Ugly Curtains

At first, you could only be there is understand how funny the comment was. When we purchased our house last August, we needed a way to shut out the 110 degree weather that seeped in through the dozen or so windows that engulfed our house.

The solution (or so I thought) was easy: hang curtains!

Background:
I saw it done a million times on those home makeover shows. The smart girl puts together a few funky prints and voila! As fancy up-do for the living room. I wanted the same thing for our house. So I headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond and purchased enough curtains to build a flag for Texas. (Now the color we picked was Camel, and we didn't purchase the valance).

After realizing that we just couldn't cover up EVERY window, we returned a few. This was when my dear brother-in-law made the mistake of admitting that the curtains were ugly. He did not realize that we were only returning a FEW of the curtains that we didn't use, but in fact had left a bunch still hanging on the walls.

Now almost six months later, we are updating the house for the spring. We want lively, fresh and modern. We want to be seen as a young hip couple, not the clearance aisle freaks that we were back in August. (Honestly, ALL the curtains were on close-out at BB&B).

I decided that in addition to the curtains in the living room, I would need to replace the curtains in other rooms in order to make the makeover successful! This included the kitchen, our bedroom and the office. Truth was, the office was neglected since we moved in. (It had been cleaned over and over, but it just wouldn't stay clean).

So...I headed to my favorite furniture place....IKEA!!!

Outcome:
Here I went looking for something that met the hip, new requirements we had in mind. For $19.99, I purchased two sets of curtains (each contained 2) for the sliding patio doors in our living room. These were fantastic because they held onto the curtain rod by metal loops at the top. This is ingenious as it makes it super easy to open/close.

Opening and closing the curtains was a headache for my beloved. He absolutely HATED it, and basically left them closed until I woke up and did the job. Now since the loops are on, there is nothing for me to do.

By adding the new curtains, I not only freshened up the living room, but I even managed to get a few more hours of sleep!

Now after picking out and replacing the curtains, I needed to make the same change for the other windows. I found the blinds at IKEA as well (also in white). The first pair that I picked up were for the windows by our front door. They have a decorative design on them that looks modern and fresh (ding ding ding!!!).

They have yet to be hung, but I'm sure they will look fabulous! I also purchased on a second trip to IKEA additional blinds for our bedroom and office as well as the kitchen.

It finally feels like we are making progress in our little home!!!

Until next time...