It looks like it’s been there for 100 years.

It does – it looks old. It looks antique. I love it. TOTALLY love it. The errors, the extra money spent…it was worth it.

When I set out to do this project, I didn’t estimate the costs. I also didn’t really sketch the project out to make it easy to estimate the cost. I think I made three hardware trips and one more to Hobby Lobby to complete it. I don’t think I’ve ever just made one trip and completed a job. Ever.

One of the lessons I learned was that I should have glued and attached trim and pieces while it was on the floor, before putting it up. But, some of that, I couldn’t really see in my head until it was up and around the window. It made it a little more difficult to do when you’re by yourself and with an 80+ inch window to work with.

I had to have that scrolly detail, but I knew I needed to trim up the top and bottom of the board. Here’s where it helps to plan and draw it out. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to do this without making the scrolly detail look squished between the top and bottom – losing my work space. I had to carefully figure this out and eventually made it work.

The bottom ledge of this window makes me bonkers. It’s not level, it’s old. It needs to be ripped out. But, I didn’t have the skill nor patience to do that. So, I just bought some trim, the cute square deco corners and a lot of caulk to fill in the gaps!

Here it is all caulked and gaps filled – and one coat of white paint – that I realized I probably needed to tape off for the second coat and then glazing.

And, with glazing. I used Valspar Antique Glaze from Lowes. It’s just in a small bottle that you can actually see in a photo below on the window ledge. Here’s what I learned: have water on hand to use to wipe, work in small areas so it doesn’t set in, and have LOTS AND LOTS of rags on hand to wipe and throw away.

This is after I was done – Don’t you just love it? Swooning here. (Oh look, there’s my chandelier that is still not ready to be complete).

Last night I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some artistic paint brushes so I could paint the edges more closely without painter’s tape (what a pain in the ass that stuff is to deal with). In the end, I’m REALLY REALLY happy!

I promise to take a final photo when all is said and done with the rods up and the new curtains (if I can find some that I love).

You can see the before again: