window solutions.

so yea, remember our gift-wrapped windows? well, we finally did something about it! we added curtains in the bedroom, and "frosted" glass in the bathroom. what a huge improvement!

we did the bathroom window first and it was super easy. we bought artscape decorative window film in etched glass from home depot. from there, it was simply a matter of cleaning the windows, measuring and cutting the film, wetting the glass, applying the film, and squeegeeing out the liquid and air bubbles. we get so much more natural light in the mornings now!

we ordered two curtain rods from overstock.com (the site/order says optima, but ReSolution is what arrived, but they visually look the same, so no complains here).

to "make" the curtains, all i had to do was cut the fabric to size, added a 1-3 inch hem (1 in for the sides, 3 inches for the top and bottom) and throw it on the curtain rods with some curtain rings. interestingly, when i googled "how to make curtains" the first link i clicked on was a blog post from twotwentyone, and they used the exact same fabric (except maybe a lighter/mint-ier color).

we're pretty happy with how it turned out. i'm not completely sold on the curtain rings though, so i may end up adding fabric loops to the curtains themselves so we can put them directly on the rods.

purchased (and installed!): the dining room chandelier.

we bought and installed this lovely bridgeview chandelier in a mission dust bronze finish (we actually bought it using a home depot gift card we got from a group of coworkers when they found out we got married and bought a house, which was really very sweet). we're going for an industrial craftsman feel to the house, and did a lot of looking around before buying this one. we had to keep our fingers crossed a little on this one because no where actually had it in stock for us to look at in person, and even through the home depot web site, it was a "custom order".

i completely forgot to take a "before" photo, so this one (above) that i took back before we moved into the house will have to do. we really didn't like existing fixture. installing it wasn't too bad.. one annoying thing was that the chain link at the very top, we had to shorten it since our ceiling isn't that tall, and the only way to do it is to take two pliers and pull apart the individual links as needed to attach to the rest of the light, and then pull them back together. and to do this without messing up the finish too much. the other thing is that we had one piece in the wrong order, and didn't realize it until we had everything done.. so we had to take it all back down and apart to redo. that was my fault though. oops!

forgive the mess that is our dining room, but we love the new chandelier. since the lights point downward, it is definitely darker now than with the original chandelier, but i'm really liking the more intimate feel of it. plus, once we get a dining table, i think the space is going to be really nice.

awkward windows and a temporary solution.

so, in the master bedroom and bathroom (or at least, what we're using as those rooms), the windows are elevated and elongated. almost like clerestory windows, but not quite high enough. which is the source problem - they face the street! while people on the street can't see in due to the window height, the two-story apartment building across the street can! the other issue, is that they are extremely wide yet short windows. we were going to buy and hang curtains as a quick fix, but when we ran to target, they didn't have curtain rods long enough. so, what did we do? we bought gift wrapping paper (in cute patterns!), and painters tape.

yup! we have gift wrap on our windows! it's a total hack, but it works pretty well as a temporary solution.. and way cheaper, too. we've since found we can buy the proper length curtain rods online. with that in mind, i think we're going to have to make custom curtains as well, because it's a bit silly to buy normal window length curtains and have them completely overhanging the windows.