The method to my madness (piano room curtains, part 1)

This week I’ve randomly decided to start obsessing about my piano room again.

There’s really no rhyme or reason to what goes on inside my head. I’m having a hard time finishing any one room because I get so bored so quickly. I like to randomly hop from one project to another; most of the time before the first project is even completed.

So anyway, this week is Project-Piano-Room. Here’s where we last left off…

…carpet lines and all. 🙂 I swear, these carpet vacuum lines have been heard ’round the world. Who woulda thunk a few lines would cause such a commotion?! (Several people have asked, so a carpet vacuum line tutorial is in the works. Fo’ shizzle.)

Okay, so first on the ixnay list: get rid of those chairs. Which I did. The maroon one went in my bedroom and the brown one is in my family room.

I drug the two captains chairs for my dining table in here, but obviously you can’t sit in them at the moment… Still working on that project too. :/

I’ve decided though that I’m just going to purchase two new chairs. As in, brand-new-from-the-store (not Craigslist or goodwill!). I’m doin’ it! Soon, my pretties, very soon. So, um, anyway, I guess just ignore the dining chairs as well ’cause they aren’t stayin’ either.

Isn’t my little orchid so cute?! Target. For five bucks on clearance. I swear, I am the queen of Target Clearance. I should do a post dedicated to showing you how to shop the clearance at Target. ‘Cause I’m the clearance master.

Back to the point. Wait. I haven’t even gotten to the point yet. Well alrighty then. The point today is ::drum roll::

Curtains.

I bet you so didn’t see that one coming. ::sarcasm, people. sarcasm::

I want curtains in here. Really bad. And I just so happened to be browsing through my linen closet the other day when I stumbled upon these bad boys:

Almost two years ago my best friend Heather gave me FOUR curtain panels that she didn’t want anymore. And they are nice. Really nice. But they are Toile. And I don’t know how I feel about Toile in my piano room. I mean, it’s really not the style of the room at all.

(Toile is pronounced TWALL).

So, what exactly is Toile? What does it mean?!!!

I used the ol’ ugooglizer and came up with this definition:

Basically, black and white fabric with fancy European people in fancy clothes and little fancy parasols printed on it.

But what the heck. I already have them which makes them FREE, and they are cute, though not really the style I’m going for in the piano room, but I’ll give them a go anyway.

To get a full visual I decided to take some thumb tacks and tack them on the wall.

Oh ya baby!

Heavens to Betsy, I think I actually like the way they look. Trust me, I am more shocked than you.

But I’ve got four panels so let’s just see what it would look like if I added another panel between the windows…

Oh, er, ugh, ick. No thank you. It’s like Toile threw up in here.

Plus, now it looks like I’ve added a curtain panel down the center of one large window instead of having two small windows in here. And that is just plain stupid. Don’t do that. It looks dumb. Okay?!

Two and through is what I say. Two and through. Oh wait, I say that about my kids… Um, two is plenty? Two is enough? Let’s just stick with the two panels.

But, Roger, we’ve got a problem here…

These things are in high water central. And considering Austin is in one of the worst droughts ever, we do not need to be preparing curtains for a flood.

So I bought a yard of dark gray fabric at IKEA to attach to the bottom of the curtains to lengthen them.

I’m not really 100% ready to bust out the sewing machine just yet, so I used some safety pins to attach the fabric just so I could see if I was even going to like this idea.

The result? I think they are going to look glamfabulous when I’m done with them. The gray actually makes them more luxurious. Now they POP!

I may even add a smaller strip to the top. You will just have to wait and see!

Isn’t this just the worst way to end a post?! I know. I’m so mean. But seriously, in my defense, I need to now go buy two curtain rods, sew up the curtains, then get them all installed… like a car stereo.

Part two will be on it’s way soon. I just wanted to show you my thought process when I decide to decorate the way I do. I test things out. Visualize different looks. And I even use tacks to give me the look I want before I do any permanent damage.

I’m 100% confident in exactly the kind of curtains I want for this room. Now that I’ve visualized it and planned it all out, hopefully I’ll be able execute the plan without any hiccups. That’s the plan at least.

Are you a planner and a tester? Or do you just throw caution to the wind and execute projects before thinking them through?!

Do you like the toile? I’m thinking the room will be Mid-Century European meets modern classic. Ya, that’s what I’ll call it. Or I can just call it “Allison’s random decorating style with no rhyme or reason (except cheapness).” That works too.

So, bottom line: I’m using the Toile curtains. I’m adding some additional dark gray fabric to them. I’ll hang them soon. The End.

And Heather, I miss you! Thanks again for the curtains. I love them. I hope you don’t want them back! Ha! If so, I have two panels left over that I can send to you. 🙂

I’m a step ahead of you. Here are all the answers to your questions before you ask me:
• The gray paint color is Route 66 by Dutch Boy. The white trim is Alabaster by Sherwin Williams.
• The yellow in the hallway is Honey Bear by Dutch Boy.
• My pictures for my tutorial on how to hang box moulding were accidentally deleted, but here’s the link anyway.
• Here’s how I added moulding around my windows with rounded edges.
• The little black table is from Target. Shocker.
• No, I still have not painted the piano. And I still don’t know what color to paint it.
• I made the red pillows. Here’s the tutorial.
• The plate rack leaning in the corner is from Garden Ridge about 9 years ago.

I think that should cover it. Feel free to ask me anything else I forgot to include in this list.