Sewing YearSewing 7Easy SewingSewing CraftSewing TipsHemming IkeaHem IkeaHemming CurtainTutorial I'MForwardThis is a super useful tutorial! I'm excited to share it, and proud of myself for nailing down my method and using it on a pair of curtains ...I love IKEA for many reasons.  They have great, affordable finds that can easily be transformed and made to fit your own personal style.  One of my favorite IKEA finds are their curtains.  It's hard to find long curtains (95" or longer) without paying a fortune.  Most big box stores don't even carry longer lengths.  I particularly love the Ritva curtains and recommend them to a lot of my clients.  They are simple and have a nice subtle texture.  They come in a few different colors, but I prefer the white.  They can also be easily updated if you want more of a custom feel.  I don't like to make a huge commitment with my window treatments because I change my mind frequently.  I'd rather make bold choices in the small details that can easily be changed.  

However, my office was starting to look a little too white.  The curtains were white, the sewing table is white, the rug is white, the filing cabinet is white...you get the idea.  So, I decided a good place to add a punch of color and pattern would be the curtains.  I started off thinking I would paint them to look something like this.You'll notice it looks a little red and the white looks a little cream.  Well, something I like to do when I'm searching for fabric is to do a google image search of the fabric.  A lot of times you will find the fabric used in a home, for a pillow on Etsy, or on a blog and you can see it in different lighting and get a better feel for what it really looks like.   photo which is what I needed.  So, I went with it. Let me just say that taking pictures of windows is really tricky so these are a little blown out.  Cate did a  post about how to fix this with online photo editing software, but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.Curtain panels are a necessity for privacy and what I'll call visual softness, but that fabric can cost you.

If you're in the market for some, check out these 10 options under $40. 1. Ivory Jute Sahaj Curtain Panel from World Market, $19.99-$24.99 2. Papercut Medallion Curtain Panel from Urban Outfitters, $29-$34 3. Threshold Jacquard Ikat Window Panel from Target, $24.99-$29.99 5. RITVA Curtains from IKEA, $34.99 6. DIY patterned fabric by Jason Loper 8. Rust Kashvi Patterned Crinkle Voile Curtain Panel from World Market, $19.99 9. Berry and Bright Curtain Panel from ModCloth, $37.99 10. Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler Alexa Curtain Panel from JC Penney, $34.99 (Images: As linked, 6. How to Make DIY Patterned Fabric 7. Price MaisondepaxRods RestorationWooden Curtain RodsHanging Curtain RodsFarm House Curtain RodsDiy Curtain BracketsIkea Curtain RodsPvc Pipe Curtain RodFarm House CurtainsForwardthese are awesome! DIY real wood curtain rods with a Restoration Hardware look for a fraction of the price | Get Playful with Pom PomsGet Playful with Pom PomsNeon yellow trim with dangling pom-poms adds texture and serious fun factor to all-white curtains.

We love that even the curtain tie features the same matching details.Get the tutorial at Beckham + Belle » Paint Nautical StripesPaint Nautical StripesThe trick to making perfect navy lines across an all-white curtain? Painter's tape of course. blockout curtains perth waThe same stuff that works on your walls will ensure the edges on your stripes are straight and the same size.shower curtain rods argosGet the tutorial at Jenna Burger Design »net curtain rods argos 21 Lovely Ways to Repurpose Your Wine Corksjcpenney toile curtainsAre you on The List? hookless shower curtain liner beige

Get a daily dose of style delivered straight to your inbox!Thus far, it has taken me roughly two months to redo the horrendous caulk job in my bathroom. What should have taken no more than a few hours has been stretched into a drawn-out, casual sort of affair, with long periods of rest punctuated by short, manic spurts of activity. double swag shower curtains walmartSo far I’ve succeeded in scraping away and replacing all the caulk around the top of the tub, but have been unsuccessful at working my way down to the floor. royal velvet curtains biancaDon’t even bring up that spot between the sink and the wall or you’re dead to me. I don’t know where this year is going, but I’m fairly certain that science has found a way to speed time while simultaneously slowing my mental processes and emptying my bank account.

