the curtains that weren't...

I started writing this post and realised this whole curtain saga was reeeeally lengthy. So, to cut a long story short here's part one, and I'll be back next week with part two!

The dining room is basically a big bare box with a table plonked in the middle of it. As described in the farmhouse floor plan it was a later addition to the original house, it used to be the back veranda but was walled in to create this sunroom type arrangement (seeing as though we have this big dining table we use it as a dining room, although our kitchen is big enough to fit a table and chairs in there for dining). The room has massive non-standard sized windows, which I was worried would cost a fortune to have curtains custom made for, mainly because I wanted them to hang really wide to make the whole wall seem like a window. Anyway, here's what I'm working with...

I wanted the curtains to be heavy backed also to keep the heat in, which would mean they would weigh a bit, which would mean I'd need some serious hardware to hold them up and the dining room extension is made out of crummy fibro sheeting type stuff. Boo. I wanted linen-like fabric to tie in with the lounge room (has white curtains with wheat coloured couches). The seagrass rug in the dining room is also a new addition, from Freedom. Basically the curtain saga went like this...

• Want loads of fabric to possibly make curtains. 
• Bought thermal curtain fabric backing at Spotlight for a small fortune in hope of finding perfect curtain fabric sometime in near future.
• Thought these looked pretty good and loved the linen look fabric in the light beige colour, hate tab top curtains though, were miles too long (could easily hem) and possibly not wide enough. Might have to forgo extra wide curtain look.
• Perhaps I could cut off the tabs, fold over the fabric, sew on some curtain tape from Spotlight and use their curtain tracks to create custom Ikea-hacked curtains? Yes yes. Excellent plan! Am genius.
• Sent Mum to Ikea to purchase curtains on next Melbourne trip.
• Got curtains. Realised that brackets that come with them will not be strong enough to hold hefty weight once I sewed on (expensive) backing fabric I had previously purchased. 
• Decide that the look of exposed curtain tracks is not the go anyway (one's in lounge and bedroom have pelmets hiding this). Perhaps a nice classy curtain rod would be the go? Yes. 
• Decide these are lovely in white. Then realise they aren't long enough for our widey-wide windows. Doh. 
• Discover that Ikea has this nifty jigger. Interesting prospect. Send Mum again on Ikea mission. None of the right curtain rod lengths in stock. Mum goes back and forth to Ikea/Melbourne over space of five weeks until they get the right combination in stock. Yes, she is awesome. 
• Finally get curtain rods and curtains together for a meeting. Decide I will have to get over my tab top phobia. At this point I am beyond caring. 
• Also decide that the backing might make us roast even more in our cosy lounge room. Scrap the backing idea. Can't find receipt to return expensive backing fabric. Consider selling it on ebay. Weighs a ton. Bugger it.
• Right, we're going to put the brackets up. But into this crummy fibro sheeting stuff not sure if it's going to fall apart/crumble so need to get fancy butterfly screws....(and chaos ensues on the dining room table as you can see).

Stay tuned for round 2 of Emma vs. Curtains...

Images by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella