If I do one thing this weekend, it will be to get curtains up in the livingroom (and maybe the bedroom too!). One of the first things we did one of the very first days that we had our house was pull down these very nasty window valance/curtain dealies that plagued each and every window in the house. That was easy and hugely satisfying as you can imagine just how much better each room looked once these carefully crafted handmade monstrosities was removed.
Putting up new curtains shouldn't be too tricky, except that in the land of home renovations everything is just a little bit more complicated than you might originally think. And like much of the obstacles that face the fearless couple who purchased a bit of a fixer'upper this particular task involves a mine field of undo/redo type activities before it can be efficiently ticked off the list. Those include:
- Taking off the brackets holding on those wood valance boxes, of which there were many, and which was each fused to the window casing with a series of flat-head screws and no less than 7 old coats of paint. Check!
- Sanding and filling the holes left behind. Check!
- Painting the window casings (and the rest of the trim while you're at it). Check!
- Deciding on new curtain rod/curtain options. Ya, but these have yet to be actually put up, and may not be approved by the domicile housing committee of two somewhat picky design types.
- Hang fixtures. Not yet.
- Hem curtains. Nope.
- Realize that curatins were not evenly hemmed/hung and have minor/major meltdown. Likely.
And so, come hell or highwater, this weekend I intend to get through what remains of that list. Because while living on a corner is great for the views it affords us, I'm a little bit tired of feeling like we're in a fish bowl all the time, and with darkness falling earlier these days that is pretty much all the time that we're at home.
Watch for either successful after photos, or total blind rage on Monday.
. How nutty is that? 
is a business book for women looking for advice to start or run a successful small business. The book features advice from some pretty smart gals including Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching), Grace Boney (Design Sponge), Alex Beauchamp (Another Girl at Play), and many others.
