Aside from not liking the red curtains, is that how the curtains are going to hang next to the large window with the vertical blind. I'm not following this way of hanging curtains. I don't like that at all. They are just attached to the wall and seem to serve no purpose at all. It just looks odd to me.

No, no, no, they will not hang like this at all! :0 They are simply pinned up while I try them out. I will order decent rods to cover the full width of the windows, plus stack back space, (and lengthen curtains, if needed) once we make our final decisions. This room is supposed to be remodeled soon, so I'm gearing up for that.

OH OK, you had me scared for a second! HEEHEE!

Yeah, that'd be pretty bad, lol. : )

Here is the Jacobean print. We have another gloomy day ahead of us, so I had to mess with lightening the pictures somewhat.

eta one more:

They're the IKEA Ritva curtains. I especially like them trimmed. But, I also like your new ones! Are these the ones that don't match the rug?

Ooh, that is very pretty, especially with the trim added along the edge.

Thanks, yes these are the curtains that don't match the rug. DH is taking a much needed rest this morning, so the rug is still in the van. I'm not sure if the kids and I can wrestle it into the house through the slush or not...I'm waiting to see the rug in here, but I'm chomping at the bit.

I am so confused but I really like the ones that you just got. what's the story with the rug? lol. anyway yes the ikea ones look nice too- but a bird in the hand so to speak. What is up there now looks RIGHT. (can you link them because potentially I could consider them too--- or at least where are they from)

Those look nice!

Thank you! Here are the curtains at Big Lots.. They are super friendly on the wallet, even more so this morning, since they're buy 1 get 1 half off. : )

I posted about the rug about 12 hours ago, but it was easy to miss.

Here's an idea to make the panels look more connected on a large window like yours. This is jjam's lovely LR. The shades help bridge the long gap between panels. She said the shades were very inexpensive, and I think she said she bought them at Lowe's. You could do a light colored shade to work with your colors and cottage decor.

I'd ditch the ruffled valance on the small window and use the same shade without panels. It looks a bit bedroomy/kitcheny for a LR. The double panels on the windows flanking the slider look crowded so I wonder if you could use a panel on each end with shades over the windows. I think it'd be pretty to expose the wide molding on the inside edge of each window and the molding around the slider.

I love jjam's setup, Mayflowers. Love, love. Question: How does one do shades over a slider? We do use that door in the summertime. If it helps any, I'm not impressed with the valances, either! Stinkin' practical heater is messing with my sense of pretty. :P

We have shades on the slider at our lake place. They are mounted on the wide woodwork above the door, and do not affect ingress or egress at all. We did make a several hundred dollar mistake ordering one wide blind, which was too heavy. We now have two--one over each side.

Ok, that sounds like an option. Is this any better with just one valance?

That's better. :)

We have a cordless cellular shade over our slider. You just raise it with your fingers in the middle and lower it with two clear pulls attached to the bottom. We only lower it at bedtime.

It's attached to the window frame. We don't have molding (it's bullnose
sheetrock). We have side panels and a valance, which is why I saved
jjam's photo, in case I ever want to replace the valance with shades and raise the
panels and shades to the ceiling.

I think the new panels are lovely, but am not a fan of the valance. Instead, would you consider hanging your curtain rod wide enough so the panels clear the radiator, yet still frame the window? Can't wait to see the rug!

I took those drapes off after seeing your rug. Very pretty!

I'll check with DH about doing panels that clear the heater. It gets so hot (hot enough that it melted the plastic pulls on the strings of the shade!) that we have to be very careful. Visually, panels would be better.

While we do love birds, I think those curtains would be too wild for us. :-). Thank you for the suggestion, though!

From jcpenney.

I like your latest option from Big Lots. Could you make a roman shade from one of the panels for the short window over the heater? Or even a pleated valence that looks like a roman shade, only inoperable.

The rug!

Our Junior Inspector is giving it the sniff test: Wow, that's a lot of cream carpet underfoot, lovely, but scary if we have any spills...

Rug with Bon Ton curtain:

what do you think of the rug in person? On line it looks lovely!

In person it's pretty, and a decent match to the couches. It's so much more bold than the green rug that we've had in here, so that's an adjustment. One thing I don't care for is how it has a Velcro feel in the cream colored areas, so it kind of sticks to our socks when we walk across it.

