You may remember if you’ve been reading for a while that I’ve spent a very long time debating what kind of curtains to get for the living room and what direction I should go. I’ve changed my mind a ton of times – do I go with raw silk (expensive) or a pattern (too much with the wallpaper?) or a colour (which colour?) or white (is that playing it too safe)? Do I make them myself, do I buy them ready made or what?! It’s taken me 2 1/2 years, the pressure of an upcoming photoshoot and a fateful trip to IKEA to solve my dilemma. As soon as I spotted these light turquoise curtains, I knew they’d work. Like deep in my heart of hearts, I just knew. Despite a heart-pounding, physical reaction to them, urging me to run to the till with my find, I still grabbed a pair of plain white panels just in case these didn’t work out – a girl’s gotta have a Plan B, right?
Happily, I didn’t need a Plan B.
The material is a lovely weighty cotton velvet which works nicely with the olive velvet sofa and yellow velvet love tub. I simply hemmed the bottoms – IKEA curtains are fabulously long in a full 3 meter length which you just can’t find with most ready made curtains.
It’s amazing what a difference window treatments make! I’m learning, I’m learning.
The colour ties in rather nicely with the rest of the pops of turquoise I have in the room.
So all’s well that ends well! There’s not too much more required for this room, believe it or not. I still like making small changes – new accessories and things like that… Check out my new brass crane for example. More for my brass animal army.
I still want to replace the little table between the two hoop chairs and we never did add the final trim around the flooring (such bad DIYers!) but at least the major elements of this room are here.
I would also love to put in a real fireplace someday but we’ve got so much yet to do in the rest of the house that having one room pretty close to damn near DONE fills me with glee and I know that these niggles will be resolved in time. Happy Days.
Remember when the living room used to look like this?
.JPG)
Wanna see a breakdown of all the things we’ve done in this room? My house tour goes through the whole messy process!
What do you think of the new curtains? Think I made the right decision or should I have gone with something else?
You made the right decision! They make such a difference, not that it didn't look fine before – they just finish it off nicely. As do the ones in your dining-room too.<br />I missed your tub chair comp, altho I'm not on pinterest or twitter anyway but it would be great to own one.
Oh yes, that is exactly the right decision. Don't you wonder how you ever could've considered anything else?! These were meant to be.
These look fab, really finish off the room and tie everything together. I am so jealous of your house. Love keeping an eye on your blog and taking inspiration for my lil flat.
Awwww cheers Anonymous – getting comments saying someone has been inspired by something I've done in my little home is just the coolest thing ever. xxx
if you ever come to london, let me know… i reckon you'd be a mad ol' hen to go shopping with! ps, i think the curtains look fab!
You've come a long way, baby! Your living room just keeps getting better and better. I wasn't sure how I felt about the round rattan chairs at first, but they look very nice there in front of the bay window, especially with the curtains behind them to break up all the wood-tone on that end the room (chairs plus blinds). Love the brass crane, too. I bought a little brass cat recently, who
The curtains look great and the good thing is that because they came from Ikea you can probably change them up when you get bored with them without feeling too guilty. But what I noticed the most is the tub chairs. My mum had two of those chairs that she brought back from Australia in 1969. I remember them well in our house in Macclesfield when I was growing up. Did you buy them used? It
Kim, girlee! LOVE the curtains! You've got fantastic taste :-)
ooooh i love them! they're happy and look stunning because they're not safe like white!<br /><br />michele
Very chic rooms! You are stylish!<br />www.rsrue.blogspot.com
Just stumbled in, that's a great looking living room, thanks for the peek!
IKEA saves the day! I think they are just right and I love the color. They look fab against the yellow paper.
I love them! Your blog makes me want to completely redecorate a room in my flat! :)
Really love them! They look great! Did you buy the curtain pole as well? Which one did you go for? So tricky to find them for bay windows! X
This comment has been removed by the author.
WHAT PERFECT CURTAINS!!! They turquoise is so complimentary to the yellow wall, the dark wood of your shades and the dark brown of the hoop chairs, and of course the pops of turquoise around the room. What a good find! I feel like Ikea can be hit or miss and I've definitely spent many hours in there only to leave empty handed, so when you find the perfect item, it's so rewarding :) And I
i love your livingroom!!! the turquoise is perfect, all my favourite colours in the one place xx
Love these, great choice! I'm pleasantly surprised with the turquoise / saffron/ olive colour combo, would not have put these together myself but they look fabulous here! Dammit, I need 3m long IKEA curtains, they're shorter here in Singers and don't fit our windows. Grump. Loving the fireplace too, I vote leave it as it is!!