Curtains

I don't like curtains. I don't like shopping for them, too bewildering. I don't like installing them, too difficult. I don't like their objective: to block out all light, light I seek and cling to. To block out all views of the greenery outside, greenery I moved here to enjoy.

Though if truth be told I didn't like curtains even when I lived where it was white most of the time. I like windows, I like the wood around the windows, and I like the views out the windows. I don't want to block that.

However I know that privacy is important, so I try to live in places where I don't have to have curtains and the privacy isn't an issue, lol.

I don't mind sheers. They let the light in, I can still see out, and the cats can too. But shopping for them, ugh! I can't stand shopping. So...I use what I have. Let's start at the front door.

The curtain here was an already-installed but never used shower curtain. I thought it was too heavy for the small bathroom. I took it down and installed a shower curtain I already had. But then I thought that this one would be a good way to offer some privacy at the front door and also to block out the heat during the high points of the day. The curtain is usually open except for between 9-10:30 when the summer light streams in, heating up the apartment unbearably. I just use a piece of brown twine and loop it around the door hinge.

When I moved here, a friend gave me 6 sheers. Some were long, Some were half sheers. It worked out that all of them had a place to go in this apartment. In the living room, I use one of the sheers. (You notice one at the front door as well.) Here is one that fits perfectly at the living room window.

As you can see, the light shines in brightly but the sheer softens the view of the underside of the metal awning. The awning provides a privacy screen, it come down halfway of the entire window. See:

You can't really see in, even from jsut 30 feet away. The necessity for a heavier curtain doesn't exist.

The awnings make the apartment a bit dark but not excessively so. It provides a reason not to have to have heavier curtains, but as you can see, I do anyway. This one is long and white and all the way on the right side of the window, tied back with a ribbon.

You can see the actual curtain better in this photo, on the right. In order to tie back the sheer, if I want a clear view outside or more of a breeze to come in, I tie it back with a lace ribbon.

This bedroom window also has a real curtain on it. It is tied back on the right. It's long and satin and beige. I don't think I've ever closed it. The sheer is the other shower curtain I'd had. The one I put up as an actual shower sheer came in a package as a pair. I hung this second one of the pair by using the shower curtain hooks. They slide to the right and I hook the sheer around the bed post when I want to open it completely. This is what it looked like at my other apartment:

As for this other bedroom window, it is covered by a sheer given to me, but the only problem was that I wanted the cats to be able to look out. Problem solved with a pair of scissors. I cut it in half and tied each side into pigtails with a ribbon.

You see another white curtain tied back on the right side of the window. I've never closed this window off either. It is where the cats sit on the bed and look out all day.

This last one posed a bit of a problem but I solved it. It's the bathroom window.

I had a sheer, one that was given to me, and it was a perfect size, too! However, that wasn't enough. This is one place you really do need privacy. A sheer was not going to cut it. I looked and looked and I found a piece of tapestry fabric in my bottom drawer. It was the perfect size, but how to hang it? I hate curtain gear and didn't want to go to lengths to buy or install rods etc. I used two thumbtacks.

Now the problem was, how to lift it when I didn't need the privacy but needed the air circulation and the light? I thought and I thought. I used what I had: another thumbtack and a large clip. I clipped the clip to the bottom, and when I lift the curtain I simply place it on the thumbtack. Voila.

This last one is admittedly more clumsy looking than the other 'use what I have' fixes. But in the five years I've lived here only one person has used my bathroom once. As long as the fix tickles me, no one else has to see it. I'm good with it being less conventional than other curtain arrangements.

The black rectangle you see out my bathroom window is the neighbor on the other side of the house's kitchen window and the underside of her awning. So you see I really do need a curtain at this spot.

Here is the kitchen-

The sheer is pretty there and a curtain rod is just the right size. But the neighbor is directly across, and moreover, the patio is just outside the window. The former neighbors bbq'd a lot, and sat out there each night. We'd literally be practically in each other's laps. So I needed something more than a sheer. I found a light colored scarf that let in the light but blocked the view from people seeing in. I sewed a loop on and put it thru a curtain rod. I use magnets to hold up the bottom of the sheer and the scarf. That's what you see on the rods. The magnets are attracted to the metal in the rods so they stay put and the magnets each have a little hook on them. Again, I had the magnets on hand. All it takes is creativity and a willingness to be unconventional.

So that's my curtain story and now it's curtains for this blog entry!