From Spare & Cold to Warm & Cozy

In preparing our house for the market, I had removed floral arched balloon valances from these windows in our great room/den. It's a very large room that is great for entertaining in. The valances just screamed 90's to me and I intended on getting plain red valances to bring some color into the room.

Needless to say, that never happened {as you can see from the MLS pictures of the room}. After three months of living with it like this {or basically avoiding the room because it felt so spare and blah}, I found drapes on clearance at Target in a red that I really liked and with a design that broke up the solid look a bit.

The pictures below I took tonight right before hanging the drapes.







We took the house off the market for the holiday season because I want to decorate to my hearts content and not stress anymore than I have to. So, with drill in hand, I mounted the hardware and put them up.

I was really liking it with just one window done! I actually started wondering why I never went with drapes in the first place!



Here they are all up. I actually have two more panels that I had bought for the window seat windows, but thought I'd see how I like them this way. I can always add them if I feel it needs it.







I also added a table {that we weren't using} behind the loveseat, and lamps which were originally in my living room.

I think this room is a warm and inviting room again, and these are all things I can leave up for when the house is on the market.

Edited to include pricing: The long panels {54 x 84} were $10.48 per panel; the shorter panels {54 x 63} were $8.74 per panel.

Linking up {as they occur} with:


Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch


DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous



Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk

Hooked On Fun Drapes

I'm sharing this post over at Julia's Hooked on Houses feature today. This week I'm "Hooked On" the look of these drapes with the attached valance in a different fabric, {some of which also have a trim where the fabrics meet}. They really add a lot of interest to a window! I think they also add a bit of fun {and whimsy} to a room as well.


I was inspired to write this post after reading Maria Killam of Colour Me Happy's interview of colour expert, Jane Hall.

From Half Priced Drapes:

From Smith and Noble:

All photos below are from Jane Hall Design. Absolutely gorgeous, aren't they?

From Pretty Organized Palace blog:

What do you think? I think these would be pretty simple to put together if you sew and even if you don't, adding a second fabric to the top of store-bought drapes is fairly easy {or you can just take it to the seamstress/tailor at the dry cleaners and they will attach it for you}.

Friday is the last day to enter my Warehouse Fabrics Inc. Giveaway!