New Dining Room Drapery Panels {where to hang drapes on Craftsman window trim}

While the cat’s away, the mice will play!

My husband doesn’t go out of town very often, but he’s been gone this week…which gives me the perfect opportunity to do a few projects to surprise him!  You see, it’s a win-win for me to do projects while he’s out of town.  First off, he’s not subjected to hours of discussion on splitting hairs  on whether to add one more milli-drop of pigment to this gallon of paint or not?  Second, {and one thing that really attracted me to him} he has a very good sense of style and cares way more about the little details than the average man should be allowed to does.   So this sometimes can lead to lengthy fights discussions over installing the bracket here or 1/2 inch to the right.  And third, who doesn’t love to come home to a home improvement project started and finished to completion without having to do any decision making or work? {Ok, don’t answer that!}

So, while he’s been away this week, this little mouse {yours truly} has been working hard on sprucing up our cottage to surprise him! I should really take a look at my to do list for 2011 so I can actually get things crossed off- since my first project isn’t on the list, darn!

First up is adding drapery panels to our dining room slider…and what a nice finishing touch it made. 

Here’s the slider BEFORE before…what it looked like with the previous owners:

And here it is after my husband installed Craftsman style trim around all the windows and we changed out the handle and lock:

Sorry, I forgot to take a “before” picture without the brackets, oops!

Ok, then I installed the brackets right on top of the trim:

After much research on where to install the brackets, I finally determined that during the Craftsman period {when trim like this was the standard} they installed the brackets right on top of the wood trim. I think it’s perfect, actually {that and I don’t have any wall space above my trim, which kinda leaves me without many options!}

I found these beautiful sheer drapery panels at my new favorite store, Cost Plus World Market.  I was contemplating sewing my own panels but when I saw these at just $14.99 each (plus I use my $10 off $30 coupon) it was a no-brainer.

Look at the adorable little bags they come in.  Hummm, what could I re-use these bags for??

They come all rolled up in a perfect little package:

So up went the drapery rod:

And the finials:

I just love the tie tops!  So whimsical, light and airy….just beachy!

And then I had to decide at what height I wanted the tie backs:

My dear son wasn’t quite as patient with me as my husband is…upon the 10th location I asked him to move it to, he was finished with me.

And here we are!

I think the next thing this little mouse needs to do is clean up that back yard a bit!

Back to work!!