New Year - New Curtains!

Happy New Year!!  

With the end of 2011 came the end of the ugly blue, cat-scratched, torn-up couch and chair in my living room.  They had gotten so bad I literally cringed every time someone came over and had to come in my house.  Cub scout den meetings or PTA book fair committee meetings were down-right embarrassing.  But, much to my joy, they are gone.  Several people stopped by as they were sitting on the curb (in the rain) to check them over, but alas, they met their end at the hands of the local garbage collectors.  In their place are some new, more stylish, and definitely better looking pieces of furniture!

However, with the loss of the blue couches, the blue and yellow striped curtains also needed to go.  I had seen an idea on Pinterest where someone took plain white curtains and “dressed them up” with some ribbon.  I thought, with the stripes on the new chair, that would be a great plan for our living room, and pretty inexpensive, too.  

I bought some plain white, linen, grommet-style curtains.  Then I chose three colors of ribbon in different widths.  I used a 2-inch wide chocolate brown, a 3/4-inch golden yellow, and a 1-inch deep red.  I lined the chocolate up with the hem line on both the top and bottom of the curtains and used fabric glue to attach it.  Then I measured 1/2 inch away, and attached the yellow, and another 1/2 inch from that to attach the red.  I used a ruler to keep my lines straight, and they did turn out pretty even.  They are pretty simple looking, but I love the way they turned out!

I made a matching lamp shade out of a square white lamp shade.  I used the same ribbon widths and fabric glue, and I used the same pattern that I used for the curtains.  I did have to miter the corners on the lampshade, and that turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.  It still looks pretty nice.  

So, we are starting 2012 in basically a new living room.  It’s warmer, cozier, and cheerier.  I hope your 2012 is all those things and more!