Efforts to Rescue the Family Room

We went with our go-to Ikea white curtains for the sliding doors.  Since the dining room windows are just a few feet away, we wanted it to flow nicely.  But when I hung them, they looked pretty blah:

Granted, it was an improvement from the bare doors and they still needed hemmed, but they really needed something else.  So I went to work making some tie-backs out of scrap fabric I had lying around from recovering a lamp a few months back. I hemmed all four sides of each rectangle and then sewed a small button hole on each end:

I attached a little brass hook to the wall next to each curtain panel and then just wrapped my fun fabric around the panels and hooked it onto the...hook.  :)

I also hemmed the curtains, and BAM, what a difference:

Aren't the patterned tie-backs fun?  We still plan to get some bamboo blinds to fill the gap between the curtain rod and doors, but for now--this is just the quick fix we needed.  We took care of the pillow situation and got a couple lamps, too:

The lamps we got at Ikea, along with the two smallest pillows in front.  The other pillows we had and just pulled out of hiding.  A few little changes really helped this room look more sophisticated and presentable.

Before:

Currently:

That's another room I can mark off as guest-ready, but there's still a few projects I have left to do before Sunday. Off to put together another gallery wall under our new light in the stairway!