Welcome back to my One Room Challenge project – a client’s living room refresh.
This week’s episode – curtains!!
This room features a big bow window.
Changing out the curtains and rod made a dramatic change to the space!
Here is where we started…..
My (dream-to-work-with, funny, enthusiastic) client Linda and I talked about getting away from the red and gold color scheme in the room, creating a neutral backdrop with lots of texture, and bringing in color in the form of pillows and other accessories that would be easy to change out.
I suggested something like this panel from Lacefield Designs fabric
(from an Etsy seller but no longer available).
With a May 2 family party in the not too distant future, we looked at ready-made curtain options that would freshen up the room but not lock Linda into a color scheme for years to come.
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We decided on the Pottery Barn Terri Trellis drapes that worked oh so well with the Benjamin Moore Indian River wall color……
– but womp womp –
oh so sadly, they are currently only available from PB in the sheer version.
The non-sheer Terri Trellis curtains actually have blackout liner which gives them a really nice heavy weight, and with only one set of windows on a long wall, I really felt like we should do something substantial there.
eBay to the rescue!
We found tons of eBay sellers offering the Terri Trellis blackout drapes, new in the package, with competitive pricing. Linda ordered 4 of them so we could double up the panels on each side of the window and give them full and custom look.
Let’s talk about rods.
I traded out Linda’s traditional wood curtain rod for a simple straight black rod and ball finials, classic and timeless, hung high and wide to allow for the curtains to rest at the edge of the windows and allow all that beautiful natural light to flood the house.
After many years of buying “investment” curtain rods, I’m so over spending a big chunk of my budget on something that doesn’t have a huge impact on the room. You can get so much more bang for your buck on things like curtains and pillows in beautiful fabrics – don’t spend all your $$$$ on rods! These are my favorite rods ($6.99 for a rod that extends to 152″), the finials are $6.99 (not on the website) and rings are $3.99 for a pack of 10.
((You can also DIY curtain rods with PVC pipe or
wooden dowels and ping pong balls!))
I did upgrade the curtain rod brackets because on a long window like this one a support bracket is necessary in the middle of the window, and if the bracket is visible it should minimal so your eye is not drawn to it. Cheap Ikea brackets are fine if they are hidden behind a curtain.
See the difference with the part that attaches to the wall?
Ikea Betydlig Wall/Ceiling Bracket $1.49 each
Bed Bath & Beyond (Replacement) Brackets 2/$14.99
A little cost comparison:
this is the Pottery Barn Standard Finial and Drape Rod.
To outfit Linda’s ONE window the PB rod, finials and rings would have been a whopping $309 pre-tax (brackets are included with the rod; keep in mind we needed 4 packages of rings.)
For the same look from Ikea, with upgraded brackets from Bed Bath & Beyond, we spent $66.91.
A savings of $242.09! Not bad, right?
This allowed us to put more of the budget towards items that will have a big impact,
like furniture, curtains, pillows and lamps.
I’m intentionally not sharing any in-progress shots of the room (so mean, I know!)
but this is where we are so far….
new seating, rod and curtains (and a sneak peek of a thrift store score on Instagram!)
Now onto the really fun stuff!
what’s going on the walls
pretty details
and
the bar!
Join me at Calling It Home to check out everyone’s progress from the past week!
