Sun’s gone. Rain’s here. Time to cocoon.
Our thermal mass fireplace is lit twice a day, just as the heat doctor ordered.
When we look outside at the dreary weather, along with some garden junk/vermicomposter, our view is mostly of this large house next door, which is admittedly much like the colour of winter’s fog hereabouts.
We’re trying to grow some privacy screen fast, but there are about 40 feet of house height we need to cover – that’s a lot of growin’. The cedrus has grown about 2 feet per year – Maybe in 14 more years??
We no longer need to open our overhead (garage-type) door to cancel the edge between inside and outside living space. And, to feel cozier and reduce our neighbours’ view into our living space in the dark winter months, curtains are in order.
Last winter, I threw up these IKEA curtains.
You’ll notice they don’t go to the floor. The overhead garage door has a seal around the outside, but its design and construction still admit some cold air into the house. To help with this little draft, I added a 7″ strip of fabric at the height of one of the door’s wood frames, and another tube of fabric for the hem. Now the curtains reach the floor. Much cozier.
I used the same wonderful fabric (called “Flying Carpet”) that I covered the alcove cushion and the upholstered loveseat with.
It has a pattern repeat of 7.5″, so to get the most from my fabric, that’s the width I cut the strip! The little bit of OCD left over from my home economics teaching days insisted that the subtle pattern lines up across the four curtain panels and the hem. It also has a nap (or direction of the pile, which reflects light differently, depending on which way the nap lies.) Trust me to pick a complicated fabric.
I marked the middle of the curtains and the strips, to match up before pinning.
To keep frays and stray threads from showing through backlit curtains, I pressed the seam toward the dark side and top-stitched it.
One side of the new curtains is left open for the view, and the other is shielding the less attractive part of the view.
This is the view from outside at night. Doesn’t it look cozy?
Linking to:
Cozy Little House’s Tweak-it Tuesday
Fireflies and Jellybeans’ Show us your Stuff
Brambleberry Cottage’s Time Travel Thursday
