We have about a hundred and six places in our house that NEED updating, badly. One of those places is NOT the breakfast nook. But here I am, fixing it up, little by little, finding ways to procrastinate on other parts of the house.
Here’s how the breakfast nook looked a few months ago:
Then I added new bamboo blinds:
We talked in that post about what kind of curtains would work without competing with the plate wall. The plate wall takes no prisoners. It rides Harleys. Don’t mess with it.
I decided to do simple curtains, but you know I can’t leave well enough alone, so I wanted to add a little embellishment. Here’s what I ended up with:
We had a little chat over on the facebook page about the best source for simple white curtains, and you guys were SUPER helpful. I ended up snagging some Vivan curtains from Ikea and adding the greek key detail myself. I’ll show you how I did that in the next post, but first let’s talk inspiration!
Originally, I wanted to fancy these guys up with some amazing Greek key trim like this:
But the best price I could find for Greek Key trim was $10 a yard from here. There’s no navy available, and I’d need 13 yards, so $130. No thanks on that. #ElCheapo.
I’ve always had a thing for Hollywood Regency-style decor, which is what you’d get if you threw mirrored furniture, a sparkly chandelier, Chinoiserie wallpaper and touches of Asian glam, a big fat wallop of luxury and a pinch of neo-classical Greek key into a blender and out popped a room.
When I browse my pinterest boards, it’s all Hollywood Regency all the time. It’s spread through my pinterest boards like the most glamorous herpes ever. I love it. Hollywood Regency, not herpes. I don’t have any experience with herpes. Wow, this just got personal. Please back off a little, you’re making me uncomfortable.
*Ahem.* Curtains.
When I couldn’t find the greek key trim for a price I wanted to pay, I remembered seeing these pillows and shazam: answer found.
Jonathan Adler makes a similar curtain that’s $90 for two panels. They come with tab tops, which aren’t my favorite.
Mine were about $25 all done. (I added blackout lining, so $50 for everything.)
Here’s what my little buddies look like up close:
I’m still getting used to seeing them in the breakfast nook. This morning I came down to the kitchen for breakfast and was like – WHOA! Curtains! (I might also be extra sensitive in the mornings pre-coffee.) But I think I like ’em so far.
I’ll show you how I made them in the next post, but in the meantime, I want to hear from you: do you neglect parts of your house that need work while messing with stuff you previously thought was done? Do you dig the Hollywood Regency vibe?
Hi, I'm Kelly. Glad you're here! This little blog is where I chronicle our efforts to fix up our beaten-down home on a tiny budget. We're not there yet, but here's a peek at the view along the way...
i love the streamlined look of yours and the oversized pattern!
I love them, so pretty. And I actually like them way better than the greek key trim curtains.
WOW…those are gorgeous! I have some white Ikea curtains sitting in my closet waiting for some embellishment. I can’t wait for your next post!
I’m a sucker for anything Greek Key! Love those and you did it for a great price! xo Kristin
The curtains are gorgeous! Love how you made them so simple and inexpensive yet it made the room look fabulous.
mmm greek key– that was a great choice!
I have a half bath I’ve neglected for about 6 months and a walkway for about a year… but I sure as heck have changed out the art in my gallery wall and spray painted a whole bunch of stuff I have no spot for! haha
Can you come decorate my house? Please? I need help. Your curtains look awesome. I have been analyzing my bedroom board and apparently I like white bedding. Who knew?
Love the curtains! They really make that area look complete…and you are hilarious!
Love the curtains and love Hollywood regency – also get crazy distracted with things in the house that don`t matter more than the project I SHOULD be doing!
Can`t wait to see your tutorial – and I`d love to feature them on my Tuesday DIY post, if you`re okay with that!
You should be proud – they look great (and go fab with the plate wall!)
Cortney
Love it! This is what I was thinking when I gave my opinion a while back. Love me some Greek key trim!
Very nice! Completes the room beautifully!!!~~Angela
I love the curtains! I actually love them more than any of the inspiration curtains, so well done!
Kelly,
Stumbled upon your site yesterday and I have been a bit of a stalker ever since. You are making me laugh out loud and gasp in the same breath. You will totally be my daily moment of joy going forward.
BTW, love love the curtains, can’t wait to see the tute.
Happy Wednesday!
Hugs, Nerina xOxO
Love them Kelly! Hollywood Regency is my favorite too!
That is gorgeous Kelly! I love the pattern that you chose, really sharp looking.
Beautiful! Love the simple clean lined design and a great price too!
I adore the regency style, and the curtains layered over the blinds are so so pretty! Sometimes you just have to perfect the areas you see and use everyday before getting to the more disaster-y ones:)
Jessica
Wow! I looove em! Those curtains look fantastic! Sounds like you and me are two peas in a pod! I absolutely love me some Hollywood regency, I totally dig it. Those touches of gold in its great to be home photo, to die for! That has sparked my spray paint happy finger..hmm got some tables I think I might just have to turn gold!