Very pretty rug! Looks great with your couches :) Imho though, the Bon Ton curtain looks washed out beside it.

I do like these curtains, too...but not with the rug, I don't think.

Well I didn't think that I would 'approve' :-) anything but the first table cloth ones, but the Big Lots ones are great, and Buy One get One free! I'd get a few extra panels, and DO hang them wider over the heater so you can use panels; it'll make the window look bigger, too. Here I think I'm saving money by making my own, and you find great table cloths and BARGAIN panels!

I really like the rug and think the Jacobean panels work very well with it. I'm not afraid to mix patterns if the colors are complimentary, as yours are. You have a winning combination there. Once you cover the ottoman is a solid cream, you will have a cohesive look. Really like the second lamp too. What a find!

I don't think you can do a floral or jacobean print with that rug. Maybe the bonton print because it's more subtle and neutral. If you keep the rug, I'd venture into a solid color drapery and bring more color/pattern in with pillows. As with jjam's room, I still think you should go with something darker to complement the heavier look of the fabric on your sofa. Even when the lighter colors "go" with the sofa, it looks like you are putting summer weight draperies against a winter weight sofa.

eta: hahaha bonnie and I couldn't ever be married.

While the rug color 'goes' with the couches, it doesn't add anything to the room. i'd probably go bold with curtains and pillows and simpler with the rug. Maybe an overdyed rug.

My head is spinning. Our conversation about this room tonight went like this:

• I like the teal-ish Jacobean curtains, but not with the rug. Maybe with a thick, creamy remnant bound as an area rug? (More cream, on the floor? I question my own sanity.) DH wonders if the flowers are too big, but he's relieved they aren't as bright as the pink and green ones I was considering. The background to these curtains is very creamy, but I'm hoping we could adjust the wall color to it and it would be fine. It looks off against the stark white that's on the wall now.
• DH likes the rug, and with the tan and gray floral curtains. (Is design on the rug too big?! Are those weird faces I'm seeing in it?) I still don't like how it velcroes to my socks...ewww. He thinks I'm a nut, lol. If it stays, I'm hoping my socks and I will adjust. There's something about those curtains that makes me think of 70s or 80s wallpaper...but they are pretty just the same.
• I think that if the rug stays, maybe we should do plain cream curtains. DH is fine with this option, too.
• If the rug stays, he wants to replace the ottoman with something airier, so that the design of the rug isn't covered up. Project creep... I tried to look up airier options. Huh. I like chunky, and I didn't even know it until now.
• The weight differences between the winter heavy couch and summer weight curtains make sense, but we really are leaning away from dark and heavy for the window treatments.
• Neither of us are fond of overdyed rugs.

*I'll be heading back down towards the stores tomorrow morning when we go to the vet, so it would be nice to return what we won't be using. Decisions, decisions.

I think there was too much yellow in the green in your first choice the other day so it didn't quite go with your sofas, but I liked the punch of cherry red in the geraniums. The last curtains you show with the rug don't do anything for the room. My first reaction to the rug was that the pattern was a bit large. To me it just doesn't feel like what you were going for.

I was looking at the curtains online at Target and somehow I got onto the website of Pier 1. I didn't know they sold curtains. They had some nice patterns there although I have no idea about the quality. I think most of their curtains are the grommet kind, but you could always buy a longer length and cut off the top and hem them and then add the clips. My computer monitor is not accurate with color so I don't know if these would work, but I liked the look of the one called Persia because it had some red in it. It might have too much aqua in it though. The Jacobean one called Eva was nice but that's more a muted orange and gray. I forget if all these are just sold online.

What I was really trying to say when I mentioned an overdyed rug was I think that a less bold rug with a smaller pattern would be a better choice.

Thank you for commenting. I'm still undecided on the rug, but I do have an update on the curtains. The comment about needing something heavier to stand up to the couches really resonated with me. There was also an insightful observation that was mentioned in my Curtain Dithering thread thread about how most of my inspiration pictures had color and pattern down low and not up high. In addition, our family alone makes for a lot of color and busy-ness in our living room. The curtains from Big Lots are still a huge, busy pattern, and the background is a dirty white (that unfortunately reminds us of a smoker's house.)

