A few weeks ago, I hit the jackpot when I found these curtains, whose creamy-yellow base almost match our living room walls! The colors found in the stripes also co-ordinate well with the other furniture and rugs currently in the room - as well as the chosen couch which will be replacing the big blue one at some point in time. 
They were bit short and hard to slide on the rods, so I added rings, just like in the bedrooms upstairs and that solved both issues in one fell swoop! 
Here a close up of all the colors that make up the plaid (above) and a shot of the tailored panels that now hang above the sliding glass door to the deck (below). 
I will be adding a natural woven blind under the valance so that the incoming afternoon glare can be closed off when needed. (Notice that the door to the deck is open?? :-) Spring is finally here!!)Why did I go with a valance over the door instead of the 2 panel curtains which I took down? Well, the curtains were constantly in the way (there are light switches on the right-hand side, a wall on the left) and since the rod has a center support, there was really no way to hang the curtains such that it worked out. Also, we had the dog problem:
See, Reese likes to bask in the sun every now and again and with full curtains, I had to start pinning them up so I wasn't constantly washing them (black dog, white curtains. Yeah, they don't go so well) so this way, we can pull the shade down, blocking the sun for us, but allowing Reese his sunny spot on the floor. Yes, I just made a design decision with a dog in mind. BUT, now that he's part of the family (and having curtains draped over the rod to get them out of the way half the time), I thought it only best to take all the pieces of the puzzle into mind when finding a solution.
Big happenings next weekend, so stay tuned!
(hint: painting hallways, maybe a half bath! Hanging hallway roman shades, towel rods and a few other odds and ends!)
