Serenity Curtains: Windows Part 2, Break-In Part 3

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." ~ Henri Matisse

I have always loved to hang pictures, curtains, and other decor elements or textiles. 

I love seeing art and beauty everywhere, and I love the physical aspect of choosing, aligning, and affixing pictures, frames, and decoration. I have a toolbag of my collected hammers and nails, hooks and wires, measuring tape and sticky tape, and picture hangers and hooks in a variety of sizes and finishes, and I love using these pieces toward creating the environment I envision.

Hammer as paintbrush, so to speak, and decoration as serenity!

I didn't expect that I'd need to hang curtains at my Summer Serenity Cottage (scroll down for before and after photos) for the purpose of preventing a peeping tom from peeping. 

Nor did I expect that the landlord of this charming house I'm renting for the summer would be a peeper and a creeper. That's right: the peeping tom is the landlord. 

Also in his repertoire: inappropriate topics of conversation, over-familiarity, ringing the doorbell over and over, crying, shouting, touching, entering the house unannounced. Can you imagine! I am not paying rent in order to be harassed!

The landlord dropped by so frequently (which is technically illegal as well as ill-mannered), that every friend I've had over to the cottage has seen or met him. Not because I am constantly entertaining, but because he has been constantly lurking around! 

For example, I was having tea with one sweet friend when suddenly she looked over my shoulder and started screaming. I started reflexively screaming before I knew why she was screaming. While we were screaming, I turned and saw the landlord sticking his head and torso into the window. My screaming turned to shouting.

I tried to be so nice at the beginning -- you might say that I was too nice; I even invited the landlord in to join friends and me when he showed up uninvited -- until I saw that his bad behavior was becoming worse. I made clear statements about my boundaries, and about what I will not tolerate. I also told the landlord's son, who is around my age. If there are future disruptions, I might call the son, and the police, and let them handle things from there.

(The landlord walked someone's dog across the front yard today, just as an old friend of mine was getting ready to leave! At least this time he didn't bring the dog up the porch stairs and ring the doorbell and let the dog jump on me before I (gently) kneed the poor dog down. Progress?)

For details of this unanticipated aspect of the summer, see Part 1 and Part 2 of Break-In / Breakdown. 

As one of the steps I took to deter the landlord's unacceptable behavior, I ordered 2 sets of these curtains from Overstock; 1 set for the living room and 1 set for the dining room. 

There was 1 window in particular that needed covering: the living room window that looks onto the porch. The peeper had a habit of climbing the porch stairs, peeping right in, and shouting for me to come here, as though I were a dog! 

I am not used to being disrespected; how ridiculous to disrespect someone. I am not a dog to be hollered at, though there is nothing wrong with dogs and plenty wrong with hollering at them. Rather, I am an infinite being of light, ready for the Golden Age of empathy and equality.

I stopped relaxing in the living room, stopped stretching out on the sofa with a book in my hand and Jorji the cat on my lap, to avoid being peeped at. But why shouldn't I enjoy my own living room? The peeping and other disruptions and intrusions made me feel angry and aggravated. This is not the Summer Aggravation Cottage, but the Summer Serenity Cottage!  

Indeed, I've had a different kind of aggravation at my beloved regular place -- awful roof noise and vibration due to almost 2 years of botched roof work -- which is why I'm renting this place this summer. For serenity! Serenity, in a quiet house, through contemplation, relaxation, and decoration.

Happily, the curtains have already restored a great deal of serenity. 

And, hanging them was fun!

Some questions and answers for myself:

• Is the scale of the stripe larger than I would ideally have chosen, if I had been planning to choose curtains at all? Yes. 
• Is the fabric the organic cotton I would ideally have chosen? No. 
• Were time and privacy of the essence, such that I was looking for inexpensive curtains that would ship fast as we are already at the midpoint of summer and of my time in this rental? Absolutely. 
• Was I still able to support my Great Lakes coastal theme and blue-and-white color scheme with these unplanned curtains? Yes, oh yes. 

The curtains arrived, they are as advertised, and I grabbed my step stool -- which a dear friend kindly drove me back to my regular place to pick up -- hammer, and some 1-inch nails, and I got the job done!

Before

See my post on the living room for additional views of what it looked like before I hung the curtains, and also before I added any furniture or decor at all! Dining room post still to come!

After

There was no time to mess around with curtain rods or other niceties on this project. Nails worked perfectly: I hammered a nail into each side of the window frame, hung a curtain panel through its grommets into those 2 nails, and then worked inward from each edge, hammering a nail where the grommets lay. Easy; fast.

I cut lengths of white grosgrain ribbon for easily removable and re-tie-able tie-backs. This way, I can let in extra light and air during the peeper's off hours -- especially after the time and trouble it took to get these windows open and to keep them from falling back down; see Part 1 of Windows: Worry to Wow! -- and Jorji the cat can still enjoy prowling the window sills and keeping track of the birds outside.

The buoys I bought to hold up the windows are now peek-a-buoys! : )

The flimsy blinds that the house came with didn't close all the way, vertically or horizontally, and were neither attractive nor effective. 

Now with the curtains, you can no longer see into the cottage from the porch window, or through any curtained window. (I still wish the outside of the house could get a good power-washing, but that is beyond what I am in a position to do as a summer renter; I discuss and address the porch in this post, using a bit of a "decor and ignore" approach, and I am focusing on interior decor. It's what's inside that counts, right?)

Cottage or cabana? Decorating this delightful house is fun either way! Motto for the summer: contemplation, relaxation, decoration! 

I was concerned that curtains would make the bright airy space feel closed and dark, so I made sure not to choose blackout curtains. 

I also hammered a nail into each window frame to loop the ribbon tie-backs onto, so that the curtains stay pulled back neatly when I want them to.

Plus, the windows that are not peeper-accessible still let in light. 

Below, you can see lovely blue-hour light flooding in, and you also have a peek at the guest room curtains on the right, which I'd already hung when I thought they would be purely a decor element, not also a peeping-prevention maneuver! Guest room post coming soon!

What do you think: perhaps the curtains add a certain jauntiness to the space? They do add privacy, and this adds peace.

And Jorji and I are back on the sofa.

Here's to the art of serenity!

Your friend in decorating,

Valerie

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Thank you!