So, when I found these curtains at Home Goods yesterday, I thought they might be "it." They are weighty, but not dark. Subtle, but still have a paisley texture woven into them. They are creamy, rather than a stark white, and they are 95" long, thus requiring no alterations (!). They are simple, and I don't think I'll weary of them easily. And, I'm soooo tired of curtain hunting. I'm ready to be done.

Oh, I so feel your pain! Curtains can be very difficult (which is why I'm thankful I no longer have them). If you keep the bold rug, I think you need something with a bit of pattern to it, but in neutral tones. I don't think the florals you've auditioned work, though. They're either too delicate or otherwise fight the rug. I think the plain ivory panels just blend into your wall and do nothing to complement the room overall. What about a checked or plaid pattern - or have you already contemplated that and decided no? These are a quite nice moire plaid, from Country Curtains.

No more plaid, that's already the "star" of the dining room.

I think we can pull in some contrast when we do the beadboard and paint the walls.

Oh, drat. I forgot about the dining room curtains, but they do look lovely!

I LOVE the cream! I think it's just what you need. They look so elegant compared to some of the other choices. I do like the weight of the fabric with your couch, looks wonderful with your lamp and would look good with the rug, if you keep it. If it were me, I'd stop looking; you've got a winner in my mind!

Thank you. The kids brought the rug back in for me. (It rode around in the van all day yesterday, ready for return, but I couldn't quite let it go yet...)

Here it is with the curtain, and sunshine.

I'm a bit nervous about spills on this rug. In our day to day lives, we don't eat out here. But, whenever we have guests (several times per month) we do have some meals and drinks in the living room. We have the kids eat at the table, but even adults have bumps and spills, sometimes. The rug is polypropylene, and I need to find out how well stains could be removed.

Stains are very easy to remove from polypropylene, you can even hose the rug down outside. I think you've hit it out of the ballpark with these curtains and that rug. Look no more, you're done. On a very minor note, the color of the pillow on the wooden chair looks too dark, so you can still play around with pillows, but the worst is over. Congratulations!

I love it all, and looks very "you", based on your dining room. I also like you ended up with my suggestion of cream. (Says Dee, patting self on back. Lol).

Love the new curtains in your room. Because they're so neutral, I'd like to see a different rug with more colors.

I really like the curtains, but I think I would get tired of the rug pretty quickly. I think it's going to limit your other design choices. I would bring color and pattern in with your pillows, using your artwork (which I really like) as inspiration.

Poly is pretty much bombproof; I wouldn't worry about spills at all. I think the rug looks wonderful with the couch and curtains and your art - all of it.

It's amazing how great the plain cream curtains look! They look "rich" to me! I think you've found the ones for sure!

I re-read through all the comments but can't seem to find where you got the rug from. LOVE it. I'm on the hunt for a new rug with those colors.

The cream looks delicious! Love the subtle paisley pattern on them.

Thank you all! I'm relieved to hear that many of you think the cream works. Delicious and rich are good descriptions. It reminds me of the color of homemade whipped cream, fresh from the farm. Although, my nine year old said the texture makes her think of paper towels, lol.

We got the rug at Tuesday Morning. DH and I stopped in there to look for rugs and curtains on Saturday. I didn't see any good rug candidates hanging up, but there was a gentleman who worked there that was unpacking and hanging up a few new ones while we were browsing. We waited for him to start unpacking this one. We had a great conversation with him, and he convinced us to at least bring it home and try it out. He had an artist's eye, and wasn't just a salesman, as he chatted with us about kids, colors, and fiber contents of rugs. We never even saw the whole thing unrolled until we put it in the living room the next day. But we saw enough of it along the edge where he'd started to unroll it to take a chance.

Here is testament of how much I love y'all here on gardenweb. The label to the rug landed under my big chair. (Of course, right?) I got a helper to hold the chair, sat on the fooor, and used my foot to hold up the rug so I could get this shot for you. :-) This way maybe you can find one a little easier, ctlane.

Love the cream! It is perfect for your home and your style, which I love!!

Thanks for the rug information. I'm in Canada so probably not able to get one like it.