Late yesterday, at the edge of dark, after that storm front moved east of us, the sun began trying to shine through the clouds. Everything outside took on this strange pinkish, orange glow...with fog forming low to the ground. Take a look...
This morning I took down the living room curtains and from the back porch gave them a good hard shake to remove the dust. The sun beamed into the room and oh my, put me to thinking. You know how dangerous that can be!
You may remember several months back when I took down the big full curtains from off the french doors in the dining area and hung those bamboo shades. I hated that look. Hated it! I felt like I had moved to Panama. Not for me!
This is the other living room window behind Poppy's chair.
Okay, I'm off the hang our newly painted sunshine face to our newly painted shop...
Thank you kindly! Something new to worry and stress over now...curtains or roman shades. Decisions, decisions, decisions! :)
Love,
Henny
I'll weigh in on the side of light. Especially in winter, I love to have as much light coming in as possible. Don't sell the drapes -- keep them for when you want a change.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend, Miss Henny!
I like light, but drapes are also very useful for retaining heat. My suggestion would be to try both and see which one you prefer. Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteWe had the same unusual sunlight, at dusk, but not pink it was yellow, with two rainbows, and no doubt a pot of gold at the end of one :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome pictures, it is quite spooky, but magical.
I like your full-length curtains for winter, maybe in the spring you can replace them with the lighter material.
Love your home and property Henny, so very cozy.
~Jo
Yeah, that thinking can really make for more work for the thinker. It's sort of a trade off between extra light (which I think you would want in the winter) and extra warmth (which you might also want in the winter). Maybe insulated roman shades that you could have open during he day and pull down at night in the winter with valances above. Then in the summer you could take down the roman shades (leaving the hardware and valances up ) and put in some kind of lightweight or sheer curtains for a change of pace. It's an extra job but you probably take those curtains down at least once a year anyway to shake out the dust like you just did.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how dusty curtains get in such a short length of time. I have long curtains in the living room on either side of the sofa. They are a brown, gold and burgundy pattern. I also have three cats: 1 black and white, and two brown and black tabbies. I couldn't believe it the first time I examined the bottom six inches of the curtains-------it was almost solid cat fur. It blended in so seamlessly with the colors and patterns of the curtains that from a distance you didn't even realize it was there. So now I vacuum them a couple of times a year and that will just have to do.
I love the material in the two sets of yellow curtains together. Here's my 2 cents...you have wonderful sewing skills, so make fake roman shades out of the yellow with the blue in them and leave the other yellow ones up. Then put shades up behind the roman shades so you can put them up or down behind the fake roman shades to shut out the cold. I agree with the respondent who said save the drapes. There are so many things you can make with them or you can reuse them for a change in look. Your pictures are wonderful too!
ReplyDeleteI love light!!! I recently lowered my curtains so that the top panes are always showing. You'd have to climb on a ladder to see in so it's still private. I agree with others, experiment and see what looks good to you. I'm having a giveaway. Hope you'll pop over and enter!
ReplyDeleteI love light!!! I recently lowered my curtains so that the top panes are always showing. You'd have to climb on a ladder to see in so it's still private. I agree with others, experiment and see what looks good to you. I'm having a giveaway. Hope you'll pop over and enter!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting skies Henny! I love to have the light blazing in and be able to see outside.I like the valance and roman blind idea.
ReplyDeleteThe light sometimes does funny things as the sun is setting.
ReplyDeleteI love the light shining in all year round, and with your darker walls, I'd want all the windows fully exposed. What I would do is get a longer curtain rod so that you can open the drapes past the windows, so they are not covering any glass at all, and push that center curtain off to the sides. Then at night you can close them for privacy and warmth. I like the simpler look. I don't think you have any neighbours that can see in during the daytime?, so let in the light! Just my opinion of course:)
I vote no curtains at all. What a pretty window!
ReplyDeleteI think the window is so beautiful it doesn't need curtains. Maybe a little topper.
ReplyDeleteWe have a big picture window in the front room and I just have a topper of Battenberg lace.
I love lots of light and I love all the wood in your home.
The pink was different but was just because the late sun was at an angle which shone on the the under part of the clouds.
