The snowflakes will be retired soon, also.

I mentioned in a few previous posts that I was busy torturing my mother by having her help me make a set of valances for the kitchen. Or, you know, do everything but actually sew it together. We'll go with help.

The old valance was pretty evil, but not so much that I felt compelled to rip them down immediately. There were more pressing matters to deal with - like, the vomit colored paint covering 75% of the house. Also, there are some pretty-ish tiles in the backsplash of the buffet, and it is obvious that the valance fabric was chosen to match. So I left the watercolor-floral ruffly things, until I had a chance to pick out fabric I liked better and figure out what to do with it.

Of course, I forgot to take a true "before" photo, so this one from Ben's 3rd birthday will have to do. Please note my lovely pregnant belly - 7 months, suckas!

Here is where I would have all the step-by-step photos of the process of making the new valance. However, I have NO CLUE how we made it, so there are no photos. You'd have to ask my mom, and I doubt even SHE could explain it.

Anyway, here is Aaron disassembling the old valance. I don't know how many yards of fabric was used here, but they crammed as much of it on there as they could.

I got to use my staple gun! Or rather, Aaron did, while I made sure that the fabric was lined up properly on the mounting board.

And here it is! Hmm...maybe this isn't the best photo...

...but this one isn't, either, is it? The lighting is a bit off. But we decided that the yellow peeking through the pleats is a better look.

This style is called an "box-pleat valance" and the directions are from a Better Homes & Garden magazine publication called "Window Treatments". There are lots of ideas and instructions in the mag, and I've used it previously for other windows.

So, I'm not completely sold on this new look yet, but I think it's because it's so different from the old one. That one was all flowery feminine ruffles, and this one is is masculine boxy stripes. I DO like that it brings more green into my kitchen, since that seems to be the direction I'm leaning towards. I also like that it doesn't remind me of the 80's.

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What do you think? Is it an improvement? Or just another variety of evil? Any adventures with window treatments? In general, do you prefer stripes or flowers?