{updates!}
I had to cancel the order for my sofa table in Paris because it's too large for the space. The more I measured, the more I realized it's out of scale and this concerns me. So I'm now looking for a new sofa table. But good news everyone! Octopus will bring my bed on Monday. I can't believe it! I'm jumping up and down, seriously, I'm thrilled. I also hung the curtains in my bedroom from West Elm along with white sheers beneath them (per my husband's request) that I found at Kaufhof. I cannot get over that I paid over $300 USD for sheers, but it's Germany and curtains here are expensive I think. I should have purchased the fabric and made them myself but I still have no sewing machine and little time to even think about sewing at the moment (we have so much going on with family and friends) so... I had to break down and just buy them. Plus I wanted sheers that didn't have some pattern on them. Most here have some time of damask print or swirls or stripes or this net style or something... And I wanted a simple sheer with tab tops. I'll show you a photo on Tuesday of my bedroom once the bed arrives and I can dress it nicely... Then you can see the bed with the curtains. I layered them, the white linen from West Elm on the front rod, the sheers on the back rod. I can't believe I had to buy 4 panels from West Elm and 4 sheers to cover this massive window! I had planned to use the linen drapes (2 per room) in the living room AND in the bedroom but they were wide enough. So now I'm thinking of my living room curtains....
I have this idea to either do a wire system with clip hooks, buy raw silk fabric in a lilac (pale: it's called wild orchid), and make curtains (and make the time to do this!), or I can buy faltrollos in white, in the states we call them roman blinds and go with a simple Swedish look. The lilac silk will be more dressy and lux while the white roman blinds will allow me to put two rosemary topiary trees on the windowsils and some candles, while maintaining a simple clean aesthetic.
Color I'm thinking of going with if I do drapes...
IKEA doesn't have the right size roman blinds for me, I need two 120-125 cm wide x 160 cm long (I think, I have to measure again, I'm guesstimating here)... Any ideas as to where I can find these in Germany or from a company that ships to Germany? I'm lost. I tried Mirabeau but they are not long enough. Perfect width though. :(
And here's the light that I ordered for my living room. It's a silver lantern. I love it! It's from the Villa Collection (I wrote about them on decor8 here) but I purchased it via Impressionen.
Now back to roman blinds -- Help!
xo,
Holly
I have this idea to either do a wire system with clip hooks, buy raw silk fabric in a lilac (pale: it's called wild orchid), and make curtains (and make the time to do this!), or I can buy faltrollos in white, in the states we call them roman blinds and go with a simple Swedish look. The lilac silk will be more dressy and lux while the white roman blinds will allow me to put two rosemary topiary trees on the windowsils and some candles, while maintaining a simple clean aesthetic.
Color I'm thinking of going with if I do drapes...
IKEA doesn't have the right size roman blinds for me, I need two 120-125 cm wide x 160 cm long (I think, I have to measure again, I'm guesstimating here)... Any ideas as to where I can find these in Germany or from a company that ships to Germany? I'm lost. I tried Mirabeau but they are not long enough. Perfect width though. :(
And here's the light that I ordered for my living room. It's a silver lantern. I love it! It's from the Villa Collection (I wrote about them on decor8 here) but I purchased it via Impressionen.
Now back to roman blinds -- Help!
xo,
Holly
Comments
How about a compromise, and make the Roman shades out of the lilac silk? I've just been on a curtain/roman shade making binge for my bedroom and it was easier than I thought.
Here's my self-created recipe for lined Roman shades (it sounds more complicated than it is...keep in mind, I don't really sew and I didn't follow a pattern...just discussed with the nice fabric store lady and was fearless about ripping out seams!):
Outer fabric: 1-2 inches wider than the window (for inside mount)
Liner fabric: 1-2 inches narrower than the window.
Measure the HEIGHT of the window, and add 6 inches to the length of the fabric. (You may need to adjust hem length at end when you hold up to window.
Put fabric right sides together, and sew up sides. Turn them inside out. Iron, Hem the bottom, leaving at least a 1" space so you can put a small ruler width piece of wood (this isn't necessary, but after trial and errow, it makes the bottom stay more nicely. (you can even add fringe, or trim or pom pom balls)
Hem the top.
