Living Room Shades

We decided to go with bamboo shades in the living room in a medium brown (similar to the wood floor).  I was inspired by a Smith & Noble catalog that came in the mail, but horrified by the $300 per panel price tag that came with it.  Yes they were fabulous and lined, but for $300 they better be lined with gold.

One night at Home Depot (our home away from home these days), we were looking for simple white blinds for the office and guest room windows when we saw that they had bamboo roman shades on display.  The color was just what I wanted, the style was simple, the price was great... but they only had one left in our window size.  This of course inspired a wild goose chase around Northern NJ searching for more... and going crazy when their store stock did not match what was listed online.  We wasted a lot of time and gas only to come up empty handed.  Frustrated, it occurred to me that I should check out JC Penny online, especially since I swore I was a customer for life after their customer service was so nice and helpful.  As luck would have it, they were having a home sale - each bamboo shade was $8 cheaper than Home Depot AND there was free shipping! JC Penny really does rock - the prices were great, they arrived quickly, and the color ("oak") matches our wood floors perfectly.

Originally, in my mind I wanted to set up our living room curtains and blinds to come down from the crown molding, creating the illusion that the windows were taller than they are and make the ceilings look even higher.   Except my plan had one big flaw - it hid the gorgeous wide window casings of our older home.  This trick works great in newer homes with regular windows, but it would completely cover up one of our home's best features.  So I revised my plan and lowered the curtain rods I hung previously.  They are still high and wide, but are now better balanced and hung halfway between the top of the windows and the ceiling.  I still need to find curtains... one of these days I'll get to it.  And I still need to repaint the trim.  At least the clashing taupe sheers are gone.