From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Project updates and progress reports
User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Lily left the valley »

A while back, I had mentioned finding what I thought was just like a window treatment I'd seen in a 1939 Armstrong ad, and the colors were even right up my ally as to the scheme we had been considering for the kitchen. This is the look that I was going for at the time, although the color scheme was different than in this image:
Image

When we went back to buy them, it turned out they were really MCM straw curtains--the straws went vertical, not horizontal. So instead of buying them, we bought two that were a flat and wider straw and a completely different color scheme, thinking we would use them in the bedroom as a privacy screen for the lower sash area.

Oh silly us. I used the wrong measurements to compare against. So they were too narrow for the two 6/1 windows in our bedroom. However...they fit in the craft room that had three 4/1 windows that were smaller in height and width. PYCA only had two of these, and now I need to make them three. We still haven't even put the tables and shelves together for in there, so I set them aside.

However, of late I've been needing a project that is completely DONE like toast, and not partly finished. Something I can look at and breathe a huge sigh of relief that something I planned to do is 100% complete.

This one came to mind because it seemed pretty straightforward with only a few possible hiccups if a lot of glue was involved. I had also picked up some similar string I found in the craft area of PYCA, just in case they had been in a very sunny window and when I started to dismantle them, it fell apart. So it seemed this was a definitely possible much needed "done in one week or less" sort of project. I finally double checked a few things last week, and today I started in earnest. Here's the deconstruct part below, plus a few patterns I tried to put together. I'm still mulling over the fact that my brain now wants to take what should have been a simple project and go bananas, but I'm not going to do anything further on this today until my Floor Manager comes home and we take a look at the patterns I've already tried, and then discuss what works for both of us.

I hope to have this done at the latest by the end of the week. I may need something to hang them on, but I have to dig through the "long box o' rods" to see if we have three that match and would fit in those windows.

Here we go, click to embiggen with my usual banter:
Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image

And here are a few patterns I've been toying with so far. The last four in my head are a lot more complex than they appear. The very last I did try to "piece" the stained glass notion in the one corner for visuals, but because we have not committed to anything yet, I did not want to cut anything up. Embiggen for banter:
Image Image Image Image Image Image Image

So hopefully I'll report back before the end of the week with some good news and "we even hung them up" pictures.

Off to eat late lunch and finish a constructive procrastination sidetrack until Sean gets home.

If you have any questions or thoughts, please let me know.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

User avatar
Manalto
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2108
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Manalto »

I like the olive and aqua combination. A classic! (It doesn't even need the navy, although that gives it some depth.)

The floor is what I find mesmerizing. Sigh...

User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Lily left the valley »

Manalto wrote:I like the olive and aqua combination. A classic! (It doesn't even need the navy, although that gives it some depth.)

The floor is what I find mesmerizing. Sigh...
Which floor? The one in the ad?

Because of limited supplies from the second hand shop (stretching two into three), all colors must be used in order to cover the bottom sash glass in all three windows. My Floor Manager and I just had a pow wow, and we tried two more variants. We agreed if we were going to go nuts with some sort of Deco or Arts & Crafts stained glass look, we'd just make a stained glass window, not piece together a bunch of cut up straws.

We did decide on one out of those later adds that wasn't as perfect symmetry as the one I thought looked a little too 80s, yet seems interesting enough for that room without being a distraction inside while looking front of house average though colorful to not scare any neighbors. :P I said if worse comes to worse and we decide 3 or five years from now we can do better, it's a safe yet vibrant enough combo that I might be able to find them a good home elsewhere.

He's going to paint a mural on the walls in there, likely won't start on that until sometime next year. So we also had that in mind as to contrast for the colors. The navy does keep the vibrancy down just enough that the shades shouldn't compete with the mural.

Unfortunately, now that the light has changed drastically in the dining room, when we took pictures of the two later patterns, they were hilariously off color, both from the overhead CFL and from just the flash aiding what little daylight was still coming in from the east. The CFL made the navy look like an almost blackened brown, the olive quite mustard, and the wood under them a vivid orange. The flash made the navy a bizarre almost cobalt blue, and the olive went muted stucco. We were laughing because it made us think of that "is the dress blue and black or white and gold".

I hope to have them reconstructed with the new pattern tomorrow or the next day, and if I can find poles that work...hanging soon after. :D
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

User avatar
Manalto
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2108
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Manalto »

The only floor visible - that illustration you provided with the oh-so-skimpy dining space.

Isn't it odd how colors change according to light? Never trust what you see on foreign soil, it will change once it's in your house!

User avatar
Gothichome
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 4183
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 8:34 pm
Location: Chatham Ont

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Gothichome »

Well, a creative solution to a problem, making lemonade from lemons. Looking at your Armstrong kitchen, wouldn't all you early mid century folks love to get installed. One other hing, it's almost 9:30 and they still have not had there grapefruit diet breakfast. Slackers.

User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Lily left the valley »

Manalto wrote:The only floor visible - that illustration you provided with the oh-so-skimpy dining space.

