One Week, One Project: Pretty Kitchen Curtain

And another one down, and another one down...Please imagine me dancing around with a wireless keyboard to the tune of "Another One Bites the Dust" to really get a good idea of how thrilled I am that I'm getting things done around here!

For my third (squee!) installment of One Week, One Project, I chose to make a pretty kitchen curtain for myself. I know it sounds totally trivial, but I spend a lot of time cooking, and my kitchen, in addition to being hilariously small, is also fucking hideous. It's the original kitchen from when the apartments were built 35+ years ago, and it's never been updated. So, I'm not talking about an old but cute and quirky 70s ugly, I'm talking about cheap, generic, oak cabinets and the counters-may-well-be-the-same-laminate-as-the-floor-in-disguise ugly. (But while we're on the subject, "Counter Culture" would be an awesome name for a custom kitchen counter company run by good-looking hipsters. Thoughts?)

When we moved in, I committed to a citrusy color scheme of yellow, green, orange and blue. (My favorite rubber spatula, given to us by Clark's brother and sister-in-law, is red. Figures.) I've been casually searching for fabric for months, preferably something cotton, containing most if not all of the colors, with a retro vibe. Nothing fit the bill. If it wasn't too modern, it was too expensive. If it wasn't too ugly, it was the wrong color scheme.

Finally, I found pretty much the perfect choice at Joann on sale. (The best part? Clark actually liked it.) I think we spent about $3/yrd all said and done. I bought a tension rod at Target ($3 and change), but if I had been paying attention when I measured the window, I would have noticed the brackets for a regular single rod (which is about $1 and change) were already screwed into the wall. Whatever, at least I actually measured the window.

The sewing was easy. I even did math (!) and ironed the seam and hems (!!). I attached a strip of another fabric my mom and I made our spice rack with, which happened to coordinate perfectly. There was a minor hiccup. My math didn't quite work out (surprise, surprise), and it was a bit too short, so I ripped out the top seam and made the channel a little narrower, but even with this, I think the whole project took an hour. I'm pretty pleased with the result, and even if it doesn't solve the hideous kitchen problem, it certainly draw attention away from it (seeing as it's loud as hell). Sorry abut the cloudy pictures. Not sure why that happened. I'd take new ones, but in the interest of meeting my deadline, I'll just post these.

Grade:

Function: A- (It still doesn't cover up the top of the blinds, but maybe I'll make a valance?)
Cost: A+ (Less than $10 with material to spare)
Appearance: A
Difficulty: A- (Math is pain!)
Fun: A+ (Lovelovelove working with bright prints!)

Overall: A

Next week I think I'll try refinishing/painting our coffee table. Or maybe making a skirt for me. I'm kind of on a sewing kick now. (Have I mentioned that Betty Draper and I have the same sewing machine? Goddamn it, Betts!)

How are your projects going? If you need inspiration, I'm only a click away! (Similar to a tech chat room or a cam girl, really. Maybe I should stop saying that.)