Clothe the Windows

Last week I took a quick jaunt over to Ikea. I made a couple small purchases, brought them home, David busted out the screw gun, badda bing, badda boom, and suddenly our dining room window went from this:

to this:

I cannot even tell you what a big difference this makes in person. Adding some incredibly basic white curtains makes the room feel so much less stark, so much more lived in. It's hard to tell from this limited perspective (my house isn't clean enough for me to feel good about photographing more than this wall) but I promise it is a massive improvement.

Since there are two windows--one in the dining area under the dropped ceiling and one in the living area just adjacent--we lined the curtain rods up and put matching sheers on both. Clean and simple, just the way I like it.

Of course Ikea didn't have white mounting brackets in stock, so those will need to be painted at some point so they don't stand out so much. And you may have noticed that the panels themselves are way too long and puddle on the floor. I'll hem them to the right length...eventually. For now I'm just happy to have them up.

I also think I'm going to adjust it so that part of the curtain is outside the mounting bracket to hide it a little better. I can do that when I rehang them after hemming them. It's all those little things that make such a big difference that I never seem to get around to finishing...  Sigh.

And now let's talk about something you may have glimpsed this time that wasn't as clear in other photos I've shared:

The blotchy forest green tile on the window sills. Barf on my face.

Someday I'd like to rip them out, patch the drywall, and paint so the whole window matches. Today is not that day. Since the green tile actually doesn't look too horrible with our paint color, and with the curtains softening things up a little, I've been able to ignore them. Most of the time. They're on my list, though, don't you worry.

And for anyone who noticed the blue tarp covering some stuff up just outside the windows? That's the rest of our estate sale furniture. David cleaned it all but it still needed to air out (the dresser especially smelled like old lady perfume) so there it sits until we get around to sanding and painting.

One thing at a time, right?


Details--
Curtains: Vivan, $9.99 for two panels (x2)
Curtain rods: Hugad, $3.99 for the short one, $5.99 for the long one
Finials: Vasentlig, $4.99 for a two pack (x2)
Brackets: Betydlig, $1.49 each (x4)
Total cost: Approximately $50 including tax