Hang 'Em High

I hope you all had a great weekend.  We actually had some sunshine here which was nice for a change.  While we in Kentucky, had our share of bad weather last week, we did not experience anything like those in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee.  My heart and prayers are with those affected by the tornadoes there.

Last week I showed you how a small change made a big difference in my family room.  Now I'm finally getting around to showing you the other change I made to the fireplace wall.  It was the other reason I had to conquer my fear of heights and climb that ridiculously tall ladder.  After much thought, I decided to hang my stenciled curtain panels higher.  I almost always follow the "hang 'em high" rule when it comes to window treatments.  In this room though the small window above the door sort of through me for a loop.  I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to block any of the light that comes through this window which is why I had originally hung them just below the window but over the door like this.

I decided to go back to my original rule of thumb and hang 'em high.  I'm much happier with them now.  They make more of statement this way and really show off our fireplace.

The hub hung the rods higher for me (big smooch to him) because I'm terrible at using drywall anchors.  In order to make my panels long enough (you know because I didn't decide to hang 'em high until after I had made and stenciled them - ahhhh - hindsight gets you every time!) I just used a solid piece of navy fabric from a curtain panel that I already had on hand.  A little no-sew hemming tape and I was good to go.  Thank goodness I had extra ribbon trim just sitting in my craft closet!  I also ditched the puddled look in this room for more of clean just-hits-the-floor look, and I'm loving this so much more in here!

If you're looking closely you may have also noticed that I repainted the wall a mocha color (Hubble House Clay - Valspar).  I only painted just this one wall not the entire room.  Feature walls aren't usually my thing, but in this case I'm really liking the look.  It really makes the fireplace wall more of a focal point.  I think that once I'm done sprucing up this room it will translate really well as this color picks up the mocha color in my area rug.  Alas, it's just paint so if I decide to change it, well at least next time that tall ladder won't scare me off :)

Regardless of the new look, I'm most proud of conquering my fear heights!  I really am not as freaked out as I used to be and letting go of that fear feels really good!  So, have you made any changes in your home that caused you to bust out the super tall ladder?  What's your take on feature walls?  Love 'em or hate 'em?  





*Linking up at The DIY Show Off and i Heart Organizing