When Projects Go Awire

Note to self: do not under any circumstances ever promise to complete a project by a certain day and have after pics to show again. Seriously, I should start referring to myself as Jinxy McJinxerson. This isn’t my first project catastrophe and I’m guessing that this is pretty common. So instead of blogging about our beautiful newly hung curtains that were easy peasy to throw together, I’ll be explaining how this project went oh so wrong.

Last week I was lustfully daydreaming in the curtain aisle at Target (what, you don’t do that?) hoping for some inspiration. I had no idea that an angel another shopper would leave the perfect solution to all my curtain problems.Remember me mentioning in this post how I was trying to think outside the box for a curtain solution like a shower curtain or tablecloth? Well, my Target angel left me a beautifully textured chocolate brown 60 x 104″ tablecloth in the curtain aisle. I haven’t even gotten to the best part… on the front it had that oh so sweet beautiful little orange Target clearance sticker! Instead of the regular $16, they were on clearance for $11 – woo hoo!Check out the texture in the material – it’s a cotton/polyester blend (most curtains are made of polyester). It’s exactly what I had been looking for without even knowing it! All I would need to do is cut 14″ off the top, use this method with no-sew hem tape, and buy curtain rods and clips. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and envision our living room finally coming together!

That’s about the time a leak sprung in the bottom of the boat. I hadn’t even set foot outside of Target before the problems began. I desperately went hunting for more tablecloths and there were out. No problemo, there are 9 Targets within 15 miles of our house (only in America). I proceeded to go to 2 more Targets only to be disappointed. Even though they had the tablecloths, they were not on clearance for $11. It’s like scraping fingernails down a chalkboard for me to pay full price for an item that is on sale somewhere else.

I rationalized this by telling myself that $16/panel was still cheaper than any other panels I had found. Then I started thinking, what if I cut each 60″ panel in half and just had 30″ hanging on each side since I don’t ever plan on closing the curtains anyway? I patted myself on the back as the $ signs danced in my head – I had just cut the cost of my project in HALF! I promptly went home, washed the material, and started cutting (a.k.a. my first mistake). Why I didn’t hold up the curtains to see what they looked like before going all  Edward Scissorhands on them, I don’t know – I was on a “creative high” and wasn’t thinking straight.

The response by my hubby once I held the 30″ curtains up was “hmmm…” Sure, I tried to play it off at first trying to pretend that there didn’t need to be twice as much fabric there for it to look right, but in the end he was right. We do have 2 large windows and 1 small window, so I’m still going to try the 30″ panels on the small one. Ultimately, I will probably end up no-sew hemming them back together to make one big panel again and hiding the seam in a fold – ugh!

I trudged on and got 2 more panels ready hoping to have some kind of after pics to show you today. Around 11 p.m. last night, I batted my eyes with drill in hand and somehow pried hubby away from watching The Field of Dreams to help me hang the curtain rod. I am always surprised that our marriage survives the hanging of curtain rods! After a few misses and laser leveler mishaps, the curtains were hung. I only wish this was the happy ending to the story.

Somehow, even though I cut exactly 14″ off of each panel, one of the panels appears to be couple of inches shorter than the other one. At first we thought it was the curtain rod, but my genius husband suggested we switch the panels on the rod to see and the same panel is definitely shorter. We tossed around several different solutions – everything from re-cutting and re-hemming the longer panel to simply hiding the shorter panel behind the couch where it won’t show. I have no idea how late it was at this point, but I decided to call it a day.

So that’s the story about how my curtain dream became a nightmare. The only good news is that, besides the high-water panel, they are going to look amazing! Does anyone else wish that their superhero power was to think of great ideas and execute them flawlessly? What stumbling blocks have you ran into when working on projects? Who do you go to when curtain rod installation threatens your marriage AND you are married to a marriage and family therapist?

Tablecloth image found here, and tablecloth swatch found here.