The Purpling of the Living Room

I’ve been looking for some curtains for my living room for a long, long time. There have been several options I’ve liked, but at thirty dollars a panel, when I need at least four panels, they’re just too expensive. And sometimes they have been forty or fifty dollars a panel. Well, today I came across some fairly plain ones on clearance for $7.50 a panel. They did not have particularly good colors, but they were 100% cotton. So I got five panels. I chose the purple ones, but the purple was in stripes, so that the overall effect is rather pallid. Which is why I currently have them washing, and have seven boxes of purple and wine dye ready to go in once they’ve washed. :^D

Grandma’s couch is a nice purplish red, and it looks beautiful against my adobe walls. The carpet is a deep blue. I always kind of figured that I would get blue curtains when I got them, but after seeing that rich purple color in here, I opted for purple. I also got a curtain rod. It’s pretty cool, with a spiral design at either end. I only got one because I couldn’t remember whether the front window was more than 48 inches wide, or not. It is. Barely. It’s about 50 inches, so I need the next size up for that window.

The reason that this is important is that the front window catches the morning sun head on. Which means that the living room gets hotter and hotter and is already broiling by afternoon. The curtains will help that. I may also get a liner, for the front window almost certainly, to block out just a bit more of the light and heat.

...

The dye job is now complete, and they turned out a nice, rich royal purple. Beautiful (at least wet; won't know for absolute certain until they dry). As soon as they finish rinsing, I'm supposed to run some bleach through the washing machine. Hmmm... I wonder why? ;^) Oh, I had five panels (42 inches by 84 inches) and used 7 total packets of dye (4 wine; 3 purple). It seemed to be about the right amount, based on the color now.