Tablecloths and Shower Curtains

I want to share a little decorating tip I've been using for years.

When we built this house, I wanted a good sized dining room with a round table. 

I like round tables because they are so much easier to converse around during dinner.

None of that leaning forward and turning your back on the person on one side so you can hear what the person two chairs away wants to say. 
All the while holding your hair so it doesn't drag in your soup! 

Of course, not envisioning I would have the Mongolian horde as permanent houseguests, 

I imagined nice dinners, on good china, with intelligent conversation.

Those imaginary guests wouldn't have to be told (42 times) to open the napkin to wipe their mouth because it doesn't work as well clutched into a ball in your hand.

Or told (12 times) to refrain from conversing with the lady of the house 
while eating macaroni and cheese as it is particularly disgusting to look at.

Or told (9 times) to not scoop spaghetti into your slice of buttered bread 
and then try and force it into your mouth even though she understands that you 
CAN open your mouth wide enough to get (almost...oops) all of it in there.

No, no, no....she NEVER imagined this when she lovingly planned 
her beautiful dining room 
with the gorgeous 60 inch round cherry inlay table 
which is never uncovered anymore....sniff, sniff...


But, I digress.....

Before they descended 

I did figure out that a fabric shower curtain makes an excellent tablecloth.

Why? Because they are 72 inches square...that's why.

Most of the fabrics you would want to make a tablecloth from comes only 54 inches wide.

That means a center piece and a smaller piece on each side to get a large enough square.

It also means cutting, pinning, sewing, pressing...
and don't forget to match the pattern while you're at it!
Plus, with a 60 inch table the size cloth needed is 90 inches (for a good drop)
...not easy to find, if you're a cheapskate like me anyway.
 I only buy them when I can find them on sale or at Home Goods.


So, I devised this plan for a pretty topper over the white cloths I can find more easily.
Since my St Patrick Day arrangement is still on the table
(minus all the Irish stuff)
I am demonstrating on another table which is 42 in across and 26 in tall.

This is so easy your dog can do it....

Shower curtain

There's the hole for the ring....
I found this at Goodwill for $6.99. It's from Target. 
You know that they have an agreement with Target to get their castoffs...
that's why you always see their stuff there.

Table

I tossed a white cloth over it so you can see the effect.
OK...here's the hard part......
Put the shower curtain square over the table....

Tablecloth

SNAP.....

YEAH BABY....

But wait...that's NOT all.
I also use tablecloths to make curtains.
In fact, you can use a tablecloth to make the shower curtain which means
tablecloths= shower curtains= tablecloths
And you thought you'd never use that high school algebra again!

Almost as difficult and time consuming as the tablecloth....

I bought this nice RL floral comforter and sham set from a discount place.

There were coordinating sheets, but nothing else.

No problem, I don't tend to be a matchy matchy sort of gal anyway
which the main reason I don't like photographs...I NEVER seem to look right....

but that's a whole 'nother story.
So I vacillated and prevaricated and procrastinated and all the other 
"ateds"
And didn't do anything. 
The room still had the white primer we painted when we moved in 8 years before.
YES...I said 8 years....sheesh...

Then, I happened to be in Home Goods one day about a year after I bought the comforter 
and spied tablecloths....

In my print...!

I read the sizes and realized they were perfect for drapes!
Fold the top over and add rings or fold the top over and sew a pocket.

Good thing I found them because since I had never finished the bedroom, 

 my husband got fed up with me one weekend 
and said he wanted the bedroom to be yellow 
and how come he never got to choose anything he wanted 
and so forth and on and on.......
He said this bedroom is getting painted this weekend and I'd better go with him to the store 
or he'd pick the color himself! 
So there!!
Nothing lights a fire under my derriere better than the prospect of 
NOT having a say in a decorating project. 
So, off we went and it was done that weekend.
Now he LOVES to tell me about HIS decorating expertise.


yadda yadda
whatever....

It IS pretty though....very English....

This is the sitting area.

 I'd love to show you more but I'm not ready.
Still finishing up in here.
Remember the china mosaic fireplace? It's across from the foot of the bed.

I still have one more shower curtain idea to show you.


I've had this eyelet/cutwork shower curtain for about 15 years...maybe longer. 
One day in a fit of Marthawannabeitis
I folded it lovingly and tied it with a bit of fabric scrap and put it in the linen armoire.

 When the kids are gone and I can have a guest bedroom again...
this will be used to top the bed.

Over a white spread of course, with white embroidered cases.

 So, if you happen to come across a cutwork shower curtain
snap it up!


Sharing with
From My Front Porch To Yours
Embracing Change
the36th Avenue
No Minimalist Here
At The Picket Fence
Between Naps on The Porch
Mrs. Hines Class
Freckled Laundry

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