New curtains in my home's living room and family room.
Throughout this week, the Cyberhomes bloggers turned our
attention to recent home improvement projects we've accomplished.
Read this post and earlier posts in the series, and let us know what you think!
After reading about and seeing the results of the home improvement projects accomplished by my fellow bloggers, I am somewhat hesitant to write about my own -- even though I am very happy with the results.
You see, I didn't lay down flooring like Cyberhomes blogger Rick Hazeltine, or create a beautiful multi-layer finish for the walls like blogger Pat Curry did. And I could probably never could produce the kind of photography that Heather Boerner did.
My project was to finally get window coverings for the living room and family room in my open floor-plan home. I've been putting the project off until I could get a leaky living room window fixed. With that problem now solved, I could finally decorate.
But because properly measuring windows and hanging curtain rods and curtains are past my most rudimentary of home improvement skills, I put in calls to two window-covering specialists in my area. After they both visited my home and showed me fabrics and gave me price quotes, I went with a shop named Pat's Decor in Cranbury, N.J.
I had planned to just get faux wood blinds for the windows, but went with curtains instead when I was told that curtains would give me a much better look for less. So, with the help of the designer, I picked out living room drapes that go with an antique mother-of-pearl Chinese trunk in my home, and more masculine striped valences to go with our family room's pool table and sage-green sofa. (The designer even made a covering for the pool table to match the room's valences.)
Although I didn't put any of my own sweat equity into the project, I am pleased with the results. I guess it's sometimes just as important to know who to call as being able to do the job yourself -- at least if your DIY skills are as bad as mine. —Lauren Baier Kim