Project Update: Kitchen Window Treatments

quick update today in the latest part of the kitchen facelift project - the windows. i posted here about ideas for roman shades and *just* needed to pick out a fabric. way easier said than done. i ordered all kinds of samples that i thought (hoped) would tie the spaces together and would work with what we already have going on. see here and here for what's gone on so far.

designers from top left: sarah richardson, serena and lily, i forget!, jonathan adler, windsor smith

there were more samples too that i can't remember anymore but none of them were it. i was so sure i wanted a pattern but every sample that came to my mailbox was proving me wrong. so i took a big step back and tried to wrap my head around the idea of a solid. in fact, pretty much a 180 from where i was because i kept feeling myself drawn to white. 

white?! how boring! i know. i kinda agree - the color side of my brain was freaking out! but in the end i decided that if i kept it simple, i could really do anything in the future and not be tied to one bold fabric. i still have this little voice (i have a lot of voices huh?) saying that it's boring and predictable and blah blah blah but i'm trying to ignore it. so i bought 10 yards of gray line linen warsa in off white (and i've been helping out two friends who are both using this same linen for window treatments too!).

BUT to keep it a little interesting, i sourced (sounds fancier that way than just "found") some vintage ribbon to trim the edges. figuring out the color for the ribbon took another week but i decided on a soft gray that would compliment the walls and the kitchen backsplash. of course i found it on etsy - a shop called shy myrtle. 

i wanted it to be about an inch wide and to run right along the edge - as opposed to inset  - so i sent the seamstress this image as my inspiration.

and now we wait!

p.s. on a total tangent - do any of you watch the show flipping vegas? the couple have made a killing doing what they do but their design choices are a little... questionable. they were working on a multi-million dollar house and they were adamant that a white kitchen - as in white cabinets - would be a terrible choice and the house would never sell if it had a white kitchen. instead they thought medium wood tone would be better. i had to change the channel before i threw something at the tv.