Café Curtains in the Kitchen

I’m a sucker for a good café curtain. They’re the perfect mix of charm and practicality - two of my favorite things.

If you remember, our kitchen windows used to be a pop-out bay window addition. See photos of it before we moved in (complete with aluminum blinds in front) and once I cleaned them up to live with here.

I know people love them, but the bay window was a no-go for me. It never provided ventilation, the “roof” of the pop-out was always dirty so it blocked the light, and it was simply underutilized (in San Diego I can grow herbs outside all year long). So, when we renovated, one of the very first things I did was replace them with salvaged wooden sash windows. Once replaced, the windows let in so much natural light and provided all the visibility we could ever want - too much, in fact. We suddenly had crystal clear views of our neighbor’s trash cans and their driveway happenings. They also had pretty good views of us at the kitchen sink.

We liked seeing the sky and tops of trees through the upper windows, but could do without the view of our neighbor’s house through the bottom. Installing the more common window treatment of roman shades or blinds would have blocked the sunny view above while leaving the bottom open, which is the inverse of what we wanted.

For a while, I planned on planting trees/shrubs in front of the windows to create natural privacy, but could never find the right plant for the spot. I even considered installing a decorative privacy glass, but couldn’t find the right historical glass that was also attractive.

Enter, café curtains.

Above is café curtain inspiration from tailored to quaint styles. I never fully decided on what I wanted the style to be, I just installed the hardware, and plopped in some temporary fabric.

I got these café curtain rods custom cut to the perfect length for the width of my windows. They are inside mount and screw directly into the window stop. They have a perfectly delicate profile.

I installed them just barely below the window hardware so we could still easily open and close the windows without the rod being in the way.

To attach the fabric, I got vintage café rod clips that have a lovely patina and install in a pinch - literally! The rods have corresponding clips that are perfectly pretty, too.

I found the fabric when browsing through Facebook Marketplace. I wish I knew the manufacturer/artist, but alas, I don’t have a source for you.

Instead of sewing seams, I just tore them to size and installed the fabric with a raw edge. Some may say unkempt, I say charming.

I got the fabric on a whim and knew it may not be the “forever fabric” but I’m quite smitten with it. And the longer I keep it, the more it makes me want to paint the window casing red. Should I?

Sources:

café curtain rod // café curtain clips // fabric unknown // sconces // faucet // plate rack // window sashes // window sash locks

And there you have it. This isn’t my most groundbreaking blog post, but it’s a kitchen update nonetheless.