out with the old...in with the new...

A few months ago, I went down to my mom's to help her take down these dreary black velvet curtains (yes I said it, "black velvet"...but to my moms credit it was the style back in the day?!). That window had seen better days let me tell ya! 

She had repainted the walls from a dark orangey color, to a lighter (almost opalescent) white. So, her next item of business was to take down the furry drapes and add in something a bit more uplifting :-). I thought it would be fun to watch and learn (she really is such a great seamstress...)

tips: **painting a room a lighter color will always open up a space making it look more open. 

        **to add an illusion of higher ceilings and more space, try taking your curtains all the way up; it works wonders!

This is what the curtains looked like BEFORE:

My mom is super creative, she even hand painted this wall and added a frame collage with a lot of sentimental photos and other meaningful things. I thought it was such a cute touch!

She measured the length (from the ceiling to the ground, since that is how long she wanted them to be) and width of the window--and then added on about 20" more of fabric to the length so that it would "puddle" on the ground. She says the "pooling" gives it a more sophisticated look. :-)

She also bought "black out" fabric to line the back of the curtains so that the sun wouldn't shine through. Is this fabric not adorable!?!? 

 Here she's lining it up perfectly with the black out fabric. ***You only need the black out fabric for where you window is...it doesn't need to go all the way to the ground if that's how long your curtains are.

She then ironed each side...so that the fabric laid flat (it makes it easier to pin the hem, which was about 3/4" folded over twice) 

Finally, after a few long hours of me watching and my mom sewing haha, we put these babies up! Let me tell ya, it really did make a world of difference! 

It's amazing to me how changing curtains can completely transform an entire living space. I guess that goes for a lot of things when it comes to decorating...from paint colors, to pillow choices...it's the small details that make a massive difference!

So glad she got rid of those ugly black things...now I can openly admit it haha.

FIND FABRIC HERE