This might also just be an indication that I’ve been really busy and taking on any major project (or, let’s face it, even most minor projects) just seems totally out of the question and overwhelming. Hence, the caulk situation. Luckily school ends in a week. As such, I’ve been trying to take this as an opportunity take care of some of those smaller items on my to-do list that tend to fall by the wayside in the excitement of things that are…way more exciting. It’s miserable shit, but it’s also teaching me lofty concepts like “following through” and “responsibility.” Here is our original living room light fixture. I’ll just say it was probably one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen and leave it at that. You don’t even want to know the horrors on top of that circle of glass.New light that is actually old, seeing as I bought it off Craigslist back in AUGUST. Take that in for a second. It’s a Kartell FL/Y Suspension Lamp. It’s huge and plastic and gives off nice light and retails for like $300 but I bought it for $60.

Even though Max has all but outlawed the use of overhead lights, I like knowing it’s up there. Ready for service in the rare moments when I can get away with it. A long time ago, right after I painted the living room, I made the super crappy mistake of trying to pretend I liked curtains. This was a bad idea, seeing as I do not like curtains. Not for myself, anyway, or maybe only these curtains hung in this horrible way. I’m all about curtains for other people. I’m sure yours look great, for example, because you’re perfect. You know how to hang a curtain. Yes, this was the best picture I could scrounge up of the curtain fiasco of 2011-early ’12. God, I hated those curtains. Because they were “temporary,” I decided I didn’t care that the panels were too wide, so the windows could only accommodate one panel each. Sure, I could have cut them in half lengthwise to make two skinnier panels like normal curtain-loving folk might do, but they were “temporary” and…too much effort.

I’m exhausted just thinking about it.RITVA curtains from IKEA on an ugly IKEA curtain rod that seems to have been discontinued. That RITVA fabric is actually really nice, by the way, it just looked awful in my windows. This entire curtain nightmare was brought on by IKEA’s choice to discontinue the fabulous and perfect and beautiful light of my life, fire of my loins that was the ENJE roller blind. Sensing the remote possibility that such an earth-shattering decision might be made by my favorite Swedish furniture manufacturer, I had hoarded all of my ENJE shades from my last apartment, but these two living room windows were too big for those salvaged sloppy seconds. So I had to wait. I heard all of this was brought on because the pull-chain constituted a possible strangling hazard for toddlers or something, but honestly? I’m not a huge fan of most kids, but I was a huge fan of those blinds. You see where I’m going here. Oh joyous day when the ENJE returned to IKEA, but of course they went and bastardized a perfectly good child-repellent design with a new spring-loaded suspension system instead of a pull-chain, which seems like it would be infinitely more hazardous.

So I bought two, brimming with excitement to go home and immediately rip down the curtains and throw up my new shades. A good three or four months later, I finally got around to cutting them to size and actually hanging them in my windows. Why is it so hard for me to take a decent photo on a sunny day? Point is, you can kind of make out where the shade ends, about six inches short of the actual bottom of the window. IKEA, you sneaky little bitch. While the ENJE was undergoing its flashy redesign, IKEA also decided to shorten the shades to a mere 64 inches, from what had previously been about 6,000 inches. What, IKEA, no more love for big-ass pre-war windows? Like, seriously, could my life be any harder? Fuck that noise, even too-short ENJE blinds are better than the curtain disaster. Who needs those last 6 inches? IT TOTALLY DOESN”T DRIVE ME CRAZY!!! It drives me fucking insane. Here’s a picture to hopefully convey how great the fabric is on these things, diffusing just the right amount of light and obscuring just enough of the outside world for you to both see it when you want to and pretend it isn’t there when you want to be naked.