Isn't it odd how colors change according to light? Never trust what you see on foreign soil, it will change once it's in your house!
From my theatrical set painting and lighting days...I know all about color shifts. :D It's one of the reasons I always find a way to prop things in the light I expect them to live so I can get an idea of how they will look more often than not. The dining room will eventually have a nicer fixture. Right now, it's just a single bulb screw in base. The CFL was there when we moved in, and so far we've only used the dining room as a landing space, for minor repairs, and some box sorting, so it hasn't been an issue yet until today from the photos.

Ah, yes, that's a swell floor. Did you see our lino thread?

Under the fake wood vinyl planks in our dining room is an older not as interesting but still wonderful floor that we found in the kitchen first. It's also in the hall to the back bedroom we use as our office. I have another thread about that. Right now, we're leaving the vinyl planks down to take damage from moving stuff around in there until we finally clear out most of the boxes and place furniture long term. Just in case that floor is in better shape than the kitchen turned out to be.

We have some interesting flooring scraps in closets, stair treads, etc. here at Beebe. I think I said I'd take pictures of them a while back when I first found them. I should try to do that this month.

Gothichome wrote:Well, a creative solution to a problem, making lemonade from lemons. Looking at your Armstrong kitchen, wouldn't all you early mid century folks love to get installed. One other hing, it's almost 9:30 and they still have not had there grapefruit diet breakfast. Slackers.
Hah! Must be a lazy Saturday. :D
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

heartwood
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1603
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 2:44 pm
Location: western mass

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by heartwood »

you are a better than me for all your ideas, energy and know-how with those straw 'curtains'...oh, and did I mention patience too?
I noticed the lino floor right off too! the 'atomic' look...I could live with that kitchen now...I also noticed that the '8' and '9' on the clock seem to be switched...I saw it as 8:30 not 9:30....what's up with that?
...jade

User avatar
Manalto
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2108
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Manalto »

Thanks for the linoleum eye candy. I love that stuff - warm and smooth under(bare)foot, as opposed to - well, anything else except wood, which isn't practical in a kitchen, TYVM.

Look forward to seeing what removal of vinyl planks ultimately reveals. I'll stay tuned.

Good catch on the clock, Jade. Most peculiar!

Kashka-Kat
Stalwart
Posts: 369
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2015 3:39 am

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Kashka-Kat »

DO YOU mean to say that you are taking apart those window shades, and re-weaving them together with string? If so - wow. I have thought of finding some sort of flexible paint (if it exists) and just painting some old bamboo shades but have not yet got around to doing it.

User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

Re: From MCM curtains to 1939 shades

Post by Lily left the valley »

heartwood wrote:you are a better than me for all your ideas, energy and know-how with those straw 'curtains'...oh, and did I mention patience too?
I noticed the lino floor right off too! the 'atomic' look...I could live with that kitchen now...I also noticed that the '8' and '9' on the clock seem to be switched...I saw it as 8:30 not 9:30....what's up with that?
...jade
Jade, ya say the nicest things. I think we should start a club of Industrious Cheapskates. I'd be a proud card carrying member. Willa would be our founder, since she coined the term here. :D As to the number swap, on Old House Dreams, they often talk about how tilers will sometimes have one piece that is intentionally left "off" from a pattern as a signature of sorts. Some also say that deeply religious folks do that because only God can make things perfect, so they do the same for that reason. I wonder if maybe the illustrator did that as a signature of their own, since a no-name illustrator can't put their name on their commercial work?

Manalto wrote:Thanks for the linoleum eye candy. I love that stuff - warm and smooth under(bare)foot, as opposed to - well, anything else except wood, which isn't practical in a kitchen, TYVM.

Look forward to seeing what removal of vinyl planks ultimately reveals. I'll stay tuned.

Good catch on the clock, Jade. Most peculiar!
Glad to be of service. Cork is another warm to the tootsies material. That was my original plan for the kitchen until we found the layers.

Kashka-Kat wrote:DO YOU mean to say that you are taking apart those window shades, and re-weaving them together with string? If so - wow. I have thought of finding some sort of flexible paint (if it exists) and just painting some old bamboo shades but have not yet got around to doing it.
Yes, Kashka-Kat. That's what I'm doing. I should have the first one done today. I'm not yet sure how long it will take me to do the weave because I've never done this before.

We still plan to use the same style as seen in the Armstrong ad for the kitchen, and that's what I was considering--painting a bamboo set. I hadn't even thought about making sure such was flexible so it wouldn't break up. So thank you for that! Maybe color staining lighter wood could work instead?

I did find another set of what turned out to be the curtains with the right colors. I even posted about having bought the valances they turned out to have them at PYCA. One matched our color scheme, but the other was all neutrals, and they had no big "curtain" in stock to match the neutral. I'd thought maybe to stretch out the one valance into three using the neutrals.
Image
I haven't gone back over there to measure the curtains to see if I can possibly cut them down and still have enough material for our three windows in the kitchen. Yet since they are also plastic straws, not wood matchsticks, I've been holding off. Still, right now with our budget I can't be overly choosy, so I might just suck up having plastic for the short term.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

Post Reply