Kitchen “eyebrows”

You all may recall from when I did the window treatments in Erin’s nursery that I referred to the valance as an “eyebrow,” courtesy of my sweet friend Daina.

Well, I’m at it again.

My decor color choices have always tended toward warm, earthy tones.  My kitchen and dining room in all of my previous 3 homes have been infused with deep reds, golden yellows, and dark finishes.  While I knew I wasn’t going to necessarily set out to recreate identical rooms in our new house, I knew that my inherit tendencies would emerge.

Until my dad painted the kitchen blue.  Like, BLUE blue. (Pretend the boxes aren’t there – they technically aren’t, I’ve actually unpacked since I took this picture – and note the wall color.)

I’m not sure of the actual color; I’ll come back and update the post if I can find it, or if Dad remembers.  But it is a deep, almost-bright-in-some-lights, sapphire-y blue.  And it is pretty.  But it is blue.  And I’m just not a blue girl.

I toyed around with the idea of repainting the kitchen, and I was leaning toward red.  (Duh.)  But it felt predictable, and I felt somewhat up to the challenge of seeing if I could (wait for it – I’m going to channel Tim Gunn) make it work with the blue, so it was off to JoAnn Fabrics I went.  On Black Friday, no less, with my mother-in-law in tow.

See, I knew I needed something to go not only with the blue, but also with the many red accent pieces I already had (think canisters, trivets, towels) – things that, yes, could be replaced, but it would have been an unnecessary expense, and the pieces were still perfectly good with only 6 years of use.  So, I needed the fabric to work with the blue paint, the red accents, and some yellows that are currently in/will be expanded on in the adjoining great room.  In addition, I wanted it to be fun and make a statement, and possibly incorporate some other colors, too.  If you care to look, my 5959 Kitchen Pinterest board will give you an idea of what I was going for.

Oh, did I mention I was also planning on recovering our ivory seats on the dining chairs, and that I would need to find coordinating fabric for that task, too?  I didn’t?  Well, I am, and I did.  Go, me!

I know, shut up already and show you what I found, right? =)

The floral is the valance fabric, and the stripes are for the dining chairs.  I’m also lining the back of the valance (similar made-up-pattern as Erin’s valance) with the stripes.

  
I’m 2/3 of the way done with making the valance panels, and then all I will have to do is figure out how I want to hang them.  The window already has custom cellular shades, so the valance is 100% decorative and serves no functional purpose, so they can be fixed in one position.  I’m thinking some kind of finial-ish thing or oversized, chunky drawer hardware, mounted above the window casing, and then either fabric or ribbon ties with button accents to attach….I don’t know yet.

Pottery Barn has these hangers that would work, and I like, but I’m pretty sure I’d need 5, and with a $24 price tag, I’m ruling them out.  Conceptually, though, it’s what I’m going for.

Anyway, I was just too excited about the progress and how happy I still am, 2 months later, with the fabric, that I thought I’d share a sneak peak.  I promise to share more pictures when it all finally comes together.