Nope, I’m not pregnant, we’re talking about progress here., specifically we’re talking about slooooow progress.

Like most of our rooms, our guest room is in transition. As a reminder, here’s how it looked when we bought the house:

And here’s what it looked like at our housewarming party last fall:

We hadn’t purchased any of the furniture in there ourselves. All of it is hand-me-down stuff from our parents or left over from our college days. That means everything is mis-matched and suffering from a bad case of growing pains.

Recently, we’ve added the headboard, the crate nightstands, and a dresser from our bedroom.

It still feels pretty mismatched in there, but we’re taking baby steps in the right direction, ever so slowly.

Most recently, it was time to add the curtains. We found some really cheap ones ($10 for both panels) at Ikea, and bought a rod from Walmart for $13.25 or so.

Hubs got the rod hung up, nice and straight, of course, and we added the curtains. It’s definitely an improvement, but who sees the problem in this picture?

Yup, those curtains are pretty long. As in, way too long. (Yes, we could have hung them higher, but it still wouldn’t have been enough, and it just seemed too high and grand for the little room.)

Now, we could leave them as is, since some people like to see the drapes all piled up below the window. We, however, are not those people.

I prefer my curtains to lightly graze the floor, not lounge around like they own the entire room. Here’s how the ones in the living room fall, which I think is just about right.

Unfortunately, those are the only size of this kind of curtain that they had at Ikea, at least when we were there, so we bought them in hopes we could make them work.

After cutting the curtains in our living room to split each panel into two smaller panels, I’m pretty certain I can manage cutting these curtains to be a more appropriate length for our room.

Plus, I think I just might have enough leftover hem tape to be able to do the entire project without having to sew them.

Not that I can’t sew them, I just can’t sew them in a nice straight line. I still need more practice for any seams that are going to show. (Unlike pillows which I can turn inside out and the uneven seams don’t hang out for everyone to see.)

Despite the problems with the length, I still think they add some much-needed softness and texture to the room. And they help balance out the bed with the tiny, mismatched furniture in there. Plus, it leaves less wall space to eventually find art for. Even though that’s a fun challenge, it can be expensive.

So, here’s to taking another tiny step forward in the guest room, which leads to a tiny step backward.

Isn’t that sometimes how home improvement goes though? We’re all for being honest with you guys about how home improvement sometimes fights back a bit.

Want more honestly, check out this post for some glimpses into our not-at-all-perfect life.

Want to share any baby steps you’ve made with your house lately? Or maybe some steps backward you’re having to take? Or maybe you’ve had a similar curtain problem? Do tell!