This little nook is starting to have so much personality! Super excited for the tutorial–will you include how you added blackout lining?? Please??? 🙂
Love those curtains! Great job! And, yeah, I totally do that. I’m all, “I need to paint our piano!” while our deck is falling down outside.
You are so funny. I love the new curtains; you did an amazing job. They make your windows look huge, and what a savings! #ElCheapo is #Elsmarto.
Our whole entire house needs help, I don’t know where to begin!
Yes to Greek Key!! HELL YES to Hollywood Regency – although I’m an eclectic girl all the way, if I had to choose a style, that would be it. So glam, so cool. I love the curtains, they came out fab! I know what you mean about adding something new like that to a room – I do the same no matter what it is and it always takes me a few days to get used to it. They’re good though. Really good. I actually did something really similar here with an elcheapo roman blind: http://www.swoonworthy.co.uk/2012/08/cheap-easy-before-after-diy-ribbon-trim.html
Great minds, eh?
Oh and yeah to the neglect – we’ve got projects a mile long and what do I do? Refresh the dressing room. It’s a sickness. xxx
Love this! It’s simple, yet it looks amazing! Now I need to try to think of a room to do curtains like this in…
Loving your new curtains! I can’t wait to see how you made them because $25 beats $90 any day!
Shut the front door! I literally had this exact vision for DIY curtains for our bedroom, just haven’t gotten around to making them yet. I’m glad to see it’s totally doable and looks great in real life! Thanks for lighting a fire under me to actually get them done. Great minds, my friend. 😉 Love love them!
Oh. My. Goodness. I need to make these. I’m in love with all things Greek key but this is on another level. Seriously. So professional looking. Great work Kelly!
WOW absolutely perfect curtains. And I love your Greek key version so much better than the smaller scale on the edges. This looks PERFECT!! LOVE!!!
Counting down until the tutorial. I have some curtains in our family room that I’d love to punch up a bit…. a simple ribbon detail was exactly what I was thinking, but sort of stalled out there. 🙂
Looks great!
First of all, the curtains are FABULOUS! The perfect simple stylish look. 🙂 And yes, I have a mile long to-do list, some deferred maintenance on our exterior that’s got to be handled and here I am tweaking my mantel. Geez. #ineedtogetittogether
xo Heidi
Meh… I think I prefer the before picture
UM, love. I’m not kidding, I just did this to a pillow. Although, it turned out nowhere NEAR as awesome as your curtains that completely rock my world. Perfect addition to that space! lovelovelovelovelove. You little ray of sunshine, you!!
So pretty! And I love your Hollywood Regency roundup! Very cool! Your breakfast nook is such a great space…all that light and gorgeous decor would certainly help wake me up in the morning! Hope you’re having a great week, Kelly!
~Abby =)
So glad you like them! I am headed back for more. You can’t beat the price for the quality!
http://www.recreatanddecorate.com
yes, yes, and yes!!! Love the greek key, LOVE HOLLYWOOD REGENCY, and I’ve been neglecting my master bath for like 6 months now. Your curtains are oh so fab. Have a great weekend, friend! 🙂
Shazam is right… just the right amount of detail to make you say wow or…
WOW.
OOOHHHH I love these. This sort of project is right up my alley! I would definitely put something else off if I had this to work on. You did a great job too…can’t wait to find out how you did it. Paint…or ribbon???
The detail really amps up the white curtains! I’ve been wanting to add some trim to to our plain bedroom curtains.
Can I answer “c” – I neglect all parts of my house! LOL! Love the curtains. I’ve been working on something similar for the dining room …
🙂 Linda
These look really good! I am trying to decide where I need some Greek key curtains. I’m actually not a huge Hollywood Regency liver for my own home, but these are classic enough that I think they could work anywhere.
Kelly, you should check out Calontir Trim (www.calontirtrim.com). It’s a small business that was created to provide trim for historical reenactors and they have every trim in every size and every color under the sun. I absolutely love patronizing their booth at medieval reenactments, their products are gorgeous and super affordable. I have bags of trim stuffed in my closet just waiting for me to decide what to put it on!
I love your Hollywood Regency style; the pictures you showed us are beautiful! & of course I love your new greek key curtains; they are beautiful! 🙂 your breakfast nook looks great Kelly!
Well, my whole house needs a decorating tornado to blow through, and yet I’ll be playing around with vignettes or changing things around on the walls instead.
Great choice on the Greek Key panels. (I’m sure the plate wall approves.)
I need to know what kind of floors you have!!! They are beautiful. Please fill me in.
Thanks! They’re south american walnut. I LOVE them, but they do show every speck of dust. If I could do it again, I’d get a more matte finish. Hope that helps!
Is it weird that my favorite part of this post was your mentioning of herpes? Is it because I’m 12 years old inside?
Perhaps you’ve already seen this, but I recently pinned this clever little diddy: http://pinterest.com/pin/273312271108932752/
This looks fantastic. I love your writing “voice” and am also stuck in adolescence and am stuck on “glamorous herpes”. Great job on the drapes. I have an enormous window begging for love, but I am at a loss. This post reminds me to get busy and give the window some love.