Extremely Cheerful Valances Finished

I think I'm happy. The good news is that I finished my valances (after twelve years of living here....) The good news is that I finished my extremely cheerful valances. The question is -- how much extreme cheerfulness can I stand? (CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE.)

Lily loves them, and they hang where she does her homework and I work out. So there. It's a huge success. I will not say out loud: What was I thinking? They're only a little over the top. No pun intended.

To see "before" photos, click this post. I prefer bathrobes to curtains. I couldn't think of what I wanted to do with these windows in The Void. The Void needed something, though, to tie it together. To give it some, well, cheerfulness.

Can you be too cheerful? Not me. Not even close. These valances might be, though. Lily and I picked out the fabric together. I was going to do a sophisticated black and white woodcut-looking graphic, but I think she thought it looked scary, and she loved the blue flowers.... So, we have blue flowers. I'm sure they will grow on me. Then there was the fringe. The valances I picked out in the book, The Complete Photo Guide to Window Top Treatments, had a fringe on them, which gave them a finished look. I think I should have skipped the fringe, but I already bought it and the medium-sized girls who were spending the night all thought it was great, so we have fringe. The circus has come to town.

They're in two parts, a complete black and white stripped valance below, with a blue-flowered topper on top. (Where else?)

I didn't have craft paper, so I used Christmas paper to make the pattern, which I highly recommend. Here's the pattern for the black and white valance.

And here's the pattern for the triangle-shaped topper, hanging in place while I try to figure out exactly what I want here. (It was highly tempting to stop with the striped under-valance.)

I hate to sew, but I have a great machine to use and never hope to have another one. It was my grandmother's and I think it is older than I am. It is one of my most highly valued possessions, because it works. It does two things, and it does them very well: it sews forwards in a straight line and it can sew backwards in a straight line. That's all I ask. And in spite of its tiny size and age, it can sew through anything. I need to get it in for maintenance but I don't know whom to trust it with. It is that nice. Every sewing machine person who ever saw it wanted to buy it. Not for sale. This old portable Singer sewing machine is one of the best designed, most well-made things on the planet. Now that I've said that, it will die.

The plan for the rest of the room is to hang up black-framed photos of happy events in our lives. It's hard to bring myself to put hammer and nail to freshly painted walls.

Anyway. The valances are done. And I'm so very cheerful I think I'll go paint roosters on my kitchen cabinet doors next.

Comments

[Venomous Kate]

Aaaargh. Friends don't let friends put roosters on their kitchen cabinets!!!

[Nancy]

I think the extremely cheerful valances look great. It's a quirky space--you might as well have fun with it.

[Angry]

‘Valance’... it intrigued me as to the origins of this word... so I looked it up;
The angled plate attached to the edge of a locomotive running plate to provide strength. www.mda.org.uk/railway/railobjv.htm

...and then I stumbled on what looks suspiciously like the inspiration for this particular valance;

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/angrybuttons/valance.jpg

:)

[jae]

I love the valance! Right up my alley. And the rooster comment was priceless, too.

[lori]

I think they are cheerful, too!! Very!! Cheerful!! (no, really - fun!)
Did you use satin or semi-gloss paint? What about putting the photos up with hot glue? Might be okay and no holes in wall.
(try it somewhere first, like they tell you to try hair color or rit dye.....!)

[Kathy C]

Before I even finish reading the post I must say I LOVE your sewing machine. I have a modern machine that drives me batty and an antique trundle that I have never tried. I bet I would like it better.

[groovyoldlady]

Yes, Anne...Those are EXTREMELY cheerful. Better than light therapy!

I need to replace the hideousness of purpledom in our music room AND the 20 year-old shreds in the kitchen. Perhaps something in train engine and faux wood paneling with sprinkles of daisies and, um, peppermints...yeah, that's it!

[Anne]

Y'all are too kind. I'm getting used to them. They're not actually as loud in person (nor are the walls) as they are in the photos.

This is the room I thought was going to be a serene blue-green. Don't let me pick out your paint colors. When it was so very blue, I was going to do a colorwash. Then I decided that it was fine (because it's huge and I didn't want to do a colorwash on such a big area -- it kind of goes around a corner you can't see in any of the photos. It's a large, hard-to-use space. Usually used for accumulated stuff. New Year's resolution: no junk stored in The Void.

[barb]

these are just what i needed. thanks!