Right From The Beginning - This Was A MAJOR FAIL

I thought I had this all nailed down and was in full swing mode to get the living room drapes up. The joke was on me. We ran into more problems than you could imagine.

Putting the rods up was a challenge, first off our rod is 1 1/2″ and the rod brackets were 1 3/8″ so the rod wouldn’t fit in the bracket. No problem, a trip to 2 Hobby Lobby’s and we had some brackets that would work. Then the rings that I had said they were 2″, however that was 2″ on the outside dimension. They wouldn’t slide over the rod. So back to the store to get a 1 1/4″ rod and get them painted. Finally everything is working and rods are going up.

Not really liking the big center bracket and I think this is too low. The rod should be higher over the window. Also not sure about this whole thing. The rod seems to cut the height of the wall down dramatically and I don’t like that at all. I love these tall ceiling, so I really don’t want to do anything that will bring them down.

Ok, this looks awful. I pinned the drapes up and hung them on this side and they look really bad. I wanted to find the right length before I cut them off and also I had the Greek Key trim to add down the sides. Not sure this is going to make the cut. They just seem crammed in the corner. This is not a good look at all. It always takes me a while to get used to a new look, but this is not looking good at all. (It actually looks way better in the picture than in person)

This is where we were when 4 friends came over. We were headed out for a fun girls day. The conversation about the drapes went like this – –

Me – excuse the mess, we are in the process of trying to get the drapes and rods up.
Friend #1 – Do you really like this so far?
Me – Hummmm – what are your thoughts?
Friend #2 – To be totally honest, I think they drag the room down. It looked so open and airy before and this just seems to close it in and not in a good way.
Me – I was going to put the other panel up and see if it looked any better or if I liked it.
Friend #1 – You don’t need to put the other panel up, you can see that this does nothing for the room, in-fact it really detracts from the beauty of the room and the windows.
Friend #2 – This just looks really dated, not your house.
Friend #3 – Your windows are so close to the walls that you either have to close off the window with drapes or if you hang them to the side then they look stuffed in the corner. The rod and the drapes just seem to take away from the gorgeous high ceilings and the pretty windows, not add to them.
Friend #4 – I think this is not a good look at all. Do you like them?
Me – I hate them, I take a while to get use to something new, but I hate them.
All My Friends – Good, get rid of them and leave the windows as they are, Drapes are not right for this room.

I really, really hated this look. No drapes for me on these windows. Now to get the hubby to take this all down and to fill all those holes in the wall and paint. I love these windows bare, so I am leaving them that way.

You guys might not think so from pictures, but this room is gorgeous without any drapes. Those windows stand on their own and with all the other angles in the room, we don’t need any more distractions. If you were all in this room in person I am sure you would agree. (Also, I have made up my mind, I am definitely keeping the mirror. I can’t believe how much emotion one mirror can cause. When I did a survey the majority of you said to leave it and the ones that don’t like it are so vocal about it. If we all liked the same things, then every house would look just alike. Not painting it – leaving it gold. I do need to move it lower and over a bit, and I may even try it vertical, but it stays. Again it is something I love and if you were here you could see it from a better perspective.) I think everyone needs a signature piece and this is mine.