ReplyDeletePretty window I vote for maybe some lace shears that way it can let the light in and you can still see the pretty window help to accent the window this way to . I find for myself in the winter months the more natural light I have coming in the house the less likely I am to get the winter BLAHS ! and I am right I have lace shears over my living room windows and behind them there are roller solid blinds I pull down at night to help keep the house warmer as the temps are colder at night then during the day in the winter but come morning those roller blinds go all the way up and natural light gets to come in through the lace shears and this is what I have all year to I love lots of natural light with the lace shears . What ever you choose I am sure it will be lovely as well ! Wonderful photos ,, wonderful yet weird how the land does that with fog isn't it ? Thanks for sharing , Have a good weekend !
ReplyDeleteThat window is so pretty, I vote for no curtains at all. Especially if its fairly private where you live. I wouldn't want to cover that beautiful wood. We have the same cedar trim and I leave them bare. Where we live is very private. I do have venetian blinds and valances in the bedrooms. I crave the sunlight. Beautiful light pictures too.
ReplyDeleteI like Karen's suggestion and plan to do that in my bedroom. Love those windows!
ReplyDeleteGrace & Peace
I love the curtains and shades that you have in the bedroom. I would do that in the living room, too. With your wood interior I think having more light coming into the room makes it look much more cheerful and bigger, too. Just my opinion, but I love changing things every now and then. If you don't have a privacy problem . . . I say shades and no curtains . . . let the light in.
ReplyDeleteI like my windows undressed, the less covering the better. Your cabin windows are lovely. I vote for blinds with minimal vallance. But then that's just my preference. You live there.
ReplyDeleteI love the warm color of your home made drapes. I would keep them and tie them back when you want the sunlight.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed weekend. ♥
The colors in your pictures are amazingly weird. I think I'd go crazy taking pictures, too. As for the windows, I vote for no curtains or drapes. They darken a room too much. When we bought our house it had heavy drapes on all the windows and I took down every last one of them. I have shades I can let down if the sun gets too intense on the west side of the house. I think most curtains are pretty, but they block the view. Shades with or without a valance would really brighten a room. I've had valences and now don't and I don't miss them. Whichever you choose, I think you'll like the brighter look without curtains.
ReplyDeleteSome of those pictures are pretty and others are scary! If you have no neighbors behind you I like the open look with just a small valance at the top. I also love the white valances you have in the one picture you showed. Nancy
ReplyDeleteYour windows are lovely with out without curtains. I like shades, some of mine are custom but I bet you could sew them!! I like shades because I can have light during the day and pull them at night. Upstairs I have shades and drapes and it is almost too much. In the kitchen I have a shade and a valence. Then the custom Roman Shades in the LR and Dining room. Bedroom has a flat roman shade:) That was some crazy pink light you had:)
ReplyDeleteThe first four pictures are spooky! No wonder you took a lot of them; I would have too.
ReplyDeleteThat window looks so great just as it is but it's whatever you feel comfy with. You could try different ways, I guess, until you find which you like the most.
Because we're back in the woods with no visible neighbors, we have almost no window coverings in our house. I'm sure you could guess what I would vote for -- let that light in! -- roman shades, please.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to put Roman shades on our new bay window, but ended up with mini-blinds because of cost. I disliked that the old drapes blocked all the light from the old windows, but they were single glazed, old, and energy leaky. I put two of my old drapes on either side to sort of the bay window to frame out the entire window space, but not so that it would block the light! I remember as a kid my mother would have both winter drapes and summer curtains. The drapes were necessary to help keep out the cold, but the summer ones were great for the light. I haven't continued to do that but I love the idea of seasonal window dressings.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late to this party, but like Janet, most of our windows look out into woods, so we don't use curtains much to cover the windows.
ReplyDeleteHow about a compromise? I love the look of your living room curtains, but if you want more light, how about extending the curtain rods farther out?
That way the curtains could cover the window if you wanted, but the rest of the time they'd frame it and wouldn't block and light.
Hi Henny! I always vote for curtains. Poppy's chair is SO COOL! Your cabin is a dreamy little cabin in the woods. I love every photo!
ReplyDeleteHi Henny! We are thinking of you all the way in Chicago and miss home very much.
ReplyDelete