Pepper Design Blog

Dining Room Update: Curtain Call Part 2

Yesterday I posted on my curtain dilemma. Six great designs but how to decide which one? Or are any of these right for this space? These are the questions that keep me up at night.;) (But hey, that’s far preferred to the usual spreadsheets or parenting quips, so I say bring on the design conundrums).

I couldn’t help but throw together a rough photoshop version for each – sometimes a visual is all you need to get the brain juices brewin’. Here’s the space as is right now (boo for capturing the seam of the pendant shade, now in every. photo.):

Here’s that lovely Tilbury in Lapis that I’m sure I’d be 100% head over heals for if I didn’t have some sort of suzani/ikat print for curtains in the guestroom and in our bedroom:

I’ve always loved this Thomas Paul print, but when it was featured as curtains (hadn’t though of that!) in May’s BHG issue, I fell for Perch all over again. Bah, beautiful!

Here’s a modern print that I really dig. I love that the pattern immediately updates the space but that the colors still play nicely with the slightly muted palette we’ve got going on in the dining room. The catch? I’d have to make the curtains out of an Orla Kiely duvet cover!

Cannot go wrong with a classic suzani like this Ubud by Iman Home Fabrics. I’m leaning least towards this one at the moment, I think the weight of the fabric might drown out too much natural light from the space.

Such a fun print! Is that bright yellow too much of a pop or just right? Dahlia by Thomas Paul:

One more Thomas Paul print that I love. Botany features an illustrated pattern similar to the Perch above but with just florals. The nice white background is soft and perty

Can you guess which one I’m leaning towards? Do you have a favorite? The right fabric might not be any of the above *sigh*, but then again maybe I’ll just have to sleep on it…

Read the full dining room story by starting here: curtain call part 1, newly styled bookshelves, a buffet-over, upgrading the lighting, the before.

Dining Room Update: Curtain Call

Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day! Our neighborhood hosts a parade, pick-up basketball games and relay races every year – it’s a big deal around these parts – and we loved it all. Plus, there’s nothing like waking up on Monday morning to realize that you have another day of weekend, another day of family fun. Despite all of the sunshine and relaxing, I’m reminded of what the holiday really stands for and I’d like to offer a big thank you to all of our service men and women. Especially those readers who have family members serving us today! You might remember that Kevin served in the Marine Corp and that I think the world of the sacrifice that you all make as families.

Back to that post title. Curtains! The dining room could use a splash of color near the windows and while we have white wood plantation shutters for privacy (from the previous owners) I can’t help but that think this is the perfect spot for bright curtains that will compliment the color of our buffet:

The room gets an okay amount of light. Nothing drastic, just enough to light the space during certain times of the day but not enough to keep the room from feeling fairly dark on a regular basis.

For that reason I’ll probably have to stick to something light and fresh in here rather than a thicker fabric with darker details (like the fabric I chose for the bedroom), fabrics that I am inevitably more drawn to.

Here are a few I have in mind:

Orla Kiely – Lichen Flower Blossom, Thomas Paul – Dahlia, Thomas Paul – Botany, Tilbury – Lapis, Iman Home Fabrics – Ubud, Thomas Paul – Perch

I love each of these for so many different reasons! I have a few reservations that some of these prints will be too dark (such as the Iman Ubud or Tilbury in Lapis) in the space while a few of the lighter, whiter ideas might not have enough eye popping detail (Thomas Paul’s Botany). I’m hoping that I might find the first Orla Kiely in a fabric (I’ve seen it out there before… but linked to the wallpaper) and I do love that dahlia print! Is having too much suzani or ikat print a bad thing? I’m using it alot in the house these days but I still love these Tilbury and Iman patterns.

Kim Cornelison’s dining room from the May 2012 issue of BHG has really inspired me, and seeing her Thomas Paul Perch curtains has confirmed how much I love that fabric:

I could not find this image online for the life of me, so here’s a snapshot of my BHG magazine. Hard to see in the above photo but flip open to page 38 in your May Better Homes & Gardens for a great injection of inspiration – if you don’t have a subscription I highly recommend .

Here’s our window near straight on:

The shutters are closed to prevent a serious washout of the window, but see what I mean about fairly dark? Dark furniture and those dark branches in the corner do not help. Right now I have a sheer tan on the windows (and I’ll probably reinstall the curtain rod 6″ higher – we thew this guy up over four years ago) and I’m ready for something new!

Here’s a cool little tool I’ve been using to get a better curtain visual of several of my Calico Corners fabric choices: www.CurtainsMade4You.com (and possibly a great resource for those of you who prefer to have the curtains made by the professionals!). It’s a sister site to the popular Calico Corners fabric store.

Oooh, that Tilbury Lapis is a good one!

