Thursday, August 23, 2012
Work in our kitchen and sun porch is continuing, and Alex has been toiling away on the assembly of our new cabinets. This seemingly simple "assemble and go" project has of course has spiraled into baseboard removal, wine fridge platform woodworking, and the like. Plus we're still waiting on two key pieces to be arrive (the estimated delivery date isn't until next Thursday!). We hope to have some after photos to share with you soon.
But while he's been dealing with the downright dirty, I've turned my attention to the "fun" stuff. You know, like painting the white hutch and tackling the window treatments.
While we were in IKEA last weekend purchasing the new cabinets and butcher block counters, I took us on a slight detour through the curtains department. I was on the hunt for inexpensive white panels that we can hang in the sun porch to soften the look of the bamboo blinds. The shopping gods must have been smiling that day because I found exactly what I was looking for. For a mere $10 per panel, the Lenda curtains were my answer.
These beauts are a soft white fabric, are slightly translucent (without looking cheap), and have a really nice vertical line pattern that makes them a little more special. They're sold in packs of two, so I picked up two packages for a total of four panels and home they came.
I'm not a huge fan of the tab tops, so I plan to cut these off while I'm hemming them to length. (Okay, so I use the term "hemming" loosely as I don't know how to sew, nor do I own a sewing machine. I'll be using the iron on tape that came with the curtains.)
So now I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I know the area on the left will need one long curtain rod, and I'll hang one panel on either side. But the question is, what I should do with the windows on the back wall of the sun porch?
Option A includes hanging one long rod, treating the three windows and door as one giant "window"? If I go this route, should I hang one panel on the far left next to the small window, and one on the far right in the corner? This would avoid the issue of the curtains getting dirty from outside grime/being shut in the door as we enter and exit and would give us the privacy of covering the full glass back door if needed.
Or, do I go with option B: hang a small rod over the small window, and a medium rod over the set of two windows, leaving the door curtainless? And if I go this route, I don't think I have the room to hang curtains on either side of the small window (nor do I have this many panels), and as I mentioned above, I don't want to fight with them getting caught in the door.
In other news, I have the curtain rod all picked out (a simple bronze color rod with an understated finial), but sadly they were out of stock at our local Target and aren't available online. I'll head to another location this week to continue my search. Other window treatment plans include cutting down the bamboo blinds so they're recessed between the windows, and are no longer flush mounted. My hope is that this will break up their visual weight.
So in terms of the great rod debate, what do you think? Honestly I think I'm leaning toward bigger is better and vote for Option A for privacy and practicality reasons. Care to share your two cents on the matter?