Just Say No! to Pottery Barn

Ok,
So the big concern right now is curtains. Like I said, I'm feeling rather exposed and I just want to get the windows covered. BUT we don't want to start holes in the wall without being sure about what we want.

Since we've currently got "shears" and opaque curtains for the living room that have the fabric hook things (does that make sense??) at the top, we need to have nice rods for both. We saw a double rod set at Pottery Barn, and figured, well, this must be a pretty standard thing. I'm sire we can pick some nice ones up pretty much anywhere.

So today, we head out to Home Depot to pick up a ton of stuff. (Our list just keeps growing!) You know, vacuum cleaner, weather stripping, socket covers, door locks, and double rod curtain rods.

Well, it turns out Home Depot (at least the one at Gerrard Square) is not the place to buy curtain rods if you are looking for any sort of selection. So we give up on that idea. We decide that, since we know that Pottery Barn has what we need, I might as well just pop over to the Eaton Center and pick them up. No problem.

Except, when we looked the other day, we didn't bother to look at the price. It turns out these fancy double "Pottery Barn Standard" curtain rods cost $200 a piece. $200. For curtain rods. Before tax. I'm not kidding! So for living room and dining room curtain rods, we'd be spending more than we've budgeted for a BBQ. I am NOT spending my BBQ budget on curtains rods, thank you very much, no matter how trendy they are!

So it seems like my trip down town has been a complete waste, and I'm still destined to have passers by looking in at my living room. At the last minute, on the way to the subway, I pop into the Bay. There they are, beautiful double rod curtain rods, for $54.99. Thank you Umbra.

It just goes to show: Just Say No! to Pottery Barn