Tuesday, January 29, 2013

New Photos of Curtains Installed!


The draperies I had made in Shanghai have been up and installed since July, but am just now posting photos.  Oops!  In person they are a woven gray blend with a slight hint of blue, they take on all sorts of shades in these photos.

Installers hard at work!
Finding a Contractor
It took some shopping around to find a place that would actually follow-up on the work.  We'd sit and chat about what I needed, and they'd tell me to expect a call/email next week with the formal quote and the estimated start date.  And then - nothing!  It was sort of pathetic (and frustrating!) to see two of the more popular window treatment businesses operate like that.  

For a while I thought I might have to install them myself, but thank goodness my sanity came back and I found a terrific local company to install them.  
Freshly installed (typical: split centered on each window)

Installation Day
Due to the nature of the windows, we went with ceiling mounted aluminum tracks.  Watching the install made me appreciate the work that goes into it (and reaffirmed my decision to hire it out, ha!).  Plus I would have been way over my head with our concrete ceilings - the guys used a special drill and drill bit for the concrete.  

I was super excited they were able to install the 2 center panels to split open on the center of each window (typical) AND also be able to treat the corner windows as one; with the split at the two window's corner.  Not sure if that makes sense, but the photos show what I'm trying to say. 
Curtains opened across both windows

Mostly I was afraid the drapes would be too heavy to be in just two corners (they weigh ~75 lbs) but the installers used extra mounting brackets and spaced them closer together than a standard install to make it feasible. Big difference in my opinion and totally worth it!

Next Project...
Fabric wall on cloudy day 
It's funny to see the shelves in a photo (over by the left window), because it serves as a glaring reminder that I need to properly stage them, but I really don't like knick-knacks in general so it goes against all my instincts - hence the lack of anything being done about it.  Would love ideas on what to do with so many tiny shelves close together.  Just becomes such a low priority.
And I *really* need to find an over-sized painting for the left wall (not shown). Or maybe compose a "gallery wall" in the interim, but of course I'd rather have art. Heh heh.


Sunday, January 20, 2013

Grass is always greener...

Right now P & J are on a plane to their new adventure in Shanghai. Last night we met for dinner at a very amazing foodie-approved restaurant and let them pepper us with questions about what life was like Shanghai. And they gracefully listened to our ramblings of the good ole days and musings of our lessons learned.

Towards the end of our days in SH we were ready to go back to the US and thought of it as a closed chapter. Now, all this talk of adventure and new experiences has peaked old feelings. Looking back at photos brought back a lot of memories. I am genuinely excited for them, they are going to have a great time living in such an exciting city and will love learning about their host country's culture.

Sigh. Part of me wishes it was me.



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