kitchen window curtains

[vtsurfergirl]

I just moved into a new house and I am making curtains for all of the downstairs windows. My biggest dilemma, believe it or not, is the kitchen window. It is a very small kitchen, painted a pale yellow, with green countertops and nice oak cabinets (all colors there when I moved in) The adjoining dining room is a pale, sage-like, green, and the floors are cherry. I picked out some fabric that I absolutley LOVE with all of these colors, and a nice marroon color as well. It's sort of a plaid/modern-country pattern. The kitchen window is situated between the cabinets and just above the kitchen sink. My big problem is picking a style for the curtains...the house is generally decorated with clean lines, lots of wood, not a lot of knick-knacks or clutter. I've thought about tab top curtains, but I don't know if I should do full lenght ones, or a short top (sort of valance style) and another to cover the bottom half of the window. I also want to be able to open them during the day, and don't know if the half-curtain will look right if I split it. I'm not a big fan of alot of frills or poofy treatments...but want something to really highlight the material (I don't have a lot, or any room for mistakes, as it was pretty expensive!) I've looked online and gotten som ideas, but could use some more advice. (btw, I will be making tab top curtains for the back door to the patio, just on the other side of the dining room)

[Annette]

hi & welcome to the forums!

i can't imagine full window length curtains on a kitchen window above a sink, unless it's more of a shade (roman, etc). are you sure you MUST have privacy on the lower half of that window? because usually the window is up high enough that no one can really see in - and if they can, what are they seeing?? another option might be to hang a plant in front of the window, or line up tall bottles or something along the sill to just obscure the view. also you could install shutters on the bottom, or even hang a stained glass section in front of that area. using a cafe curtain is a fairly country style look, as are tab tops curtains, so if that's your style, then go with a valance on top & cafe's on the bottom. it'll be fine to split the cafe's so you can pull them to the sides when you want to (that's done all the time). since you'll have tab tops in an adjoining room, i'd continue that here & use a tab top valance - either a straight across hem or angled down so they're longer at the sides. and then for the cafe's you could do a simple rod pocket & gather them. i wouldn't do tabs on the cafe's - too much of a good thing. nor would i use the ring clips - too busy when combined with the tabs.

don't get too fancy here - if the fabric is a really cute plaid, then no matter what the style of the curtain, it's the fabric that will be seen. keep it simple. :thumbup: :)

[NikkiL]

I'd say to go with the tabs, 1/2 way only. They'd look fine opened and look clean and not fussy. Straight edge, nothin' fancy :)

I'm in this area of the forum for the same reason - trying to figure out what kind of window treatment to use in the new kitchen reno!