DIY dining room drapes
The dining room needed drapes to soften things up, so I enlisted my mom (Grandma G in the comments around here) to pretty-please sew me some panels. I ordered home decor fabric online for $6 a yard on clearance at fabric.com (now sold out) and shipped it to her, sight unseen. Normally I'm not a huge paisley fan, but it seemed like it could work in this dining room. Mum has dubbed the room's style "grand hotel."
She cut four 3-yard panels for me and pressed, hemmed, and pressed again. Maybe that sounds easy, but I knew it would be a huge pain since that is A LOT of fabric to maneuver. I was too chicken to tackle it myself— I'm certain I would have created 3-yard-long seams that were puckered and crooked, and it would have taken me three days per panel. Despite reporting some highway hypnosis while driving along that paisley print, Mum's work is perfect. With matched patterns at the top, of course, because she's good like that. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the sewing on her blog here.
My work was just to put in grommets, which was the easiest part of the project. I bought these Dritz plastic curtain grommets. You trace around the supplied circle template to mark the fabric, cut out the hole, and snap the front and back grommet pieces together around the cut-out. No special tools are needed.
This dining room is coming along! Something is bugging me, though, and I think I've figured out that besides the table, the main visual offender for me is the fireplace tile. It's original Rookwood tile that people here get excited about, so I'm hesitant to change it. It's pretty cracked and beat up on the hearth, but the face of the fireplace is mostly okay.
Let's pretend the tile was pale gray or white. And the table was dark wood and the light fixture was swapped out. Better?
I need some art on the walls to tie things together, but we're making progress.
P.S. If you want a really nice tutorial for how to sew your own drapes with grommets, check out these instructions at Deuce Cities Henhouse.
28 comments:
These are magnificant! Beautiful next to the wallpaper!
Ahhhh.... I'm glad they fit! ;)
They do look quite nice with your wallpaper, don't they? Well worth the effort!
And that was A LOT of effort on your part! Thank you, thank you, Mumsy!
Yes, it was. :) But you're welcome, as always. I'm glad to have a hand in your house decorating.
I love you,
Mum
you guys really make a great team, this is really cool, awesome job ! :)
You can do whatever you want to the fireplace, as far as I'm concerned, as long as you DON'T TOUCH those doors ;) They are gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.
and great job on the curtains, mama orange!
The doors are in no danger. :)
I totally understand you wanting to change the fireplace tile, but as a Cincinnatian, I BEG you to look into having the tile professionally removed! Rookwood tile is a much coveted tile, and honestly may be worth some money. You should check www.rookwood.com for contact info, and at least look into it :) BTW - Rookwood offers free guided tours, which are pretty awesome.
I've seen panels from the sides around the openings of fireplaces for $100 or $150, so I'll be careful, I promise. :)
Did you get drapes made for both windows?
Grandma G did an awesome job sewing these. I can't wait to see you tackle the fireplace.
Yup, both windows are shown in the post; one is by the wallpaper wall, and the other is opposite it.
Grandma G did a beautiful job.
The room looks so much better with all your alterations!
Thanks, everyone!
"Mama Orange" (<-loved that, Sam!) :)
Could you do something non permenant to cover the offending tile? What about tile on a backer board attached at only a few places?
if you're not using the fireplace, i imagine you could paint over the tile with some kind of milk and powder concoction that can be easily washed away later without damaging it.
or, you could sell it for a good buck, it seems. that's an option there.
too bad the fireplace is not in my house (well, too bad i don't actually have a house) because i would totally have based the decoration on and around that tile...
I like the "temporary disguise" options you guys are suggesting! I put a closer-up picture of the tile in today's post:
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-fireplace-tile.html
I lived in a house that looked a lot like yours. The house kind of told me what to do with it.Those old houses had such strong details and personality I painted the dining room kinda olive to show off the dark reddish brown doors and trim. I used colors I would have never used but it was beautiful. I decorated in an Arts and Crafts style.when the house was first built it had cabbage rose wallpaper all over but had been sheet rocked and painted. My bedroom was a sea foam green Ralph Lauren curtains and bed spread.
Oh, I see the other window now. Both of your windows have doors next to them.
Please, could you tell me where did you find the chandelier on the third picture? thank you.
That chandelier is here:
http://www.circalighting.com/details.aspx?pid=911
I say put the kibosh on the tile, the three patterns so close together is tough on the eyes. Or maybe slice the curtains on the bias and give them a solid navy panel on the bottom. But the tile is tough indeed.
DON'T YOU DARE SLICE THOSE CURTAINS!!!!!
Mum
Ha ha! Don't worry. :)
Thank you so much for the light fixture link. It's so beautiful!
Ooh, I love these curtains! Too bad the fabric is sold out because they'd totally work in my livingroom. I've been keeping an eye out for something to replace the ones left behind by the previous owners that I kind of hate but am able to ignore.
I am making curtains for our dining room AND our den, inspired by this post [this required the purchase of 44 yds of fabric to give you an idea of scale]. I am already half-way through the dining room and I can thank you and Deuce Cities Henhouse for the amazing discovery that my machine can do a blind stitch hem; how did they not teach us THAT in home ec?!!??
Your project sounds fantastic! Great work!
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