the curtains!

My curtains have been up since last Sunday and I'm very happy to have them there, but the job isn't finished just yet.

They've been folded up and stashed in a corner of the wardrobe since I moved here eight months ago and now that they're up I realise they've collected quite a bit of dust.

This is not at all good for my hayfever/asthma, so when the awning is finally up on Friday, I'll be taking the curtains down and giving them a good wash.

The weather is supposed to be cooler on Friday, so the awning should take care of any heat trying to get in my window.

living room  150cm wide

bedroom  120cm wide

My Semaphore window was closer to 4 metres wide and the Maylands one was 3 metres and floor length.

As you can see, the curtains have rod pockets, but my new rods are fractionally larger than the ones I used to have, so sliding the curtains open and closed is not as easy as it used to be, I have to climb up there and push them or just tie them back to each side.
Since tying them back is much easier, that's what I've been doing.

But I have sets of rings that came with the rods and after I wash the curtains, I'll spend the time necessary to sew them on, to make opening and closing the curtains much easier.

I'll also be cutting off some of the length and the cut off strips will be used to make tie backs to replace the bits of ribbon that I'm currently using.

Of course the tie backs will have to wait until I get the sewing machine fixed....it's on my list, but not a priority.

When I first put up the curtains in my last place, I had a length of fabric left over, I'd had four lengths hanging in Semaphore, but only needed three in Maylands, so with the extra piece, I made a couple of cushion covers.

They're a little faded after many washings, but still cheerful.

The rest of that length is stashed away somewhere, probably in the pile of tablecloths up in the top of the wardrobe and I have a use for that too.
There's a couple of small windows by the front door, one on each side, that have slim venetians but they don't quite fit right**, so the glare and heat get in around the edges a bit. I'm going to make a panel of fabric covered cardboard and wedge it up against the glass.
I've done this before, to block out the sun on the glass panel of my back door at Maylands and it worked really well. I just need to get some sturdy cardboard that I can cut to size.

**the smaller venetians were too small and the next size up was way too wide and just to make things more awkward each of those small windows is a different width.