We have window coverings in our double-story family room! This is the point in the move when I do a big exhale that I didn't realize I was holding in. Window coverings make a big difference for me in how I feel in my home. There is a walking path behind our house that looks right into our main living areas. It feels nice to be able to close that out, especially when it gets dark outside and I don't know who might be looking in on us. Probably no one, but I still like the cozy feeling of closing the curtains in the evening.
Getting the curtains up was an UNDERTAKING with a capital every-letter-in-that-word. Definitely the most dangerous home project we've done so far. We should have rented scaffolding or hired someone to install the curtain rod, but that's a hindsight thing. In the moment, 3 ladders, 2 brothers and 2 sisters-in-law, and my parents felt like overkill "just" to install some curtains.
We have always used copper pipes as curtain rods in our homes. In our first home in Wyoming this was a budget decision since copper was pretty cheap at the time. We really came to love the color, sturdiness, and ability to cut them down to an exact size so we don't have to deal with curtains getting snagged on extendable rods. So. This was a really tall room and would be holding 18 feet worth of curtains. I knew we would need a long, thick piece of copper. I'm grateful to my brother Peter in the plumbing industry who was able to help me secure this 20-foot-long, 1.25" thick pipe and have it delivered to our house. The curtains were the first thing I purchased for this home, just after our offer on the house was accepted three months ago. So once we had the pipe and hardware, we just needed the manpower. I bribed my family over with pizza and put them to work. It seemed like a good idea to put the curtains on the rod first and lift the whole thing into place, but that ended up being too heavy. But they did it anyway somehow. I am shocked no one ended up at the hospital. But wow, now we all have some memories and sweat equity in our home and we LOVE the drapes more than we even thought we would. They make our house feel fully like a home, and it's nice to have this warm linen tone against all our white walls to warm up the space.
And now for the pictures!