Still on the hunt though… Maybe I should try something completely out there on the opposite end of the color wheel, or maybe I should go peruse my local Joanns for a bit of variety. We’ll see what we find!

Read the full dining room story by starting here: newly styled bookshelves, a buffet-over, upgrading the lighting, the before

Bedroom Refresh: New Curtains!

This past weekend I finished up the new curtains for the bedroom. Last week I had shared a sneak peek of the fabric I had found, but a little pinning, pressing and hemming later and my curtains are up and hanging.

This room has been asking for a little character update since we moved in almost four years ago, and being the hidden bedroom that it is (no one ever really wanders into the master), I’ve left it as-is for some time. But now it’s well on its way to a little sprucing up! Even if that just means a few new fabrics, art and rearranging.

I’m loving the start! This fabric has had me smitten for some time and just as I had imagined, it goes so well in the space. The blue compliments the bedding and the tans work perfectly with our bamboo roman shades.

The bed still needs a few punchy throw pillows, and I think I’ll recover those bright white shams in the back, but the new front standard shams are from West Elm and my aqua/soft blue coverlet was found at Pottery Barn. So much better than the all-blue as it was before. This side of the bed is still in dire need of a night stand…

Alright, on to those curtains. Here’s the quick and dirty on how I sew a simple unlined curtain panel (this style can be a pocket rod or used with clips like I did above. Just for reference, here’s where I tackled lined curtains).

For me, it’s all about the folding and pressing.

I begin by flipping my fabric over, folding down one edge about 1″ and then I pin and press into place. Next I fold down that same edge to create a wide hem, usually 4-5″ for the bottom of a curtain, 3-4″ at the top and 2-3″ on either side (to me, the thicker the hem the more professional it looks).

Here’s an example of prepping the top of the curtain. First I fold the fabric over 1″ and pin, then press that fold into place. Next is folding again for an addition 4″, pin then press. This is what is my new top pocket rod if that’s the style of curtain I’m making.

That pressed crease is key! It will not only guide your sewing line but will keep the curtains looking polished.

I repeat that process for three of the four sides (all except the bottom) and then sew along the top fold about 1/2″ in from each new hem (not the edge of the curtain but the folded over part, see arrow).

I sew the top hem first and then hang my curtain to let the weight of it pull the fabric down. Now I measure exactly where the fabric hits the ground and pin about 1″ below that to allow a slight break at the floor. This establishes the base point of my curtain. (I highly recommend remeasuring here by hanging your curtain unfinished from the rod, there’s nothing like sewing a panel in one go to only find out your 1/2″ too short or too long!)

Next I pinned, pressed and sewed the bottom hem just as I did the top. I haven’t sewn my sides up, but they are pressed into place just like in the image above.

Now it’s time to sew up the sides. Beginning at the top panel hem (not the top of the curtain) I sew straight down each side, again about 1/2″ in from the folded over hem edge. I’m keeping my top and bottom hems unsewn along the sides because I think it looks cleaner, and it creates a nifty little pocket if you want to hang your curtains directly from the rod without clips.

If I flip the corner over, here’s a visual that shows that the side hem stops right at the bottom hem.

And if you have any boo boos? Because mistakes are always inevitable… I turn to my trusty Sew No More (discovered this guy in the $1 bin at Vons – you know, the bin where they’re just trying to get rid of product? But this stuff is awesome.)

My sewing machine stitch hadn’t caught about 10″ of a pressed hem, so I applied a little fabric adhesive and now it’s all better.

The last step was ironing the curtains one last time and then hanging them up! As mentioned before, I opted to hang my panels from curtain rod clips (you can find a pack of 7 – one pack for each panel – at any home improvement store).

To help shape the pleats, I improvised a bit and used a hair duck clip and left the panels bunched for several hours.

I’m sure there’s a better way to do that…

The curtains tie in well with other areas of the room, too. A garage sale painting I found a while back (above chair) looks as if it were made with the curtain color palette in mind:

I’m thinking now that mustard might be a great color to use as an accent on the bed? Actually, the fabric from my thrift store chair looks pretty matchy too.

The curtains also help to balance out a window behind the bed that’s a little off center, though this bed is asking for new throw pillows.

The fabric reminds me of a more floral suzani print, the actual name is Orbetello by Thibaut in blue.

One more project crossed off of the list!

A reminder of the room before we moved in:

What we put together shortly after we unpacked boxes (in pretty bad lighting):

And now where the room is today:

That means as of now the rug, most of the bedding and the curtains are done! With art, pillows and possibly a new bed frame to go.

We actually have plans to demo this room and the adjoining bath to create one master suite sometime next year… that will really be a fun project. But baby steps, all in due time!

More master bedroom posts here: curtain fabric sneak peek, a new rug, the floor plan.