My house is a 1930s bungalow and the bathroom has the original mint and black tile. How to coordinate decor? The walls are a light beige-ish pink; the warm color balances the cold feeling from all the glossy tile. It is nearly impossible to find a green that goes with the tile. My towels are black and the curtains were cheap black fabric curtains that looked good enough.

Then one day I was in the home decor section of my local fabric store and came upon this fabric and knew it would go with my bathroom.  The green is not exactly the same but the color is the same temperature as the tile; matching color temperature while not having the exact same color makes the colors coordinated without being too matchy-matchy. I went straight home and made these curtains. The tab tops are cotton duck; it is a similar weight to the curtain fabric. I used a black satin grosgrain ribbon to cover up the hem stitching and to balance the black tab tops. Using black for the curtains helped to further tie the colors into the bathroom colors.

The tiebacks have small loops sewn to the back so that they can hook on to little hooks on the wall. I just hadn't installed the hooks when I took this picture.

Next: new kitchen curtains...