Forgot to give the link to Webshots albums, which I have not updated YET, so give me a few minutes after I do lunch. :)

There will be several homes from Alabama, with Casa Del Sol the present house.

Fahanlunaghta was the river house destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Then there was a house (belonged to a dear friend) also on the river that I lived in for a year before we bought Fahanlunaghta, and it is also called the River House.
MoccasinLanding was my beloved cottage on the bayou.

Look to your heart's content. Visitors are always welcome. Do you want a glass of sweet tea?

Here is a link that might be useful: Moccasin's Webshots albums.

ML, I just looked through some of your album. You've done so much work. What a difference from when you moved in. It's a good thing you have such a handy hubby - worth waiting 50 years for!

Thank you, Loretta. I'll be sure to tell him. He can use some praise for all he does.

WOW ML that is a lot of layers. Great ideas here. I used the shower curtains in the winter for another layer of cold stopping. Seemed to work well because we would notice the difference when the kitten would pull one down. ANd she did often as they were only on tension rods. I did take them down for the summer as for me they are in the way of opening the windows for air.

I really like the idea of using shade cloth as an inside curtain. Never thought of that. The shade cloth I am using on my porch is really light weight at only 60%

Sorry I do not have any suggestions for you but am certainly getting ideas FROM you. We only have privacy issues on the front of the house and now with the porch curtains that is pretty well taken care of. Only two more panels to go now. My hubby hung up the rest of the conduit rods. Dang this is a cheep way to go and really looks good.

Chris

Chris, you have lots of creative ideas. I hope you post a photo of the conduit rods on here. Maybe in one of your threads concerning your shade cloth, so everyone can keep on the trail. :)

I know you already pioneered the rebar, which has me thinking.
I want to throw another something in there as an option for hanging curtains too. Stranded stainless steel picture wire, which can be purchased in long spools online, various weights. I saw the tensioned wire curtain "rod" that IKEA had for sale, but it was not long enough for my purposes. So I got some screw-in eye-hooks, and some smallish turnbuckles with a hook on one end and an eye on the other, and used the turnbuckles to tighten up the stranded wire for my ceiling/floor sheer voile curtains up north. I bought the fabric online, it was 117" WIDE, and it took 25 yards to cover all those tall windows in the family room.
I used the kind of clip rings that you can fit on the wire after it is setup, instead of before. But you could run the wire through the pole pocket at the top, if you made one. However, I always plan ahead for things like washing the curtains, and taking the wire down did not strike me as something I wanted to do.

Thank heaven for tension rods. They are so handy. Until I get the window hugging shades made, the tension rods will have to do.

I liked the looks of the porch curtains you hung, with alternating colors....it was you, wasn't it? Billowing curtains show where the breezes are, just like my tuned windchimes.

Because of your outdoor curtains, I'm trying to decide if I can have any outdoors here too. I might need a couple to go around the outdoor shower, but how to hang them. Oh fiddle dee dee, said Scarlett, I'll think about that tomorrow!

Hahaha on the outdoor shower. Going to try to get that one done this summer and I have 30 foot left of that shade cloth. Want to use a little of that for a curtain for the bottom of the little bench on the porch the kitties use as a sleeping space.

I did the wire and turnbuckles for a laundry line on the porch on our last house. Worked great. That porch was not like this one. Was just posts and was so perfect for hanging laundry. Right off the laundry room all decked. No mud to deal with. and the lines were high enough to always be up but out of the way.

Will post the conduit before I hang the last of the curtains.

Sent you email.

chris

wow this is such an original idea ML! I love it! I'm off to take another look at your photo album. I can just lose myself in your photos, so many interesting things to see there.

Trance, thank you for the compliment. But I cannot do the things you are so able to do. Like rebuilding your fireplace.
And the bedroom storage issues.

Speaking of fireplaces, hmmmmmm, how is it going? I'll check your thread in a few minutes.

