Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Dropcloth Drapes

Hey, I never said I was original! I think Layla started the craze with these.

Wendy’s first undertaking was to help me get some window treatments in my family room/dining room/kitchen. The family rm and kitchen windows have been bare ever since we moved in, except for blinds. The sliding glass doors-to-nowhere (have you priced decks lately?) in the dining area just had some drapes from previous houses, for privacy’s sake.

I forgot to take before pictures, except for the kitchen, so we’ll just skip straight to the “after”. The evening lighting was awkward, but you get the idea.

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This side of the house (back) gets full western sun all afternoon. I need to be able to close the drapes on the doors, at least, since we can’t put blinds on them. We made the rods out of spray painted dowels, and used the finials and brackets that I already had from the short rods that were in the living room. Then we hung ‘em high (bil Wayne did that for me—thanks!), and used clip rings.

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Now, Wendy likes to sew. In fact, people pay her to do it. I can sew, but don’t particularly love to. So I let her man the sewing machine. Even though all the edges of the dropcloths are finished, she put a nice blind hem at the bottoms. It gives them a little weight and a more professional finish. Then she moved on to the kitchen windows and kept on sewing.

Before: bare and boring.IMG_3542

After: fresh and fabulous! IMG_3547

She used the garage sale fabric that I used on my chair to sew a border along the edge of dropcloth fabric. I spray painted some clip rings I had, and we hung them from cup hooks. Love it!

Stay tuned, cuz there’s more to come!

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the one in the kitchen! I've been so tempted to use drop cloths in my LR, but haven't found the courage yet--I'm afraid they won't turn out like I want them to. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

It looks great! Love the kitchen drapes, I'm really going to have to try that idea. Much cheaper than a curtain rod :)

southerninspiration said...

Wow, what a difference, and I love your new picture (of you).

Suzanne

dixie said...

They look GREAT!!! I really like the ones above your sink. Very cute and clever. Can't wait to see them in person.

Lou Cinda @ Tattered Hydrangeas said...

I LOVE these! Especially the ones in the kitchen! So cute!!

Lou Cinda :)

arkie said...

Really love the kitchen drapery!

Tricia said...

Hi Holly.
I love the drapes. I am planning to use them for my dining and family rooms as well.
I really like your new profile picture too. Very pretty.
Have a great week.
XO*Tricia

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

Those are adorable! They all look like you paid a LOT of money for them. :) I just got a drop cloth over the weekend ($8.99 at WM) and used it as a table cloth, but I love the look on the windows too. :)

marmielu said...

The drapes look really great, and I love what you did in the kitchen! What a cleaver idea to use those hooks instead of rods. I really like that.
Mary Lou

Anonymous said...

I tried the drop cloth curtains too after I saw Layla do them. My only problem is that I washed them and they shrunk BIG time. Since then I've decided to use the fabric to cover a giant corkboard to make a headboard. But know I'm thinking I need to used them for valances like yours.

I'm lovin those kitchen curtains! Great idea with the cup hooks! Now if only I had some sisters to help me!

Melissa said...

Oh my goodness~I love them all! And I adore how your chair turned out too! I love sisters and the magic that happens when they come!

Sono-Ma: Holly White-Wolfe said...

Your sense of style is amazing! I love the way you reclaim treasures and make them look Pottery Barn swank in your home!

A Southern Rose said...

Your curtains look amazing! I love the cuphook idea! I will try that!

ImagineCozy said...

Your drapes are fantastic. Don't they make such a difference in softening and warming up the room.
My favorite type of curtains are done just like you did yours... hung high and using the black rings with hooks. It is so easy you can use almost any fabric, just hem it and hang them up.

It looks great!
-Angela

farmhouse mama said...

Love how these turned out. I'm linking to this post today. Hope you don't mind.

http://our1918life.blogspot.com/2010/03/drop-cloth-cover-up.html