Tuesday night, I hung curtains in our office and decided I hated them. Wednesday morning, I stepped back and decided to look for black and white curtains with a splash of color. Wednesday afternoon, I saw the photo on the left and went WAAAANNNT, which started a big web search for vintage barkcloth fabric and curtains.

I didn't know it was called barkcloth until 50's Pam of RetroRenovation.com included the word in the photo title. Seth and I keep referring to "that rough, nubby stuff" when we talk about those thick, funky, mid-century curtains. That's barkcloth!


I'll tell you the end of the story first, which is that today I found the exact same fabric from Pam's photo on etsy! It is just enough for my curtains and only cost me 30 bucks, compared with my other favorites, which are each $100.

The rest of the story is that I found four choices that were great candidates, and also have me trying to make up other projects so I can buy more....

Fabulous 4 YARDS of atomic barkcloth on etsy
(matches my dining room, ouch!)

Haley's Comet barkcloth at Full Swing Textiles

Retro Check on ebay

Cotton optical drape material c. 70s or 80s on ebay
(This one is not barkcloth, but I still heart.)