Shades, one of my favorite places to shop is the hardware store, or the boating supply store. If you need good quality pretty hardware, that is the stuff they put on high end sailboats. It is mfg to withstand high tension. But for ordinary applications, the hardware store sells servicable and reasonably priced stuff.

I'll look for the email to arrive soon.

ML Sent the email through GW so it should have arrived. I was having trouble with GW loading last night and had written out a long post. Did not want to loose it. LOL

The rods and ends do not show once the curtains are up other the something is there holding the curtains up. The good part is there is no sag to the conduit. BUT for inside the house I certainly would consider the boat supply stores.

Off for the evening to check out some election people.

Laters.

Chris

Great thread--the step-by-step info is very interesting. I like the colors you've used. I know a queen-size bed will be more comfortable, and platform storage more convenient, but I like your cottage-style bed and furniture!

shades, I used 3/4 electrical conduit for porch curtain rods, too. It's cheap, and easy to cut with a hacksaw!

I'll have to get my DH to show me a piece of conduit. That would do the trick. Right now I'm seeing PVC pipe or galvanized pipe.

I thought about pipe for the curtain rods, but galvanized always makes a mess, and opening/closing with metal rings or grommets would make waste to any paint job. But maybe some stiff but light weight metal tubing could be used? You could still use wooden brackets, drill a hole through the tubing and through the wood to secure things. But for now, my brain is tired, and my crock pot dinner is just about ready.

See ya later probably? Have a good evening all.

I was waiting all day for my other curtain panels to arrive from BedBathBeyond. They never came.

However, I was totally surprised to see my friend, the UPS guy, dragging another box which was the twin of the kitchen sink box from a couple of days ago. I have yet to dig into what is going on with THAT. If DH has a look at one sink, he will have a conniption fit. But if he has a look at TWO SINKS? OMG, I will be calling 911 for him. What were they thinking? I have not opened either box yet, but I will open one of them, and then call customer service at Overstock.com. Or better yet, go check the credit card account online to see if two identical charges are present. I sure did not click twice, they cannot claim I did that.
This is a bummer.

Sigh....wish me luck with their customer service, hope it is not located in a foreign country and they do not speak English. :/

Overstock.com customer service is excellent, and it is in the US. However, PAYPAL customer service is NOT in the US, and I had a hard time understanding the rep I talked to. Enough said there. But I have no double charges, just a double delivery.

I and DH hung the other long grommetted curtain panels last night. I left the shade cloth on the back rod for the windows facing WEST. They really really are effective for heat gain.

I also stopped by the Viking sewing machine store and picked up two more sewing feet for my machine. Dealing with such heavy coarse woven fabric as the shade cloth plus Thermasuede lining, I wanted to make sure I did not mess up my beloved sewing machine.

Would you believe the store owner REMEMBERED MY NAME AND MY MACHINE? Wow. Last time I saw her was in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, when I got a new Designer to replace the one I lost in Katrina! That is the kind of attention that I wish more places could give. You know they do something right when you pull up and see you're the 5th car with folks waiting for them to open for business.

Hi, ML, Love Overstock.com! We just ordered the faucets for the new prep sick from them.

I'm linking to pictures of my porch curtain rods so you can see my brackets. I use light-weight sheers, so you may need more substantial brackets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Porch curtain rods.

ML I think my conduit is galvanized. Not positive. My curtains will mostly stay shut and are sewn with pockets for the rods. Tight enough the curtains will stay open if I want then to. Just loose enough to be able to move then. I really am liking them all closed and the feeling of privacy.

Chris

MamaGoose, I understand the electrical conduit now. I was thinking braided wire. But the hangers you use for it are what I'd call "pipe hangers" and they come in all sizes. If you have a very small clearance between your conduit and the wall, you could put a small spacer behind the conduit and the pipe hanger/bracket. This would be very good where you do not plan to slide curtains open/closed all the time.

