A coffee table had been high up on our priority list from day one. The coffee table we had purchased from Scott's Antique for our last house was not big enough for the new living room set-up, so we sold it on Craigslist and kept our eyes open for a new one. Trouble was, with every option we saw, we became less and less inspired. We had either seen it a thousand times or it was too sharp (Croix), fragile (couldn't use it as a table when we eat our dinner in the den for fear of spills) or it was the wrong size. We know how we live and we didn't want to invest in a piece that would feel too fancy or too dangerous or too run of the mill.  In addition, with a new tiny, mobile family member to consider now we wanted to be mindful of a selection that would be pretty, functional and safe-ish. So, as is typical right around the time we stopped talking/looking for a coffee table we found one without even trying.

There are a lot of windows in our living room. Two high ones on either side of the fireplace and then an entire wall of windows/doors with glass that looks out to the patio. We love all of the natural light but in the late afternoon the sun that streams through is so intense that it makes it uncomfortable to sit in there, especially to watch TV. So, curtains have also been high up on the priority list for sometime. Trouble is, it's real hard to pick curtain fabric when you don't have much direction for the overall vibe of the space. I didn't want to commit to curtains and then box myself in to bringing the rest of the room together around them. So, we kind of sat back and let the room organically evolve and then by late Fall the room was really starting to come together with our new built-in doors + succulent wall and giant art for over the couch so I felt comfortable moving forward with curtains. 

We headed to several fabric stores and hung up our favorite swatches on the walls around the windows to see which one would be the winner. 

In true "us" fashion those swatches hung there for um....months. Ugh, yes months. BUT finally we narrowed down our favorite and our  in-family seamstress  (Brent's Mom, Cindy) got busy making them for us. 

We planned to use the metal rod hardware we had used for our living room curtains at our first house, however when we went to install them we quickly figured out that wouldn't work. The span was too long and the weight of the curtains was literally pulling the brackets out of the wall! Oooooh the joys of home improvement projects. At the end of the day it was the fact that 3-4 smaller rods had to be screwed together to achieve the length we needed. We ended up finding a wood rod that is a lot more sturdy because it's broken up into only two pieces that meet in the middle.

We ended up going with a nubby rough cotton weave. The color is very similar to that of the walls so the curtains add layers of texture and interest without overwhelming the room with another statement.   The ceilings in this room are 10' high so in order accentuate the height we hung the curtains right under the crown moulding for a little drama. We also ordered enough fabric so the curtains could actually close all the way. This is especially nice in the late afternoon when that sun is pouring into the room.

All photos are my own.