Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Heatherstone Curtains Revisited

The master bedroom as seen from the road: Not a lot of privacy


I love having a blog. Where else can I talk about my new curtains? It is somewhat possible that you might be mildly interested; and it is entirely probable that you could care less. I'm not offended if you should choose to leave right now, but I do hope you come back later after I've gotten a few domestic-type posts published over the rest of the week.

Here's the curtain situation: Our new-old adobe house, although set away from other houses, is quite visible from a couple of roads. At first I had to keep up the ugly dark brown drapes that were here just to give us some privacy. But I was slowly thinking about a solution and looking around for inspiration. Because I am a Yankee and frugal at heart, I figured that I was going to have to do some creative recycling--in other words, this project would have to cost nothing at all.

Longtime readers (that's a joke) will recall that I have posted before about Heatherstone curtains--the kind that my used-to-be-husband used to tease me about. I hung some of those curtains up in the new bedroom and found that they were all at least two feet too short. They were plain, unadorned muslin and just not the sort of thing one should hang in the colorful southwest.

It just so happened that I was reading The Gentle Art of Domesticity, by Jane Brocket, a book that I highly recommend. Jane has a way with color and with piecing and quilting fabrics that would encourage anyone to try their hand at it. I looked at the too-short, too-plain muslin curtains, just hanging there and looking sad. I thought about the scraps of favorite and very colorful fabric that I had bagged up to take to the local senior center for some nice quilter to use. And that was my aha! moment.

The results: Old curtains were recycled, favorite fabrics were incorporated, curtains were lengthened, the room is much more colorful, and there is privacy, at last. And those longtime readers might recognize bits of old Heatherstone curtains, living a new life in an old adobe.



And, yes, the curtains on one wall feature some different colors and inset fabrics than the curtains on the other wall: More color! More fun!

4 comments:

the7msn said...

The colors are perfect and all that beautiful light gives them a stained-glass look. Yes, the best things in life are free.

Anonymous said...

I am impressed. Love the colors and the idea of recycling the old ones.

Your house is very pretty.

Webster said...

Wow! Those are great. You did a wonderful job.

Beth said...

I think your curtains are beautiful, Clair. I love the bright colors. And it must be really satisfying to have created something so completely original and fresh from your old stuff. The best kind of recycling...