Crazy Curtain Lady

In the vein of simple home updates, I decided to institute a switcheroo in my (admittedly limited) curtain department. Back this curtain train up, yes, I only have two sets of curtains in this entire house, start being astonished, curtain-lovers. I don’t know why I’m not into curtains. My overall sense is that if they don’t serve a purpose like limiting line of sight or blocking out 100% sunlight, they often seem to make a room smaller, or just look bulky. And don’t get me started on the amount of dog fur they pick up when they’re in the proximity of the ground. Alternatively, when I moved in I invested in heavy faux-wood blinds throughout the house, and those serve a very functional purpose, so why would I need any more layers of… stuff?

Just call me the Scroogey McScrooge of curtain design. I suppose curtains don’t hurt anyone, and sure, I admit that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning how to do curtains well, but they’ve become that thing that I avoid with all my might. What I really could use is a juicy lesson in curtain-age from someone swell, like the art directors for the West Elm catalogues, or Emily Henderson.

So, when a girl who doesn’t really care a bit about curtains makes a statement about mixing things up, switcheroo style, what could that mean? Precisely. She’s swapping her two sets of curtains. Wild. OK, definitely not. But wildly impacting? You be the judge.

Subject A: Meet the dyed painter’s drop cloth curtains from my bedroom. They’re warm. They’re cozy. They happily complement the gray walls and blue-gray pebble rug.

Call me crazy (a crazy curtain lady), but don’t these panels look much better flanking the sunroom door? Their coziness transitions flawlessly into this other space, and I like how it looks with the colors of the wall (and the new gray-fronted drawers!):

Revived also, perhaps? And let’s not forget to call it free, because this switch took me all of 10 minutes with a break to refill my morning coffee, at no measurable cost.

Subject B: Meet the cotton canvas curtain panel from the summertime sunroom door. It’s light. It’s airy. It’s color promoted spring- and summertime brightness between the rooms without ever feeling too bulky.

What you saw hung in the living room was a single panel of fabric. With the decision to switch this curtain panel into the master bedroom, I bought a second 2.5 yard panel at JoAnn’s for $8 (with coupon) to flank the window just like the old curtain did. I think that in contrast to the warm, cozy browns and grays of our bedroom, it’ll be a breath of fresh air all winter.

Introducing lighter curtains into the room really seems to simplify the space even more. They make the artwork beside the bed stand out a little bit differently, and it has me thinking about upgrading the carpet to something lighter (lighter weight, lighter color); the same could be said for our bedspread (Mr. IKEA duvet is starting to look dingy from repeated washings).

What’s especially nice about 1) my lack of curtain intuition and 2) this switcheroo is that the length of both curtains remained no issue; no floodwaters over here, since both sets of curtains hung long in a pooling way.

For now, the test is on. We shall see what prevails long-term.