hands at home' crafty projects) has said again and again how great these turned out.

I am on a drapery roll- next up 'custom' drapes for Baby Biscuit's room. Anyone have other ways to dress up, redesign, or repurpose old curtains?

4 comments:

heather said...

How clever! I had some favorite curtains once that shrunk when I washed them too. I was so upset!

I've used this tutorial:
http://twostraightlines.typepad.com/two_straight_lines/tutorials/index.html
to make custom curtains many times.

Highland Monkey's said...

It's always nice when a plan comes together so nicely.

.:+Pearlofafrika+:. said...

great job! can you tell me where you found the artwork in your living room? I love that piece.

Thanks

Its ME said...

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