We have been in our casa for four years and I am on my third set of living room curtains and, like a bad relationship, I want out but I keep trying to make it work.

The thing is, our front window is big (87 inches) and two store-bought panels just don’t cut it. So, when closed, there are gaps. I hate gappy curtains. As a woman who enjoys her evening privacy as much as daytime sunlight, I need gap-free curtains that are elegant, unique and slide easily.

Picking out curtain fabric is an art. The first tough question is, do I want leading or supporting role fabric? If one has a visually stimulating room, one will be ill-served by a curtain with aggressive print. If one has a room whose colors can be described by using coffee menu language, one will be ill-served with mocha or latte curtains.

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After an obsessive few hours (bug was a great little fabric shopper), I narrowed my choice down to three fabrics that varied in price ($9.95/yd, $18.50/yd and $38/yd) but the prices were deceptive because the least expensive fabric required three panels and a liner where as the most expensive required two panels and no liner. My mom had her fabric picked out before I could even focus my vision on the colorful pinwheels of luscious bolts. I was jealous of her decisiveness. I was all tore up inside with the decision but then my dad came to pick up my mom and made my decision easy. He said, This one is busy. This one is happy and that one is harsh.

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And so, I went with the happy curtains, of course.

My living room is open and light. The walls are pale, creamy yellow and carry quite a bit of art. We don’t have a lot of stuff, only items we care about and want to showcase. So I went with a supporting role fabric that has its own distinctive personality.

And, the selvedge edge is so stinkin’ cute.