Hanging New Curtains In The Living Room

I've been thinking about putting curtains up in the Living Room over the timber slat blinds for a couple of weeks now.

There's a few reasons why but the main one for me is so it feels more private and secure, I don't want anybody peering through the slats and into the house. The other good reasons are it will make it more insulated and keep out that hot afternoon sun and keep out the chill at night.

So on the weekend we headed to Curtain Wonderland (where we've bought both curtains for the Master Bedroom and Guest Bedroom) just to see what they had in stock and when I saw the 50% off sale signs in the window I knew I might possibly find my curtains there and then!

I had in mind a grey colour and really liked the Willow eyelet blockout curtains which are textured grey fabric with a bit of a black and white fleck through them, even better they were reduced from $99.95 a panel to $59.95 and we needed 3 panels so the total came to $180 instead of $300 - not bad going.

If your buying curtains, always pay a bit more for blockout they really do make all the difference because they have a thick lining on the back and stop the sun, heat and cold.

Then we ducked into Textile Traders to get the matching metal curtain rod (the same as we have for the other rooms) and they had them reduced from $99.95 to $59.95 - it turned out to be a fast and efficient shopping trip for a change it always makes it easier when everything's on sale!

We wasted no time once we got home we pretty much put them straight up (well Mr P did while I was getting myself ready for a night out!).

The third time around it was a lot easier knowing what to do - laid out the curtain rod and joined it with a leftover rod insert we had from when we did the Master Bedroom (which had a small corner window which we used only half the rod for).

The rods are adjustable which make it easy to fit most windows.

Screwed in four brackets (3 come with each rod and we had 1 leftover from before) into the window frame as we figure its easier to patch and paint a frame than the whole wall if we ever want to remove them, and then used a string line and level to make sure it was straight before putting the rod up.

Then threaded the curtain panels on and the room looks totally different.

It feels really cosy and homely and I think the wall even looks bigger now its like one big window. Just excuse the wrinkles and grainy photos (I really need a new camera ... and an iron!)

I may have been playing it safe going with the grey curtains but I think the colour was a good choice because it blends with the walls and lets the accessories bring out the colour in the room.

I did eye off some green ones but thought it might be a bit matchy matchy with the green rug.

I definitely feel more secure and it has kept some of the outside noise out as well. Or maybe its a bit like hiding under a doona at night and feeling it will protect me from the boogie man. Either way, they're working for me!

What do you think of the new curtains?

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[All images my own]