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a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation

02.17.2003

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solving the curtain conundrum: placemat curtains by Jaime Vázquez | 1 2
continued from page 1

3 Punch holes at the top and bottom of the placemats. Each one of them will have four holes total, with the exception of your top and bottom placemats, which will have two holes each. If they’re 18” wide, try punching holes six inches from either side along the top and bottom edges. This part is important: punch the holes close to the edges, only about an eighth of an inch in. (The S-hooks are going to fit into these holes, and a hole too far towards the center will make the final assembly near impossible.) Be consistent with your punched holes, because any variation may make your curtains hang crooked.

4 Put ring clips on each curtain rod, and install the curtain rod in your window. Dollar stores are a great source for curtain rods, particularly for a project like this, where you need something functional, cheap and inconspicuous. The good part about mounting them is that they require no know-how whatsoever, and because the placemats are light, you don’t have to worry about whether or not they’ll collapse under the weight. Most curtain rods are spring loaded, or have tension that is adjustable simply by twisting. The number of ring clips you use is entirely up to you—I recommend using two for each placemat width.

5 Hook the placemats together. I found it helpful to layout all of the placemats on the floor in the exact way I wanted them to hang from my window. That way I was able to easily identify the “top” placemats, which go on first (the top placemats also only have holes punched in the bottom of them). Using the S-hooks (or binder clips, if you like those better), link all of the placemats together, daisy chain-style.

6 Attach the top placemats to the ring clips. Take your assembled chain of placemats and use the clips on the curtain rod to suspend them. You may also choose to attach each placemat to the chain one at a time, to avoid having an S-hook slip out in transit. Once you’ve hung the last placemat, enjoy. And leave the boring curtains to the old people.

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Jaime Vázquez is a Copy Editor in Chicago. He can eat an entire package of Fig Newtons in one sitting. Really.

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