Dressing Up My Window

If you stopped by last Tuesday for the Show Me the Progress party, you've already seen how I took my front Family room window from drab to fab with a $20 drop cloth from Wal-Mart. Today, I'll show you how I did it.

Before (This poor window wore these Waverly curtains for too long--close to 7 years! Time for a makeover):

After:

A new outfit made of one large drop cloth, and a custom bamboo roman shade "accessory." I likes it!

I was inspired by several different blogs to create this new look for my poor window. It was like a perfect storm of cuteness. I've seen gorgeous drop cloth curtains all over Blogland and knew that was an inexpensive way I could update my room.

The goal with this project was to be as thrifty as possible, so I started with a new black curtain rod from Wal-Mart. I would have loved to purchase something more with a more substantial feel to it, but again with the money and the budgets and the thriftiness. Wal-Mart also carries ring clips, and I purchased two packages, each containing 7 clips.

I ended up having to purchase a custom-cut bamboo shade from Lowe's for around $75, but now that I know they just cut it with some sort of saw tool that T owns, I'll have him give it a shot next time with the cheapie bamboo shades.

At home, I opened up the package with my new "curtains," which was really just a package with a 9x12 painter's drop cloth inside...be sure to buy WASHABLE. Yes, it's a lotta drop cloth!

I washed and dried my *fabric* first (I told T it was fabric because I thought he'd freak if he knew I was using a drop cloth from WM), then I cut right up the center of the drop cloth, using the center seam (it's two large drop cloths sewn together) as a guide.

After I had two panels, I folded along the entire cut I made, measuring about a 1/2 inch seam, pressing and pinning.

You could completely skip this step if you don't like to sew, don't own a sewing machine, or think you can hide the raw edges. Just use some fusible fabric tape. If you can sew a straight line, you can do what I did and run it straight through your machine using thread that matches the fabric.

At this point, I was left with two giant panels and no clue as to how to make it look like I did not hang drop cloths at my window. Fortunately, one of my most favorite bloggers in the world, Big Mama, posted a hilarious yet helpful video on her version of a Nesting Place mistreatment, The Pouf. I learn better when someone can show me how to complete a project, so having a video was the next best thing to having a real live person in my family room doing the work for me. The lively commentary offered by her daughter makes it even more enjoyable.

If you don't like videos (what's wrong with you?), and can't find the project in The Nester's files, here are a couple of pictures I took using a green shamrock towel as an example.

Start with your "panel" laid out straight, then fold the top under once:

Take that fold, and fold it back the other way so that it's doubled up:

Your panel will look like this:

Then use your ring clips to secure at either end (I've used clothes pins here to demonstrate):

Fill in the rest of the fold with your clips, hang your panel, and then "pouf" them to achieve the look I have in my "After" shot:

I really love the way my new shade and curtains warm the room up. I love toile and Waverly fabric, but it was time for a change.

There are still a couple of minor adjustments to make, like painting over the spot where the old rod was, but my window is so happy to be sporting the latest in blog mistreatment fashions that she doesn't mind.