I think I am the most indecisive person I know and I definitely over-think things.
I love farm houses, and I love beach cottages. We have a very small family farm (if you can call a few dairy goats and a garden a farm), and we no longer live at the beach in a cottage (but oh, how we'd love to.)
Dilemma #1: what is my style?
clean and uncluttered... this I know.
Our house has a few querks (as all houses do), but the one that is the most challenging is that the great room is flanked by bedrooms. Because of that, there are few windows that provide natural light in this area.
Dilemma #2: How should I add color to the kitchen?
What to do with a boring white wall?
(Actually, I am thrilled with this white wall. Eric recently painted it white for me. Fresh and clean. It was a golden yellow, which was fine, but it was time to brighten things up, and I am happy with this white.)
Dilemma #3: If not paint, then what style window treatment would work best?
a. We don't need them for privacy. We look out onto acres and acres of forest.
b. It is cloudy and rainy here a lot, and sometimes, just down-right dreary so I don't want to cover over what little light we do get from our limited windows.
c. I want low maintenance. (No dusting of mini blinds, thank you very much. And long panels on the slider will only get messy from little sticky hands that pass by.)
d. I want (need?) a change. Previously I had made some black and white toile valences. I really liked them, and they went well in the space, but now that the wall is white - it was a little stark in spite of the bucolic scenes.
My dad (who is a retired interior designer) thought Roman shades might be a good option.
If we had French doors instead of a slider, then maybe. But again, we don't need privacy, but we do need light. In the end it wasn't quite right.
He also suggested a valence sort of like this style. It's made by attaching it to a covered board, and then hung by L brackets. (I do really like this look.)
It's a nice clean look, but because of the way it is put together, it can only be cleaned my vacuuming the dust off.
Dilemma #4: There are what seems like endless possibilities and so much to consider!
We did decide that a valence would work best.
I found myself with an opportunity to make a trip to the fabric store with my "seamstress" daughter (and no Littles). I really just wanted to go to get ideas and see if I could get some inspiration... anything!
Looking through the pattern books, I found this pattern by Butterick. Our light fixture and the knobs and pulls on the drawers and cupboards are brushed nickel so a curtain rod in that finish would blend well.
The curtain is held on by rings that have clips on them. I really liked that instead of a cutesy, gathered, style. Still casual and very fun... and easy to clean.
Dilemma #5: I have no coupons, and I am NOT paying full price for this pattern!
So with the a little figuring and my phone calculator, we purchased 3 yards of fabric, and 3 yards of a lightweight lining, and no pattern. (by the way, it is the saddest day ever, when you discover all the coupons you have - have expired by one day. )
Hannah scored this sheet from Goodwill with me in mind. She knows me so well. We planned to use this.
But I didn't want to just use aqua and white. (I know, shocker!) but come January and the cold of winter, and very gray days, I need warm colors to help cheer me. (me - overthinking again, except for it's true.) So we would use the aqua and white for the contrast.
I love this cheerful, whimsical, multi colored fabric. It reminds me of these Anthropologie dishes.
I was afraid the two patterns might be a little busy and fight for attention.
I decided to sew a bit of 5/8" ribbon down the seam where the two fabrics meet.
Here's how it looks.
I think the ribbon made a huge difference and a finished look.
As it turns out, I have enough fabric left over that I am going to make a kitchen sink curtain. (a sink skirt instead of doors.)
I'll be working on that as soon as I buy another spool of ribbon.
We'll give it a try and see how we like that instead of cupboard doors. Hoping it will look both farm-housy, and beach-cottagy. Instead of the clip rings, I will use a tension rod. It will save space and money. Best part is I already have the tension rod from the toile valences we took down.
And remember Hannah's jewelry board from this post? Well, it wasn't working quite as she hoped so she gave it to me. (far right in the photo.) Chicken wire removed, frame painted aqua, and the back sprayed with chalk board paint. Ready for a sweet sentiment. Now, if I could only decide on one!
