Dreaming of Curtains

My curtain search began with a catalog from Restoration Hardware. They had creamy linen curtains that I fell in love with! The price was totally just barely out of my tiny little budget at $419 a PANEL. Yikes.

Being me, I thought I could replicate these beauties for a fraction of the cost! I found a very similar fabric at JoAnn's for about $25 a yard. Knowing I would need about 5 and a half yards, It was still totally out of my price range.

So I bought a bolt of basic off white muslin for $23 and decided it would have to do. I hung it up with my drapery hooks and it looked like I had hung a sheet over my window. SO not going to work. I decided to take the next few days to decide how I would customize that cheap-o fabric and make it work for me.

Curtain Customization Brainstorming List:

Dye them with tea or other dye.

Paint them with acrylic paint.

Stamp them.

Stencil them.

MEANWHILE

On my lunch breaks at work I frequently visit the TJ Maxx connected to my building. This is where I hit the mother load.

Pretty blues, greens, turquoises, browns, and whites!

No they were not linen and no they were not even really curtains but, the colors and the PRICE were beautiful and went perfectly with the design of my living room and kitchen! 

So, I swiped up my table cloths and also picked up the matching place mats and napkins totalling just under $50!

They turned out perfectly!

Sorry so dark! I need to edit first!

This is how I did the burlap tie backs:

I cut a piece of fabric ( I used left over burlap from my wedding) about 2.5 times wider than I would gather the curtains and about 3 times wider than I wanted the tie back to be.

Fold in thirds.

I don't sew unless I have to, so I pinned the burlap in place.

Wrap the fabric around the curtains and pin in place, making sure the clasp is on the outside. Then, hook the safety pin on a tea cup hook, and you are good to go!

How I made valances for my kitchen using place mats:

Measure how wide the curtain rod is and mark on the back of the mat using a pencil.

Using a seam ripper, remove the stitches where you will slide the curtain rod through.

Feed the curtain rod through the center of the place mat.

And hang! I am trying to decide if I want it to be the pattern all the way across or if I want to use burlap in the center to tie it into the living room. Hmm. Time will tell!