The curtain rods I used in the bedroom were made to hold heavy drapes, and they extend away frorm the wall at least 5 inches. Our curtain panels are not so heavy that they required FIVE BRACKETS. Heck, if I'd used FIVE BRACKETS, I would not be able to open the curtains. Which is something I ABSOLUTELY MUST DO. I like light light light. So we only used THREE BRACKETS per wall. DH used long bolt-headed screws or whatever you call them, going into the new crown molding and deep into the plaster walls. I think I could swing from the brackets and they'd not come down. Nothing flimsy about anything my DH does. He uses the latest bomb shelter technology for everything. Bless his heart, he thinks he is still working with heavy machinery.

Tt started storming in the middle of the night, and I opened the panels on the north wall to watch the lightening. Stormy weather lulls me to sleep. In short order it must have rained three inches, judging from the depth of water in a flower pot in the yard. We've had a totally satisfying rainy overcast stormy day all day, with only a brief break in the downpour. It is so nice to be able to open the curtains and watch, take a break from the usual lovely day in the neighborhood. All that is missing is the window seat sanctuary and a good book.

Hi, ML, I meant to get back here sooner, but keep getting interrupted. I bent the pipe-hangers down enough that the pipe rests an inch from the wall. The curtains are rod-pockets that I push back half-way, then secure with a tie that's attached to an 'eye' screwed to the wall. I have some pretty green silk window scarves that I found at a clearance sale (6 yards long for $5.00!!), that I'm planning to use to make new curtains for summer. I just need to cut them to length and sew a rod pocket on one end. There should be enough extra fabric to make a couple of pillow covers, like the ones in the window seats.

Like you, I love thunderstorms, but we have a Brittany Spaniel who wants to sit on someone's lap when the thunder starts rolling!

Hi Mama!
I hear you about lapsitting a good-sized dog! Sort of takes the zest out of immersing yourself in the stormy day.

I like your conduit and your hangers for the tubing. It takes up little space off the dimensions of a room that way, and if outdoors it would block most flying insects. I think it would be a fine way to hang flat panels of shade cloth too.
If you are in a windy location though, I should have to meditate a while on how to deal with the effect of wind on panels secured top and bottom with such conduit.

In my case, there will be some temporary tension rods holding the flat shade cloth panels on the west windows of the front bedroom. I don't want to nibble away at my supply of that heavy 90% cloth, so I won't cut it again....until I put the top-down Roman shades together.

I think Shades commented on how many layers of curtains I am using in this bedroom. It sort of reminds me of dressing Annie Hall, with sweater, jacket, scarve, necklace, hat, the whole 9 yards so to speak. I had my neighbor come over yesterday and look at the windows. She lives across the street and recognizes what we are doing from the position of the curtains. She said she cannot see through the shade cloth even at night when the lamps are on and the other curtains are not pulled.

Did I upload here any shots of the latest state of the curtain panels? Well, I have to hem the recently purchased panels.

And the original grommeted suedecloth panels were labelled 108" but were probably 96" and that is why they did not sell full price and I got them for $10 each at Tuesday Morning. But I willy-nilly ordered the other panels to supplement the suedecloth panels at a hemmed length of 108" and that is why I must drag my sewing machine in the bedroom and do the hem job while they hang. My DH does not want me up on the ladder because of my bone spur problem.
But I have the neatest little wrought iron table that is exact size as the sewing machine, so I can move it around easily.

I have not quite figured out how to upload here via my Webshots account, so I will continue with tinypic.com for the time being. But some folks must be visiting my Webshots albums, because they had FOUR TIMES AS MANY VIEWS from any week in my recollection. I wonder if Loretta is bored and just browsing albums?

ML I too did a hem job once while curtains were hanging. Did not want to get them wrinkled after pressing them all out.

Lovely room and I really like all the layers of curtains. Has not been me looking I have been nose to the grindstone at the house and at work. Time to play again. Loving it.

Chris

ML, I have been looking! I just love the way it is all coming together. When you first mentioned the shade cloth, I could not envision it. (I am a visual person). But it is a lovely room. Is it always that clean and neat???? I need to tidy up, lol