Improving My Swag

I did a very small home improvement project this week, but its quite often the little things that make you the happiest. Both because it solved a very annoying problem and also because I accomplished a house project. Yay!!

When I made my curtains, I didn't realize that the weight of the curtains wouldn't allow them to slide along the (flimsy but free) curtain rods. I simply had put a sleeve at the top and expected them to pull along. They didn't. They constantly got stuck and we'd end up either with a wacky swag when we tucked them back or would end up pulling the top of the curtain rod apart. And often enough I wouldn't even bother pulling them back because it was so annoying to fix them.

So after a few years (I'm pretty good at ignoring things), it finally got to me and I bought two packs of clip on rings for them. I got each pack of 14 rings for $7.50 at Big Lots and they work amazingly. (I've seen packs of 7 at Target for $10, so I thought this was a pretty good deal.) The added 3 inches also gives the drapes a little drag on the floor so it did help them look a little more hefty.

Since I didn't make the curtains wide enough for my huge windows they're hung on (I was too cheap and honestly didn't know the "twice as wide" rule), I am considering moving them to the dining room when / if we repaint it or I find a better option for the living room. I guess I could also try and find more fabric and do four panels on each window to "beef it up" but again, I'm cheaping out for now. Right now our living room is grey with red as our accent color, and we were considering painting the dining room grey with burnt orange accents, so that may nix the whole red curtains in the dining room idea. The kitchen is a very dark grey with yellow accents - so we think it would flow well, but are still undecided; I really don't have enough burnt orange in my life.

Before:

After: