Friday, May 18, 2007

Psst, Come Here--Wanna See My Curtains?

About three years ago, we moved down the street to a larger house. For three years, our living room remained decorated with flat white paint and the builder's thirteen dollar, gold-plated light arrangements.

I am not known for my decorating skills, but I do have a knack for accepting other people's stuff--which is how my sis-in-law's curtains ended up decorating the family room windows, my aunt's lamp on a table and my mother in-law's kitchen table ended up in the dining room.

So one day, the hubby and I looked at each other and had the same thought--let's paint the living room. We were avoiding it for a long time because of the soaring ceilings. When inspiration hits, we roll with it. Our problem is, we often run out of inspiration in the middle of a home job and leave things halfway done.

Or we run out of money.

But this time, we got the job done and sat back to admire the soft yellow walls. We admired the new lights that we put up over the hand-me-down table.

Yet, the room still looked bare and unfinished. We knew we needed curtains, so we set out to find some. Due to the high ceilings, we quickly learned that we would have to either make them or have them custom made.

Either way, it wasn't going to be cheap.

One day, I was at my neighbor's house picking up the youngest kiddo and I noticed that she had some nice white curtains hanging up. We have the same soaring ceilings. "Nice curtains," I commented. "Where did you get them?"

"Oh, those are tablecloths!" she replied. "From Linens and Things!"

I was flabbergasted.

So I ran over to Linens and Things and found a beautiful gold color tablecloth in the perfect length.

For eighteen bucks each!

13 comments:

jenny said...

I love money savers like that!! Congrats on getting new "curtains". They look great!

groovyoldlady said...

Whoo-hoo! You go girl - They're beautiful!

Jana B said...

Hahaha that is awesome!!!! Hey, since you're done at your house... wanna paint and decorate MINE?

Karen Putz said...

Ha, Ha, Jana, you'll have to wait until we finish the rest of the house!

Anonymous said...

Hey, they look great!!!
My friend is infamous for decorating with (much much cheaper than already cheap) shower curtains from Ikea.

Good job! I love how bright and cheery your lr looks.

Dawn Wilson said...

The picture didn't come through for me, but I love how your story turned out. Congrats on a great find! One of these days I'll get the nerve to try and paint a room. LOL

Slackermommy said...

They're beautiful! BTW, thanks for your kind words on my blog today.

Stacy said...

Sorta stumbled on your blog awhile back. I enjoy reading it. I've never commented until today. I, too, use a table cloth as a curtain. It's an indian/arab-style cloth simply draped on a curtain rod. I get more compliments on it! It's great! Oh... and almost everything in my house is a handed down from someone else. I prefer it that way, frankly. Sure beats the "Pier-1-in-a-bottle" look. Congrats on your savvy style.

Anonymous said...

That is great. My wife did the same thing with two different color sheets for the kitchen before I met her and she says that she had so many compliments about them. She never did tell anyone what they really were.

Homemom3 said...

wish we could paint our house, but we live in military housing. :( I don't even have pictures on the wall. Love the way that pic looks. :) Very cozy area, perfect for reading.

Anonymous said...

lovely looking room!

Celeste said...

Greta job!

Anonymous said...

i love linens n things. they have really great stuff that's very reasonably priced! they look so nice in your living room, too :)