My 3 Monsters: {31 Days to a Brand New Room}Day 8: Banded Window Treatments

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10.08.2012

{31 Days to a Brand New Room}
Day 8: Banded Window Treatments

If you're joining us for the first time today, this is day 8 of a 31 day series about how to give a room in your home a brand new look, from top to bottom, completely DIY.  



Today it's finally time to dress the window.  We already have wood slat blinds for light control so anything else we add is purely decorative.  It's not a huge window so I like something that goes floor to ceiling to give it a little more oomph.  And I'm all about bang for the buck, as you well know.  I loved how the wide horizontal stripe paint job in the kids' bathroom turned out and I thought this room could use some similar graphic impact.  I decided to make navy and white horizontal striped curtains out of . . . .

Twin Bed Sheets!

Yep, you heard me.  Walmart has twin flat bedsheets in a wide variety of colors for only $4.47 each.  I took a chance and bought a few even though I didn't have a paint swatch with me.  Luckily, their navy blue happens to be a pretty great match to my paint color. The ceilings are 8 feet tall in this room, so for simplicity's sake I decided to do eight 12-inch horizontal stripes.

Each sheet already has finished edges, so I wanted to use that to my advantage by making each panel the same width as the twin sheet.  Starting at the bottom hem, cut your first strip of fabric 12.5 inches wide {you only need seam allowance on one side of this piece since the bottom edge is already hemmed}.  Then cut 3 strips 13 inches wide {I added a half inch for seam allowances on each side}.  Here's a diagram that makes it more clear:
Cut 4 strips of each color.  Starting with your white piece that has the long hemmed edge and a navy blue piece with two cut edges, pin them right-sides-together along the long raw edge.  Sew a 1/2-inch seam.  Fold the seam allowance on the back toward the white side and top stitch 1/4-inch from the seam to hold it in place.  {This keeps a neater side edge and gives the curtain panel a more finished look.}


Continue sewing strips together, alternating colors, until you finish with the navy blue strip that has a long hemmed edge.  Press it all nice and flat.  Along the top edge, I made several evenly-spaced small pinch pleats and clipped on some curtain clips from IKEA.  Feed the rings onto your curtain rod and you're all set!


The rings from the curtain clips make the panels slide open and closed easily along the rod. I liked the way it looked on the window so much, I decided to make two more panels to replace the closet doors.  It just gave the room a prettier look.  Since the panels are so lightweight and slide so easily, they give Sydney much easier access to her clothes in the closet.



Thanks for checking in on this project today!  Tomorrow I'll show you how I freshened up the light fixture.


5 comments:

  1. Again with the adorableness! I eagerly check in every day to see what's next - so fun!

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  2. Hey Amy, just to let you know, Olivia and I are totally following this room re-do. She and I both love all the details and cute ideas you have. You are amazing!!! The only drawback is, you are raising her level of expectation and probably hoping I will re-do her room soon! But with all your cute ideas I am getting inspired and may have to try some of them myself even though I'm not nearly the artist you are. But that's ok, copying is pretty much the only kind of crafting I do. :)

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    1. Awww, thanks Cynthia. I still think of Olivia as a little kiddo, but she's getting so grown up. Copying is really the only kind of crafting I do, too. I figure cute is cute, even if I'm not the first one to think of it.

      We need to do another "reunion" soon -- I miss my college besties!

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  3. These are gorgeous! I'm dying to make some of my own horizontal striped curtains for my living room in white and burnt orange, only problem is finding the right coloured fabric!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! You're right, the hardest part is finding the right fabric. Good luck!

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