An Attack of the Curtain Vapors

Well, it only took me six months, but I FINALLY got around to fixing my pantry curtain to my complete satisfaction:

Six months. Six months of being driven crazy by the lack of a proper pantry curtain because I couldn't drum up the courage to slice & dice my striped curtain into pieces. Good grief, why did I wait so long?!

Let's review, shall we. Back in August, I tackled this very awkward nook in our kitchen in an effort to use the space more efficiently and make it pretty.

I added shelving.

Bought a green table cloth at Walmart that matched all the green art in my kitchen and hung it as a curtain.

But I hated how solid and how very green it was. It was all wrong for the space (not to mention too short).

Then the Target gods smiled on me and handed me the very same shower curtain that I had used to create the kitchen's fixed roman shades.

Obviously it was too short for my needs, so I cut up an old white sheet and attached white to both ends of the shower curtain in an effort to lengthen it. I wasn't content with the results. I couldn't make up my mind about any of it.

There was too much white going on for it to work in my kitchen, despite all the white trim. I could tell that I had essentially tacked on two giant pieces of a white bed sheet. I either needed to lower the rod or lengthen the curtain. Overall, it just struck me as a nice, but kind of tacky attempt. And I knew it right away.

So, I asked for advice and you all were kind enough to provide some :). I even got an email from my sister-in-law Sarah at work who agreed with my "tacked on" and "too much white" assessment and suggested maybe cutting up the striped curtain and adding more length in the middle of the curtain like she had recently done with her brown office curtains:

Five Camels Office

I liked the idea, so I took down the pantry curtain, pulled out my stitch ripper and removed the white. I felt it needed a nice turquoise or olive green to be thrown in there. I hit up the Catholic thrift store and scored a turquoise cotton flat & fitted twin sheet set by Liz Claiborne for a whole dollar. Sweet! Now... to actually cut up my striped curtain...

Any minute now...

Tonight's the night!

Any minute now...

Seriously woman, get it together!

Any minute now...

For some reason, my brain did not want to let me cut up that curtain. I had a huge mental block. What if I cut it at the wrong proportions, hated it, and was completely unable to salvage it? I kept taking it down and putting it up and taking it down and putting it up in the hopes that the unfinished, too short length would drive me crazy enough to overcome my unfortunate attack of the curtain vapors.

Then, I was pregnant and lost all motivation to do anything but take a nap and play with my kid for 4 months.

So, six months later...

And all it took was one kid free evening (thanks Theresa, Mom, & Dad), a sewing station setup in the middle of the living room, and 5 episodes of Battlestar Gallactica. Stephen and I weren't geeky enough already, so we decided to add more Sci-Fi to our repertoire. We're completely hooked. It's getting unhealthy. Stephen somehow (stayed up until 3am) managed to get 6 episodes ahead of me. He wanted to continue watching with me, so he practically chained me in front of TV with my sewing machine yesterday and told me to catch up. Or else.

Apparently, it was the kick in the pants that I needed to finally slice & dice my curtain.

I decided that I didn't want big solid blocks of color again. I had approximately 32 inches of length to add to the curtain and I wanted it to look good. I divided it up and I added a stripe 9 inches away from the end of the both sides of the curtain. I divided the stripes into 4 inches of white and 8 inches of turquoise to mix things up a bit and keep from having a solid block of color.

I am SO pleased with the result this time around. I feel like I finally got it right! It no longer looks tacked on, but looks like I could have just bought it as is. The big stripes of turquoise make me smile because it's such a happy color. Even Stephen has said *twice* that he thinks it looks really nice. He's probably just glad there's an actual, full-length, permanent curtain there, but still!

It's finally touching the floor and everything! I don't feel like tweaking it or starting over or anything! Thank you so much for all of your advice! I have one more idea for the space, but it involves adding a painted board and some molding to conceal the shower rod... So maybe in another six months? ;)

Now... To reorganize the hidden shelves before an avalanche starts...