We went with our go-to Ikea white curtains for the sliding doors.  Since the dining room windows are just a few feet away, we wanted it to flow nicely.  But when I hung them, they looked pretty blah:

Granted, it was an improvement from the bare doors and they still needed hemmed, but they really needed something else.  So I went to work making some tie-backs out of scrap fabric I had lying around from recovering a lamp a few months back. I hemmed all four sides of each rectangle and then sewed a small button hole on each end:

I attached a little brass hook to the wall next to each curtain panel and then just wrapped my fun fabric around the panels and hooked it onto the…hook.  :)

I also hemmed the curtains, and BAM, what a difference:

Aren’t the patterned tie-backs fun?  We still plan to get some bamboo blinds to fill the gap between the curtain rod and doors, but for now–this is just the quick fix we needed.  We took care of the pillow situation and got a couple lamps, too:

The lamps we got at Ikea, along with the two smallest pillows in front.  The other pillows we had and just pulled out of hiding.  A few little changes really helped this room look more sophisticated and presentable.

Before:

Currently:

That’s another room I can mark off as guest-ready, but there’s still a few projects I have left to do before Sunday. Off to put together another gallery wall under our new light in the stairway!