My New {Re-Invented} Summery Dining Room Curtains

{please look away from the band of swine paint that still circles our ceiling ..}

Magazine Inspiration Pic for one of my kitchens in the 1990′s.

Once upon a time (back in the 1900′s, before some of you were born), I fell in love with a kitchen in a magazine photo (the photo I tore out from a magazine is above, I wish I knew what magazine it was from!)). That photo became my inspiration for a paint, tile and curtain makeover of my kitchen at the time — that was about 17 years ago.

My kitchen makeover in the 1990′s

You can see what my version of those curtains looked like in that old kitchen of mine, right before we moved out about 13 years ago. Everyone thought I was crazy for having curtains like that above my sink. But I didn’t care, how they looked trumped the practicality of light curtains above a sink. {Coming from the lady with a 10 year old boy and a sofa with white slipcovers, I’d say I haven’t changed much.}

Even back in the 90′s, I wanted to paint that desk, I still remember not liking it!

As a side note, you can see in that old photo above that I had the same antique stained glass WAY BACK THEN (on the other side of that same kitchen with the blue and white curtains!) After that they were in my living room.

Much of what I have in my home has been in my homes for years and years — I really do use and reuse what I have.

So how can one can furnish their home on a budget and be able to use, reinvent and reuse the same things for 20 years? That is a question for another post — I’ve got lots of tips for you on that subject.

I’ve had three other houses since that kitchen with my favorite curtains, and each time I moved, of course I brought the remainder of my beloved fabric with me, fully intending to use it again. I never fell out of love. I don’t keep everything (that would require a few storage rooms or a couple of extra houses!), but my classic favorites seem to follow me forever! But, for one reason or another, I just didn’t get around to using that fabric again in another house. Until now.

Several months ago (as you might have seen on Facebook!), I sent that fabric home with my mom and asked her pretty please to make me some new curtains for my dining room (she had also made those kitchen curtains so many years ago)!

I had hung some black and tan curtains in my dining room over the winter, and while they were nice (also recycled from a previous home!), they really didn’t add to the fun quirky style I had imagined for this space, especially in the summer months. I was ready to punch things up a bit.

So with June arriving, I was excited to brighten this room up with this fun and lively blast from my past (which incidentally, I seem to see similar patterns like this EVERYWHERE now!} What was old is new and the amazing thing is…it is still chic and lovely, even after 17 years!

This room is still in progress. The carpet will be coming out, ceiling painted and I’ll be forever tweaking, redoing and repurposing….but I think many of you know exactly what I mean. The decorating is never done!