And what look do you have going?

All our old library books on the built-in bookcase on one whole wall. A real library floor lamp. An old antique library look, I guess you could say.

take a look on jc penney's online..saw a elegant pair by cindy crawford...a square...or the more traditional leaf pattern...

Any pictures? Please.......

Why don't you want wood? I wish I had for my bedroom, but was advised that the wood rods might be warped. Yet, all the magazines show wood, and wood rings.

Gosh...the above sounds like a tongue twister. LOL

I used a metal rods and finals that look like wood. The rings are metal, too. Got them at Tuesday Morning.

Let me know if you would like a close-up, this is all I have on-hand.

My curtain rods are ebonized wood with antique finials. The reason the rod extends so far beyond the brackets is that that area is where all the rings but one are normally stacked, so the curtains don't block any light from the windows. I just pulled them across for the photo the other day to demonstrate ring spacing to somebody. M.

magnaverde - My rods also extend over the brackets to make the windows look wider.

Could you link me to the thread about the ring spacing. That's one thing I am having problems with.

Newhomebuilder, if there were an actual link to the spacing discussion I mentioned, I'd be glad to post it, but decorating isn't my hobby, it's my profession, and the discussion was a one-on-one consultation with an actual paying client--my favorite kind! They call me on the phone & we chat or we email back-&-forth. They don't pay for anything but my taste & knowledge and I don't have to leave the house. It's a sweet deal.

OK, Curtains 101:
In general, I always suggest that people let their workroom figure out all the technical issues--let's face it, custom curtains are expensive--but this was a case where I needed cheap, stop-gap curtains that I could get hung within a week, so I took the cheap & easy route,

Thiose yellow curtains are nothing but cheap unlined linen panels from IKEA--tab-top panels, at that, which I don't like--that I hung upside down & trimmed with some antique fringe to make them not look so generic & IKEA-ish.

The brass rings, like the finials, are antique, and their number, divided by four (two panels times two windows) determined the number of rings per panel: 21/4 = 5

I can't remember how wide the panels were, so let's assume say they were 48 inches. One ring at each end makes for 4 spans of fabric with three rings between. But eleven inches would be way too much space between rings, even if 48 inches were not way too wide for a 32 inch window, because the fabric would droop something fierce when the panels were pulled aside, and when the panels were fully drawn across the window, they'd still ripple in & out--and I wanted the top to be flat this time, with no visible pleats.

That meant the pleats would have to be on the backside, and the front width of each span should be barely above eight inches--32/4 =8.

But the total width, being 48, meant that the extra 16 inches would need to be taken up in the backside pleats. So, there there are 4 spans between the end rings, but only 3 rings, meaning that 5 1/3 inches of excess fabric needed to go into those hidden pleats at each of the inner rings.

Since I didn't have time to sew--and because, having just moved, I had no idea where the box with needle & thread was, anyway (I don't own a sewing machine)--I used clips, also from IKEA, and I gathered the excess fabric in two pleats per ring, then threaded the hook on each clip through the small ring on the bottom of the big curtain ring.

Once I got them all up, I sprayed them with hot water from a squirt bottle to relax the folds from packaging--no idea where the box with the iron was, either--and the extra weight of the water stretched the curtains at the same time that it softened the wrinkles, so the ugly tabs were easy to fold under and out of sight at the bottom of the panels. After they were dry, I attached the fringe with a series of big loose stitches that I can pull right out when it's time to wash the curtains. Sure, it's makeshift, but it's still better than the method used by the great French decorator Madeleine Castaing (and if you only splurge on one decorating book this year, I suggest the new Castaing book by my friend Emily Evans Eerdmans) who attached her fringe with plain old straight pins. Drawing the curtains at night must have been a painful experience. Then again, Mme Castaing's false eyelashes were painted right onto her face and in her later years, she kept her wig in place with a chin strap. A black elastic chin strap. What a character! But I digress. Get the book.

Is my method the way a professional would ever make curtains? Hardly. But I'm a decorator, not a curtainmaker, and I was in a hurry. And a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, ya know? Besides, the curtains in my old apartment were the same basic concept--unlined linen, except that those happened to be not curtains at all, but my great-grandmother's linen sheets, which were waaaay too big for my 24-inch wide antique bed, but a perfect width for my windows--although there, I went for more drape between the rings than in my new palce. Anyway, even though they were nothing but 100-year-old bedsheets, they looked a hell of a lot better than anything I cold have bought off a rack for a whole bunch of money--that's the beauty of lines: it gets better as it ages--and they were a lot faster to install besides.

Regards,
Magnaverde.

Thus endeth the Lesson.>/i>

I remember your old apartment and that bed. Always loved that room. I am going to have to check the drawers at my mothers home and see if I can find some old linens from my grandmothers. I have some smaller table linens, but have not come across sheets!

When you say the finials and rings are antique, did you mean in color, or are they really over 100 years old? I don't know if you have seen my bedroom thread, but I have the 2" antique brass colored metal rings w/clips. My finals are faux wood with brass at the end.

