All the fun years of your life, before adult responsibilities took over and you became dedicated to other people can be represented in one American collectible: beaded door curtains. Remember the luau or Polynesian restaurant that had them? Remember the Oriental import store where they used them and had them for sale? Remember your best friend who had one instead of a closet door? Maybe you even owned one or two over the years. All during the years when you had the freedom to spend at least part of your time and money how you wanted.

Well, bring back that feeling. Start a beaded door curtain collection. The possibilities are nearly countless. There are bead curtains that are long enough for a door, and others that only frame the door or window with an exotic shape, and those that provide a valence for material curtains. The beads themselves can be made from plastic, wood or bamboo. Usually they are strung on string or wire, but ribbon is sometimes used. A related kind of curtain uses only nylon string to form the barrier.

A plastic beaded door curtain of round and drop shapes.

The patterns available in each material differ quite a bit. Wooden beaded door curtains usually incorporate geometric designs based on the natural color of the wood beads. Plastic beaded door curtains use the adaptability of plastic to form an enormous variety of shapes directly on the string, in a variety of colors and finishes. Bamboo door curtains usually use paint to provide a scene or symbol on the curtain.

If you want to actually use the beaded curtain, it can be modified to hang between overhead cabinets and the “breakfast bar” to provide a little more definition between the kitchen and the family room. Door beads can be shaped to provide an exotic archway between one room and another. Anywhere you want to provide definition, block the line of sight or add a touch of the exotic, you can use a beaded door curtain.

For a cultural adventure, look at Indian toran. These beaded door and window valences are made from small glass beads. Because of the weight involved with glass, they are not the full length of the door, but are used to embellish material curtains used in doorways, and in doorways and windows with no curtains. These are not going to be cheap, but the learning experience will be worth the research and an occasional purchase.

You may think that beaded door curtains do not qualify as American collectibles because they are made in China and other overseas countries. But as the world’s foremost culture of youth, and as the beaded door curtain is for most an artifact of youth, I say these door curtains most definitely qualify as an American collectible. So get to it.

* * * Explore plastic beaded door curtains. * * *

* * * Then there are bamboo curtains. * * *

* * * And, last but not least, wooden beaded door curtains. * * *

* * * Store the beaded door curtains not in use in a pantry cabinet until it is time to make a change. * * *

The image in this post are from Stock Xchnge.

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