Before and after: replacing the paper stick-up shade with a gathered French door curtain!
Before and after: replacing the paper stick-up shade with a gathered French door curtain!It might seem odd to have a glass door on the powder room but that’s what I have. I found 5 sets of salvage doors and used them throughout the house, including the downstairs guest bath because I knew I could make a french door curtain to insure privacy. The old doors are fir and had been removed from a 1920s house. The one on the powder room still had the original brass curtain rods and brackets for curtains intact. I removed and kept hardware from all the doors when I restored them by hand-scraping the loose paint. I wanted their age and patina to show and I didn’t fill any of the old bracket holes since I felt they are part of the look. The side of the door facing into our hallway is white with some old awning green showing through. Inside, the door is a different color.
To give the powder room privacy, I threw up a $5 pleated paper stick-up Redi Shade I found at Home Depot and secured it to the top of the door with blue painter’s tape. By the time I found real fabric for the shade –a jacquard-stripe ivory cotton at a Scalamandre remnant sale — I was horrified to realize that the paper shade was 6 or 7 years old. Since we had only been using the house on weekends, the door shade hadn’t been a priority.
Rather than replace the old curtain hardware I decided to use it. It is solid brass, it fit the door and all the pieces were intact. But first, I had to clean the rods and brackets which hadn’t been touched in decades. After soaking them in Noxon metal cleaner, I rubbed and rubbed until tarnish gave way to brass-clad rods and brass brackets still dotted in some spots with old paint.
After the Noxon rub-down, the brackets, sleeves and screws got a mineral spirits soak to finish the cleaning.
The keys to making a french door curtain are the top and bottom rod pockets. Those allow the fabric to be stretched between them, then gathered and held taut rods above and below the window. Making the curtain requires a few yards of fabric, careful measuring and basic sewing machine skills. My door measures 79-inches high by 23-1/4-inches wide overall. The window area measured 66-1/2 inches high by 16-3/4-inches wide. My fabric was 53-inches wide (half is 26-1/2) so my finished curtain would be a double width with generous gathers. As a precaution, I measured an extra 12-inches longer than the height of the door window.
The right/front side of the curtain is made to face into the powder room – the back visible through the glass. The first task was to create a 1-inch finished border on each side.
For some reason the selvedge on this fabric were red so it was easy to fold them back, press them for a crisp line and stitch them down close to the folded edge.
Then I finished the sides with 1-inch borders by turning the fabric back by 1-inch and stitching over the previous line of stitching. The finished side looked good and went quickly.
I needed to complete the top rod pocket so the curtain could be basted and put up to test for a snug fit. For the top pocket, I measured ½-inch from the top of the fabric, pressed that down, and stitched close to the edge.
Then I sewed a second row close to the first to secure the edge and trimmed away the excess fabric.
Rod pockets usually range from 1-1/4 to 2 inches, depending on the rod thickness since the pocket should not be too snug. My old curtain rods were about ¼-inch thick so I calculated 1-1/4 inch pockets. Before sewing down the top pocket, I tested to be sure the rod would slide easily – and it did. So I made the top pocket 1-1/4 inches deep and sewed it down.
The old bracket holes for the curtain rods were located about 2-inches above and below the glass. They were not in perfect condition but they worked with the rods. Those fit between the brackets and were held on each end by a threaded brass sleeve. I attached the rods and brackets loosely. Then I measured from the top of the top rod to the bottom of the bottom rod and got 70-1/4 inches. I added ½-inch (total diameter of the two rods) to that for uptake. My target finished length: 70-3/4-inches.
Next came the test on the door. The curtain moved beautifully across the top rod. Then I basted in the bottom pocket and rehung the curtain for a second test.
Once the curtain was hung, I could see it was slightly uneven on the bottom left side but it fit snugly enough that it didn’t need adjustment.
From the outside, the curtain is opaque enough for privacy. It’s not perfect, but it was my first curtain project! Happily, I was able to go from “do” to “done” for one item on my longstanding house punch list, though many projects remain.
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Oh my…you’re a very talented lady! I sure love what you did and the end product looks great! You’re sure good with the sewing machine, I used to be a little, long ago, I used to make little dresses for my little daughters and sheets for my infant girls’s bassinets…but never curtains! Love it!