Thank you so much for the FREE lesson. That's what's wrong with my panels, they are drooping after coming back to the stationary position. I don't have time to climb a ladder to straighten them, every time I open and close them. I think it is because they are heavy, with thermal felt between faux silk and the lining. They are about 7" apart on a 54" width. I have 8 rings per panel, and thinking of adding a 9th. I am going to try a new suggestion posted here. Someone suggested using drapery pins on the panels, and then hooking the clips to them. I tried three (that's all I had in my sewing room) and they do seem to keep the panels staying upright. Never thought about pleating the panels before hooking them. lol

I tossed my panels in a dryer with a wet linen cloth to get the wrinkles out. I was not about to iron all 8 panels (I am also adding two more panels per my larger windows, as they do not look good closed - total 12 panels.)

One stupid question. You mentioned the number 21 here:
"The brass rings, like the finials, are antique, and their number, divided by four (two panels times two windows) determined the number of rings per panel: 21/4 = 5"

I have read over and over, and cannot figure out where that number came from???

I will look into your friends book. I'd like to have a nice decoration book.
BTW - I attached my curtain weights with safety pins. :-)
Also, I'd love to see more of your new apartment (maybe I have, but didn't realize who you were.) What is the name of the green paint shown above?

[Newhomebuilder, I can't really show overall pics (or even good pics) of my new apartment, because as soon as it's done, another magazine wants to come & check it out. Ten days after my old place was published in O at Home, the magazine announced it was closing down, but apparently, either this other magazine isn't supertitious about stuff like that, or they think it's worth the risk. We'll see about that. First, though, I have to finish the joint. And in the meantime, they asked me not to be posting photos of it all over the place. That's why you'll only see snippets. But the moratorium on pics of my old apartment is now lifted, so you may see more of those. If I can find them. They're on a flashdrive in a box somewhere. Probably near the box with the iron & the thread.

Oh, and the number "21"? That's the number of curtain rings I had available. I used to have 21, but I lost one along the way. And technically, I guess they & the finials need another ten years before they're offically "antique", but it's not like I can go to the store & buy extras to match. So they're antique to me.

Oh, and curtain weights attached with safety pins? Great idea. Much easier than trying to get them out of the hem. My solution was to use a length of what I call swingset chain run through the bottom hem of silk curtains. Makes removing it easier when it's time for them to go to the cleaners. Linen I'll toss in the wash, but not silk. M.]

MV- Lesson duly noted. Thank you for your generosity with your knowledge.

21 - Ahhh, just couldn't figure that one out. lol

I was able to tuck the weights into the hem in my bathroom curtains (see below photo) but the bedroom curtains had a closed hem.

One of my favorite weighted hem trick was similar to your chain. I used a very wide welting through the hem and it made the curtains stand out so nicely.

O Magazine at Home. WOW!!! I missed that. Looking forward to seeing pics of old and new apartment. I've had some of my travel photographs published in magazines (the latest is a European magazine who saw some of my Greece pics online,) and then there's the make-over contest I won on here, but nothing as big as having my whole house featured!

These are tab back - my first experience - and I kind of like them.

[Congratulations of your Greece photos, NHB. That's how "Oprah"--the media empire, not the woman who's bailing on Chicago (Did I say that?)--found me: through some pics they saw online. (A lesson for everyone: learn to upload those photos, then post 'em. After you turn off the in-camera flash, that is. Flash is for mug shots & crime scenes.) So is your photography hanging in your house?

Nice bathroom. It looks about the size of my new living room.

Meanwhile, while you wait for me to get my act together & finish the new place, here's my old dining room. Good thing I only have three friends. BTW, if you're wondering about the ripples in the chairs' seats, I finished the upholstery at 4AM, and the photographers showed up at 6, so a ripple here or there wasn't really a major concern. Life's not perfect, so why should my chairs be? M.]

The antique library look is great. I love the metal curtain rods from Pottery Barn. I used a double-rod set for some curtains I put up in a quest bedroom at my Mom's house and was very happy with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pottery Barn-curtain rods

What ripples?

No, I don't have any of my photography hanging in the house. It's all online, or in folders, disk. I am bad about having things in actual print.

OK, enough about us. Where is the OP for this thread?

newhomebuilder Here I am, sorry for taking so long to get back. I like how you bring the curtains over to allow the light, that is what I want to do. I don't want wood because I had it before. I want to try something different.Plus our walls are a charcoal color and I want them (rods and finials) to blend with the wall color.

susanjf, I saw some really nice ones on there, free shipping. Thanks

nicole, Sorry no pictures yet. When we get curtains and rods up I will try to post some.

magnaverde your bookcase is close to the window like mine.
Thanks for the pictures, very nice.

DH just asked me what are you doing. Oh, on the GW. Did you pick out rods yet? Oh Boy.... It takes me FOREVER to decide on anything! I did find some I liked, but they were for a double-rod curtain bracket.

vampiressrn- thanks for the link