Ballard Design Inspired Curtains

{My Ballard Inspiration Curtains}

This is my Ballard inspiration picture...

Clean, crisp, slightly modern

Mine is turning into this...

For about a quarter of the price! Thanks to IKEA

I'm LOVING it!

Curtains/Drapes are always such a big deal for me.

I hate when they look too stuffy, or Grandma-ish...

But I LOVE the finished, softness that they can give to a room.

Anyone feel me on this subject?

I'm taking this months Ballard Design issue's advice...

21 Things Your House Needs...

Adding a touch of modern!... No. 20

So here's what I did.

I went to IKEA, where they sell these GREAT off white, silver grommeted, curtains that are only $40 bucks for TWO panels. A great deal!  I figured out I needed three, for the look I was going for.  But it had one extra, that I wasn't going to use in the living room.  Well, when I came home, I realized that they were about 8 inches too short for how high I wanted to hang them, to make the room look bigger.

So, with the help of my Mom, and her genius sewing abilities, we cut 3, 10 inch pieces from the 4th panel and used it to add onto the three that I needed...

Following along?

It was actually the FIRST time that I SEWED! Is that crazy? Yes... I think so.

I got my own sewing machine for Christmas, and I think that after how well THIS task went, I'll be trying my hand at some MORE (straight stitch) sewing projects, for sure!

Here are some pictures so you can see what the addition looks like.

It almost looks like it's suppose to be that way! I am SO pleased!

I'm a little bit of a freak, with how curtains are suppose to hang  I have a pet peeve with curtains that look like high water pants, so I wanted to make mine just BARELY touch the carpet.

I made them a bit longer than that though, because with how light these are, in color, I KNOW that some kid is going to walk pass and grab them with gunky hands, I'll have to wash them, and then they'll shrink... so I wanted to leave myself some "shrinkage room"

Another great thing... These are TOTALLY machine washable!

Here's the seam, on the backside. After we sewed it, I ironed it really flat, so it would lay nicely.

And my mom did the finishing fold/seam on the bottom of the curtain.

I was NOT even going to attempt THAT! Look how close those stitches are to the edge!

She's good, eh?

Love them!

Usually curtains are a finishing touch... but for us, they are just a beginning.

I'm so glad they are done now, though. It totally adds to the room!

Now I just need to get those rag-a-muffin chairs out of here, and some fun decor on my naked shelf.

One space at a time... right?!