bigreader I'm okie..thanks for caring ..just need time to readjust kind of walked out on my job..so looking for stuff to fill in my time ..I hate being bored and sitting sround fiddling my thumb been looking for courses to do and taking my camera out.. these I took yesterday in Warrandyte..

I was 23 years old and our first home (1982) was $42,000 but interest rates were 21%!!! It was in Otorohanga NZ and mortgages were tough to get. Best decision ever though. We had second hand everything, even using an old beer crate as coffee tables and book shelves lol. Over the years we have owned only 3 homes though, and if we were to start again we have learned to not over capitalise on homes we have bought instead upgrade sooner. Finally we are ebarking on our first new home build ... bettter late than never though definately!

You're lucky to have those tracks, they would of been custom made. Depends on your budget really. If not much- cut down what you have and hem them. If more $$- I'd speak to a curtain maker. Remove the pelmet and have a 2nd track attached to the one you have for a sheer curtain (to hide/soften your bars but keep the view and light). I'd then use the existing track to get some nice block-out curtains made to close of a night. With well made pinch-pleat curtains you won't need the pelmet.

another idea if you had a plain pelmet that was within the alcove that came from the bottom of the picture rail to the top of the window and flush with the walls on both sides painted the same as the wall colour., you could then run your black curtain rod across the alcove pelmet which would look like the wall. When I had my Ferderation House we painted the bedroom walls up to and including the picture rail in the same colour. The wall above the picture rail and the ceiling were painted flat white, along with skirting boards, an old painter told me about this and it looks brilliant. A couple more photo's for you with different looks This is similar to what I have tried to explain by running a plain pelmet across the whole alcove and then the black rod running from either side outside the alcove with the curtains against the outer wall, the pelmet would look like part of the wall.