Tuesday I love the plain cotton panels, too. I might reconsider the "floor length, pinch pleated" route. While "Country Cottage" wasn't my first choice, the room, its colors, the floor, and the moldings and trim are saying "I yam what I yam!" GrayWings I agree totally, if I choose floor length drapes, they'll touch the floor, dog hair and all! The Swiffer is my friend. We're going to test the bed in the corner tomorrow, but I don't know how that will work with my need for large end tables. It's certainly worth a try, though. Now, two more curtain concerns. (1) If I go with cotton panels, similar to Tuesday's suggestion, could they be lined? Should they be lined? Can they be hung without the tiebacks? Could the short, plain, cotton panels be layered over a patterned lace panel? Could the cotton panels be a color or print, and the lace undertreatment be ivory? (2) If I chose to hang ceiling-to-floor pleated drapes, could they be layered over sill-length lace or sheer panels? The lace/sheer panels would fit from the top of the window trim to the apron. The drapes would be ceiling to floor. Would any of these ideas be off or weird?

Yes, I'm glad I held back. It feels like the right decision. Now I am thinking that if I ever decide to do curtains, it should be one big long rod, and sheers hung in between each panel (that could actually slide over, if I so desired). But still I don't even know if that's the right decision or leaving empty. It still feels "unfinished" to me in a way. I'm not sure if small artwork would help alleviate that feeling in me? If I decide to try the sheer route, I can tape sheers up in between the panels and see how I like it. Sigh. These decisions are so big because if you don't like it, too bad! A big custom rod at 25 feet is probably at least $1,000, and then add curtains on top of that, so it's no easy decision! I do really appreciate all the feedback though, and am glad to put this project on the back burner for now!

Torrykm, pulling a thread!!! I was trying to figure out what you meant so I searched and that is so much easier than what I have been doing! I haven't sewn much linen before, only small craft type things, but when I do sew other woven fabric, I always pull off the threads on the cut side one by one until I get to a long, full thread, and then trim so it's even. But sometimes I accidentally pull that long thread away from the others so it isn't straight anymore, it's such a pain. I just tried it and doing it the right way you described keeps threads on both side of the guide so it doesn't move! So much faster. I have made a few curtains before, and I've always lined them, but this is the first time I've ever used interlining so I'm a little nervous. Actually, since I bought the linen fabric on sale, the interlining is more expensive than the fabric. I looked through tons of pictures and I'm pretty sure the ones I like best have heavier lining. What I notice I like is for the fabric to look like it holds it's shape and is nice and round in the header when the panel is stacked back, so I'm assuming the lining must be thicker because otherwise the fabric wouldn't be stable enough to do that. I'd never even heard of bump interlining, but I just ordered it this morning. Then I became confused because I know what I want the header/panel to look like, but it turns out different pictures (or maybe different companies or fabricators) refer to what looks like the same thing as ripple, single pleat, and cylinder pleat. I think I figured out the ripple fold is just a proprietary name for some kind of spacing strip? And possibly single pleat is mislabeled? I should have done it earlier, but I wanted to make sure I ordered enough fabric, so I was double checking my calculations for the pleats. In the past I did mostly box pleats on stationary panels and pinch pleats on others, I did grommets once in my son's room, and sort of a gathered/ruching thing on sheers for my daughter, and all of my first panels in my first place were flat. And a couple of roman shades, but I didn't like those as much as I thought I would. I want something a little more modern this time, and I'm wondering if I picked something too complicated?

I like roman shades, but I also think they are less formal, so it depends on the use of the room. If the room that has roman shades is more like a family room with TV, and this room is more like a living room, I'd want to indicate that with different style window treatments. (says the woman who has almost no WT in her house at all, save for a first floor bathtub alcove where I came face to face with a gardener weeding a bed)