Breakfast Room Toile Makeover

A couple of weeks ago I decided that it was time for the paper shades in my breakfast room to go.   It's been 4 years since we moved in, and Thanksgiving is at our house this year.  Below is the "before" shot.

These windows are only 16" wide.  I have a curved wall to deal with,, so it seems tough.  I went to houzz.com and looked for window treatment ideas.   

The most common choice was no treatment at all.  I would go for that, except the sun is so hot there are times when you need light control.

 The treatment below of a valance was another choice.

 The shades below gives you some light control, but I'm not sure I like the windows above not covered.

The treatment below is way too formal for me.

 I do like the woven blinds, but I don't have enough time to order anything before thanksgiving.

I love the curved rod below, but I don't have enough clearance behind my table or a place to stack the drapes on the wall.

I did notice that alot of the rooms that are curved -- are like mine, a table in them.

I have some drapes here that match the family room nearby, but I don't really like them with my painting.

You can see my solution laying on the dining room table in the next room.

I went for some toile fabric, a yellow, green, and tan.  The chicken theme may be overdone to some, but I'm sorry, I still love it!  After all, we're out in the country and much of the house is formal, so this makes the room more cozy.

The colors go so well with my painting.  The frame gold is really picked up with the colors in the drapes, and my little girl with the broken arm from 100 years ago is wearing a green dress.  It's picked up in the fabric and looks wonderful!  

Yes, that is a topiary rooster in the right window.  

I made the drapes and the shades.  I made the drapes first, and then managed to line up the design in the shades.

The shades and drapes are both interlined with flannel and blackout lining.  I normally use the cheap blackout lining, but it is so stiff I used a more expensive lining that isn't as stiff.  I am happy that the folds worked out beautifully.  

I love the shade hardware that I got at Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon.  I can stop the shades at the exact same level on each window.  I thought about making balloon shades, but decided a simple roman shade would be less fussy-- there is so much fabric in this house, less is better here.

I finished just in time.  31 people are coming to dinner.  I am gathering chairs from all over.    I will share a photo later of the table.

ok, I am off to cleaning.   Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Thanksgiving Placecards - Antique Style

Thanksgiving is bringing 31 people together at my house.  That's  a lot of china, silver, and chairs.  I decided to use placecards to make it easy on deciding where to sit.

I found some antique trade cards  from the late 1700's and used them for my base format.

As usual, I couldn't decide what print to use, so I used a bunch:

I stuck with harvest and farming themes, with some thrown in because of the period dress.

The chef, who has a huge garden and grows oranges, will get the orange grower business card.

I had to play with the sizing.  once I get the size figured out, I print them out on cardstock.

It's not the typical pilgrim/ fall leaf// pumpkin placecard you usually see for Thankgiving.  So that makes it perfect for my table.

I'm linked up to Marty's "Inspire Me Tuesdays" at A Stroll Thru Life.

Antique Finds: A Silhouette & Show Towel

I have been swamped with personal stuff, but I still keep antiquing every moment I get.   One unexpected item I found recently is  a black and white silhouette.

Normally they are just  heads and really don't appeal to me.  I thought it looked very Victorian with the parrot, don't you think?  The very period looking lemon yellow gilt frame adds to the charm.  I think it was $8 or $12, (they get cheaper the longer I tell the story, according to my husband!)

I have it parked on my mantel until I figure out what to do with it.

I love my gray jasperware pitcher parked next to it.

Another item I just finished untangling is a show towel.  They are known for their luxurious fringes--and you can often find them unused.  They were so special they were often just displayed--thank goodness.

Unfortunately the one below was tangled up, so I spent the past couple of evenings untangling it while I watched movies on TV.

I tried to find out if there were tricks to untangling the fringe on the internet--but no luck.  They do say to launder, tie the bottom together to keep them from tangling, but I think I have a better idea.  I will just baste the fringe to another piece of fabric to keep them all in place.   I can do that now that they are untangled.  The threads look all smooth here now that they are ironed, but the linen is really nubby and the fringe really sticks to each other, so I literally untangled them with a needle.

OK, back to my housecleaning.... company is coming!  I hope you enjoyed my antique fix this week!