Add round roman shade rings in rows up the back, 6" apart moving up starting from the bottom of the shade. I put the rows about 8 inches apart...so how many rows you need depends on how wide the shade is. For a 50" wide shade, I used 5 rows. MAKE SURE your rows are even and the rings line up horizontally.
Tie a string to the bottom of each ring and thread through each ring to the top.
You can either mount eye hook screws to the top of your window frame (lining them up with the rows of round rings), or get a board and put the eye hook screws on the board (this is what I did). If you use a board, you can wrap the fabric around the top to hide the eye hook screws which is a cleaner look.
Then thread the string through the screws and bring them all to one side...pull together an up goes your shade! You have to sort of tweak it into position at first so the fold fall smoothly.
Now that I've written this...it does sound a little complicated, but it wasn't too bad!
Good luck!
xo
Melissa
Or just get the Mirabeau ones and add some lilac at the bottom? When they're pulled up, you'd still have a little lilac hanging down... hmm, wonder how that would look...maybe nice? not sure how "too short" the Mirabeau ones are...
Perhaps you should try buying things in smaller shops. Or Habitat, Ligne Roset,...
As I can remember when shopping in Munich, there were numerous interesting shops, it is just that it takes time to find them. I suppose that quality of products in such shops is as good as in IKEA if not even better.
I just stumbled upon ur blog. i like it very much & enjoy ur creative decorating ideas. I read ur entry where u write about how ur missing martha stewart stuff in germany. I live in Hannover maby i can help u with some ideas for crafts and arts stores. I am a graphic desinger, so my needs are not exactly the same as yours. I spent almost two years in the us, so i know how it feels when u have to discover a new country.
First of all u have to check out bösner ( Bornumer Str. 146 30453 Hannover) they have a great selection of different supplys. It is kind of far from the city, but worth the trip. U can look up their website to prepare. For special paper needs u can also go to the Igepa paper store in Hemmingen (Gutenbergstr. 4 a, igepa-paperpoint.de). usually there work younger people who r still learning there, so u have to know in advance what u need and ask.
U should also visit Carl Semmler (Ebhardtstr. 7, 30159 Hannover). This is a tiny store owned by a really nice and helpfull older man. Located in the city. They have a lot of nice stuff. Since the store is so small the may have not everything on display.
Sometimes i found it useful to look through the store called architekturbedarf.de (Am Klagesmarkt 26, 30159 Hannover). sometimes they are cheaper than for example Tube (you probaly already know this store at Königsworterplatz).
If u are looking for beads or tiffany-stuff u should visit Tiffanys Corner. Ist just off the lister maile in the Gretchenstr. 6 (30161 Hannover). They are always eager to help & offer different workshops. The store next door loomies is also worth a look.
U should also check out the store qm-möbel for pretty nice furniture. (Lilienthalstr. 1, 30179 Hannover)
For buying fabrics is usually holländischer stoffmarkt really good. I think the next on eis on the first of November at Steintor. U can google them. Usually there are different qualities, so u have to watch out, but the choice is much better than at the stores and the prices also.
I also can suggest u the Infa –fair ( hausfrauenmesse ☺). I think this year it is from the 18th to the 26th of November. U can find there all kinds of useful and unnessesary stuff fort he home as well as things for arts and crafts.
I hope i could help u a little bit. If u have any questions u can email me at natalijal@web.de
liebe grüsse
Natalija
a fellow blogger tagged me recently to share 6 random quirky yet ordinary facts about me and my life, and i have just done that in a blog post.9its the first time i have ever done one of these tagged things, usually i forget-oops) i chose you as one of the bloggers to pass the tag onto,as i thought you might like to do it.
i know you probably recieve many of these and can't do them all so i understand if it falls through your net, love kat x
just incase that doesnt come through with the comment i left before.
It's a shame we didn't get to talk to each other Friday night in Amsterdam. Again, thank you so much for organizing this evening. I met many inspiring women and had a great time.
Cheers, Claudia
Guten Tag!
see if you like these sofa tables -the shape is a bit similar - and they look great IRL.
http://www.fredericia.com/show.asp?lang=dk&s=furniture&mk=&mt=7&mid=93
next time you need some simple curtains, email me and I'll make them for you and ship them :) or I've got to imagine you've got custom options in germany as well and it must be less than $300 although not as quick ;) OR maybe you could look into buying a sewing machine--sewing is fun (although somewhat time consuming to learn which I'm sure is an issue given how much you have going on)