Living Room Curtains

We are back stateside and so happy to be home! I will say our trip to Asia far surpassed our expectations on so many levels. The Philippines were not only beautiful but the people were so nice. And Tokyo, oh my gosh....we loved it. We would definitely go back to explore more of Japan, such a cool place. The pit stop in Japan shaved a few hours off our overall travel home, so our flight was only 12 hours...woo :) With world travel comes jet lag which is actually something Brent and I look forward to after trips. Typically we end up waking up at 4:00 a.m. rested and ready for the day. By 8:00 a.m. when everyone else is waking up we have already checked several things off our "to-do" list. On the flight home I thought of all the things I wanted us to tackle and imagined a clean house, laundry washed, folded and put away, reality TV caught up on, groceries bought, etc....You know what actually happened?  We went to bed at 7:00 p.m. and woke up at 10:30 a.m. the next day....FIFTEEN AND A HALF HOURS OF SLEEP. Are you kidding me? My body actually hurt from sleeping so long. So much for productive jet lag, we experienced the kind of jet lag we've heard about....the kind that makes you totally useless....

So, needless to say I've been catching up on life and sleep and life and sleep, but I'm back and excited to announce we have living room curtains!!

Getting this space wrapped up has been a goal for sometime. We started making headway back in December when we finally pulled the trigger on our new rug. Around the same time we began perusing fabric stores in search of the perfect fabric for our curtains. I'm very visual so I like to take a lot of samples and then bring the options home, tape the little samples around the windows and then stand back and judge. We narrowed down our favorites and then made our final selection once the rug arrived.

 If you follow me on Instagram you may of seen this sneak peek:

I loved the watercolor vibe and the mix of colors in this fabric. All of the tones played nicely off the other colors in the room, especially the Sea Haze paint (Benjamin Moore 2137-50) and the new rug. Lucky for us, our in-family-curtain-maker-extraordinaire - Cindy, Brent's Mom was willing and ready to tackle these drapes. So, we picked up our yardage and the backing, discussed the look we were going for and she got to work. 

While the curtains were being made we wrestled around with what to do for the rods. We really, really, really loved the Oversized Adjustable Metal Rods in Gun Metal from West Elm. The industrial  look and the finish were exactly what we were looking for but these rods were pricey. We searched around for another option, but nothing seemed as good. Then, one day something magical happened. Now, this may be a super obvious trick everyone that knows about but...Brent suggested I add the rods to my cart on West Elm's website and just leave them in there. So I did.  Then, a few days later I got an email saying "We Miss You! Here's  20% off on us." Brent said he had heard it worked and I guess it does...I took advantage and ordered the rods right away. 

In her typical lighting fast ways, we had the curtains in hand in a snap and we were ready to get to hangin'.

Up they went and man, what a difference! 

It's like someone pushed a button labeled "COZY" and wah-lah!

We went with a double pinch pleat at the top and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's cool to see that detail coming off the super sleek rods. 

I feel like this room went from zero to hero in a flash. The added textiles have done wonders for the space, making the room feels 10 times more complete. If shutters are the eyebrows of a house then I'd say curtains are the fur coat. Stylish and warm.  

All photos are my own. 

Fireplace Refresh

White paint is my jam. 

Photo from Google.

I mean, what's not to love, right? The color white is just so easy and polished, not to mention it perfectly compliments nearly any color you put with it, near it or on it. Not surprisingly, I opt to use white paint around my house, but in doing so I've uncovered an ugly truth....

White paint is all fun and games in it's bright, light, happy glory until it gets dirty. White paint that gets dirty is no longer polished and happy, it's dingy and sad. 

I'm constantly torn, because while I love how white paint can instantly lighten up any space, making it feel instantly fresh; actually living with white paint on a daily basis, especially in areas that see a lot of traffic or get touched a lot has started to drive me bonkers. 

Exhibit A. My fireplace....

You all may remember when we purchased this house the tile around the fireplace was peach. 

I painted that tile white so fast it didn't know what hit it. In typical, white saves the day form - the tile instantly felt fresh and clean and the room as a whole felt about 100% more cohesive. All was well until I started to notice, early on that the tile on the floor was getting dirty thus looking dingy.  It wasn't so much that it was literally dirty because no matter how many times I swept or vacuumed over it the appearance was the same. The truth is, the tile is smack dab in the middle of a main traffic path and gets walked on regularly. In addition, Luke, our giant fluff ball of a dog likes to lay on the tile, especially in the summer because it's cool to him. Neither predicament is going to change so I decided it was time for the white to go.

My plan was to paint the entire fireplace the same color as the wall, Benjamin Moore's Sea Haze, but in a glossy finish. I know it's a little different, but I had a really good feeling about this idea. Brent however wasn't 100% sold so we compromised and decided to paint just the tile to start.

We taped her off and went to town. 

Unfortunately I don't have a picture with just the tile painted in the Sea Haze (bad blogger, bad) because it only stayed like that for 2.4 seconds before....SPOILER ALERT....... the rest of the fireplace got painted as well. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad look it just came across a little too choppy for this space. I was looking for a quieter look, something that was pretty but subtle.

So, I forged on and painted the rest of the surround and mantle. With every stroke I became more excited. My vision relied heavily on the glossy finish and it did just what I had hoped - it accentuated the heck out of detailing around the fireplace. Little moldings I'd barely noticed before now popped and the whole piece felt more architectural.

It seems weird,  but believe it or not the fireplace being the same color as the wall, albeit a darker color than it was originally, actually makes the space feel larger.  The living room is long, but narrow, which means when you walk through the front door you can see the room in it's entirety right away. Spaces like this can easily become too busy,  with too many different colors for the eye to take in, especially once we add a rug, curtains, an ottoman and more art. Having the fireplace blend right into the wall adds a quiet drama to the room while increasing the interest and texture.

I love projects like this, because sometimes you get a wild hair, go for it and fail, but that's OK because it's only paint. Other times you get a wild hair, go for it and it's AWESOME, in which case you feel like a genius. I'm hoping you all see this as an example of the latter..............yeah, me too.

Unless otherwise noted all photos are my own.