Adding Color with Curtains

Almost as soon as I put up the first curtains I installed in our formal living room, I wasn’t crazy about them. And this week, I finally got around to adding color with new curtains in this room.

The curtains solve an immediate color problem. I’ve shared before how much I regret painting my house gray. It’s something I plan to fix in the short term, but at heart, the gray just feels cold and dreary. Additionally in this room, I also hung black and white family photos along each wall flanking the fireplace.

Add in the last curtains, and it just felt so monotone and, well, dull.

I knew when I brought back in my favorite rug into this space that I would eventually find ways to add other dramatic pops of color.

Two months ago, when I stumbled on these tablecloths on the Target website, I fell in love. But I was also in love with another set of tablecloths and spent awhile sort of tortured by the decision. When I was finally ready to purchase, one was sold out. And that made my decision easy.

Backing up, I like to use tablecloths for curtains. They’re incredibly budget-friendly, and often times I can find so many more wonderful colors and patterns in tablecloths than I can curtains.

I simply hang them with curtain clips (I love the Better Homes and Gardens curtain clips from Walmart), and they are the perfect size vertically for our cottage.

I’ve done the same thing in our library and our master bedroom.

And I’m actually going to recycle the old curtains from this room and use them in the kids’ playroom, which is currently themed “planes, trains, and automobiles,” so they will look really sleek with that room’s decor.

Buying curtains has always been a struggle for me. I have always struggled to find something I love. About a year ago, one of my favorite bloggers, Liz Marie Galvan, shared how she used tablecloths as curtains, and I was instantly smitten with the idea.

Her philosophy was that considering tablecloths just opens the possibilities of patterns and textures.

My tablecloth curtains are purely for show since I already have blinds on all of the windows, so this system works incredibly well for me. I love that I’ve been able to source curtains that actually speak to my tastes. I may never go back to regular curtains!

Would you ever consider using tablecloths as curtains? Have you done it before? Tell me in the comments below!