Hugs
FABBY
Your curtain looks wonderful and you’ve done a great job in sewing it. Be a sweetie,
Shelia 😉
I love the door!! And love the way you were able to still showcase it, but also add some privacy. Beautifully done!
Thanks for sharing.
Pam
Wow… that is just so charming a door! Love it and love the new curtain… you say it ain’t perfect… I say it is 😀
Beautiful handy work and the choice of color just matches with the door and paintings.I guess you are an interior designer by gift.Great work.Keep it up.Love to see more of those.Meanwhile plz do check my blog on freeing your mind read it,follow,be inspired and comment to improve my works too.Have a wonderful day.Thanks.
This door speaks volumes to me! I love the look, and it brings back a childhood memory. When I was a very little girl, we lived above a store in an apartment. The building was older and I don’t actually remember much about the apartment, but I do remember that there was a woman who lived across the hall from us and her door had a similar curtain covering it except it was lace and the woman was French. Even at that early age I thought it was charming!
i love the door and the curtain is perfect for it, great job!
Thanks so much for stopping by the Back Porch, Jane.
I absolutely love your french door, wonderful idea. Great work with the curtain.
Love the door! The curtain looks terrific shirred on the rod. Such a pretty and unexpected touch for a powder room! Thanks for sharing.
Fabric shirred on rods is always a winner with me. You’ve done a very nice job, not only with the sewing (and the fix you had to tackle), but the door and its hardware, too.
I love the door, love the look and its chippiness….Christine
Thanks for all the kind words. It’s just a plain curtain but it was also a test run to see whether I was up for doing it for the other doors. Still undecided. The powder room had to be done but closets? I wonder. Jane
Ahhhhhh. So much better. Sometimes nothing is better than a classic and the classic here being that shirred curtain. So unexpected to have this door on a bathroom of course but the end result is fabulous. Your tutorial was spot on and so easy to follow. Well done girl.
Thanks for visiting and inviting me over.
Pam
OMGosh I love your chippy french door and handmade curtain..French chic for a bathroom!
Love the new curtain! And I love the old door- the whole look is fabulous!
Hi Jane,
This turned out gorgeous! The door is a beauty and your paint job turned out chippy perfection, I love it!
In renovating I have learned 6-7 years pass at a blink of an eye, and yet sometimes it feels nothing changes :-))
Thanks for stopping by!
Bella
Very interesting! We have double French doors separating my husband’s study from the front hall. Right now they are “naked” and you see right through. I’ve looked and looked. I think I am wanting a more translucent look..but also have wonderful rods I bought in France! I even tried rice paper, which we had had up north on a small front door window and worked so well….but not here. Will keep trying for just the right look!
A great improvement. I’m sorry for your little oops, as I know it’s tough to go to the work and have something like that happen, and you always know it’s there. But I’m glad the fix fell at the right place to not show. Still way better than the shade!
I love it, Jane!! Looks fabulous, love the door, and great sewing!!
Thanks Brandy. You’re such a great sewer I’m happy to have the compliment.
How are you doing? Getting close?
July 15! Starting last trimester. 🙂
You did a great job!
Your curtain looks charming! We have an old farmhouse in Maine that also has a glass paned door on it. Our solution (since I’m too lazy to get my sewing machine out of storage–ha!) was to use a colorful rollout beach mat exactly like this one (except ours was turquoise not pink) which fit perfectly and also added insulation as well as privacy: http://amzn.to/fXaRCu
Love your old door, the finish is wonderful. Great job on the curtain, perfect!
Great project! Grand curtain and it looks wonderful on the door. It was wonderful to get another glimpse of your home projects. In fact, your step by step directions are inspiring me to get moving to create some closet curtains I’ve needed to make for the past few years.
Wonderful post and congrats on your first curtain.
Ummm…have you done a tutorial on how to make that door?!? It’s uh-mazing!!!
Oh my, Holly. The door is a salvage piece probably from 1929 — we found a piece of a newspaper from then tucked into one of the mortise locks we removed. We got 12 of them in one haul for $375. Which really was amazing. Thanks for the sweet comment. Glad you stopped by. Jane
Very pretty! Great post 🙂