Curtains: The Window Dressings to Our Souls
The house we bought 18 months ago has gradually become our home – and there is no debate it is inhabited by a young family! Previously owned by an elderly couple, the once immaculate little three-bedroom house has been reinvented as somewhere to contain ‘Cyclone Noah’, as I have come to call my three-year-old, his baby sibling and their parents. But it’s not the toys strewn across every surface and baby paraphernalia I want to write about – it’s our efforts to put our stamp on the window dressings. When we moved in, the windows were clothed in a collection of net curtains (kitchen), generic brown and green curtain fabric (boy’s rooms) and 1970’s inspired full-length textured cream and apricot striped curtains (lounge room and our bedroom). Coupled with the tri-coloured green walls, this curtain combination was a bit sickening. On one of the many weekend shopping trips that ended in a three-year-old’s tantrum, we tried to find modern blinds to fit each of the windows and failed miserably. There were only blinds to fit half the windows, the other being too big for ready-made fittings. Custom-made blinds were out of our budget, so I suggested I make some curtains (was I mad or just in a hurry to remove Noah from the shop?). This was an interesting suggestion considering the last time I sewed anything was my formal dress when I was 17! Excited by the opportunity to blow the dust off and take my Janome for a spin, we headed to Lincraft the following weekend to choose suitable fabric for the four rooms. It took no time to find a tractor and digger print in primary colours that Noah loved. I found a cute animal print in pale blue, cream and yellow for Ethan’s room, Harvey fell in love with blue gingham for our bedroom and we both got excited over a coloured spotty print for the lounge room. In between finding these curtain fabrics, working out how much of each I would need, finding cotton to match and buying lined backing to block out the sun (especially important for the boy’s rooms), Noah had a tantrum that could have received an Oscar nomination. He threw himself on the floor, ran in and out of the bolts of material and sulked until Once at home, Noah took his curtain material to his room. Later that night I discovered he was sleeping on it, and did so all week, until I sewed his curtains the following weekend. Noah’s curtains were done one day, as I gradually got back into my sewing groove, and I tackled Ethan’s the next. Once hung, I could see the difference the bright prints made to the boy’s rooms and I was satisfied with my handiwork, but it seemed a small result for two full day’s work. Clearly I was still a bit rusty! Over the past two weekends I’ve spent hours and hours sewing curtains for the three windows in our lounge room, finally enclosing the room and giving us some privacy (the window has been uncovered since we painted the room a few months ago!). I’m sure the neighbours appreciate the gesture – and so will our electricity bill. Our spotty lounge room curtains are so much more refreshing than the tatty ones they replaced – and we’ve got a great colour palette to use when we eventually get ourselves organised to accessorise. Maybe that will have to wait until the boys leave home! In the meantime I’ve got some blue gingham to transform our bedroom from bland to boudoir. What have you done to add your personal touch to your home? ___________________________________ Johanna Baker-Dowdell is mum to two boys – Noah and Ethan – and combines looking after them with her work as a blogger, journalist, writer and public relations consultant. She owns and manages Strawberry Communications which started small in the third bedroom, but has grown into its own office space (in the converted garage). Add Comment |
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