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copyright ©1999-2003 |
When
I moved into my one-bedroom pad—my first post-high-rise affair, also
the first apartment that I was allowed to decorate—I found myself
marking the milestones of adulthood with the purchases my abode
required. I’d been buying toilet paper for years, but buying a new
toilet paper holder was like waving a white flag at the grown-up
police. My tool drawer turned into a cabinet: I was an adult who owned a
drill.
I was most afraid of buying curtains. For me, curtains were patterned
Laura Ashley numbers, best suited for stuffy homes with libraries. I
wanted to cover my windows, but what were the chances of finding the
right pattern and fabric? Did I need to know stuff about, you know,
sewing for that? Should I get curtains that need to be tied up on either
side, or the kind that stretch to the floor? Did buying a set of
curtains automatically qualify me for a subscription to the Pottery
Barn catalogue? Just when my window dressing
options were bringing me to the point of existential crisis, a friend
showed me a solution that was not only D.I.Y. but was functional, fit in
with my decor (and, most importantly, kept me away from the mall):
placemat curtains. Did I mention that they cost next to nothing, too? what you’ll
need 1
Measure
your window.
First things first—I
made the mistake of assuming that I could “eyeball” what size my
windows were, and one wasted Saturday later realized I was wrong. Once
you have the size of the window, decide if the width can be covered by
one placemat or two (most placemats are about 18” wide). You’ll also
need the width of the window to know how long of a curtain rod to buy. 2 Pick
your placemats. Plastic
placemats are generally easy to come by, and often frequent clearance
racks at Target (during the Summer) or Urban Outfitters (year-round).
Tracking down the right pattern is half the fun, an excuse to go
thrifting or a chance to waste hours on eBay. Just remember that along
with your kitsch factor, there are other criteria. Pick placemats that
are thin; you’ll be punching holes in them. Be wary of how much light
they let through; curtains that don’t block any sunlight may look
nice, but will get old, quick. Also, depending on the height of your
window, you’ll need a lot of them, so make sure that you get enough,
and that they’re cheap individually—I paid $1.50 for each placemat,
which was a relative splurge, but the fifty-cent patterns just weren’t
as modern. sidle on over this way please! ---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home. |
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