Curtains & Brackets

The topic today...

Seriously, I hope you're not waiting for me to tell you because it's right in the post subject line. 

Anyway...

After thinking and rethinking and looking at more pictures of New Orleans online in an attempt to address the top heavy issue Keli pointed out yesterday I was bracing myself to begin building a front porch.  I have the posts that would match the ones on the balcony, I just really didn't want to build a porch, sidewalk or any sort of front edifice beyond the one I'd done.

Then Keli rescued me from my own laziness (and ineptitude) and sent me some pictures on how to beef up regular brackets.

That's the biggest problem visually and also (if you want to be nitpicky about engineering) structurally.  The pretty brackets I had supporting the balcony really didn't look like they could support the balcony.  See?  Very insubstantial.

So I got to work.

Luckily I'd been worried about Elmers white glue or wood glue adhering to the aged surface well enough and I'd used sticky tacky glue.  With some wiggling and judicious prying the brackets came right off.

Lots of cutting and fiddling with curlicues and bric-a-brac to make them look fancy but here's the result.

I have a few finishing touches to do.  Mostly I want to do a little line of the dark grey along the edge of the two new curlicues in order to make them match the original brackets better.

I had to have two really large ones and then two shorter brackets because the windows wouldn't allow for four full sized brackets.  Visually though I think it works.  See?

See what I mean about the grey?  Right now (to me) it looks a little cobbled together.  I did go with the same white though.  I used warm white on the brackets and snow white on the rest of the trim.  It's that sort of weirdness I've run into at old houses before.  When someone repainted they didn't bother to check if the paint had gone yellow on them.

But so far so good I think.

I also made some progress on the curtains. 

The bedroom curtain tiebacks have been a work in progress for a week now as I twisted embroidery thread together for thickness and then made tassels and sewed them onto the ties. 

I finally settled into a good system and got them done today.  I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.  For my first attempt they don't look bad.

Hobby Lobby's embroidery floss/thread was severely depleted by the time I was done. So many colors!  But it was worth it to get the right color green.

I also drew, cut out, and glued little cornices for the French doors last night and glued the fabric to them today.  I just finished sewing the curtains.  They're so small I couldn't glue the hems or they would never have pleated well.

I gathered them with a running stitch and then pinned them to my board, got all my pleats organized and then brushed them with my water/glue mixture. 

The red curtains for the kitchen French doors aren't black, the red just goes really dark when it gets wet.

Not a bad days work.  Especially considering I still feel lousy. 

I need to go clean up my closet so the floor can get vacuumed so hope all of you have a great evening.

Keli I so owe you for your help!  Thanks again.