High & Wide Baby.

Today I wanted to talk about a tip that has helped me quite a bit as I decorate our new home. If you're anything like I was/am, you are challenged in the drapery department. My mother in law worked for JcPenney Custom Decorating for something like 20 years, and I am sure she was appauled at my choice in curtains in our last house. I really had no idea what to do with windows. I suppose I didn't do THAT bad, I went with all white sheers and white romans. No biggie. Except for one big thing. I hung them low and narrow. GASP. As in, basically just covering my windows. Yikes.

So then, as I navigated the decor world over the years, I noticed a big trend that I was NOT a part of. Hanging your window treatments HIGH up on your wall and WIDE on your windows. Why was it not obvious to me before?? What a ginormous impact this single tip has on a room.

Want to make your windows seem twice as large? Make your ceilings feel higher? Room feel more grand? Make a statement instead of just being "there"? Well then my friend, here is your solution. Easy as easy can be too.

Here is an illustration, just so you can get the idea. When I saw this earlier last week, I just knew I was going to have to share it. Because as much as I know the difference, it was crazy to see it drawn out so simply.

This is from Elements of Style.

Now wontcha look at that! BAM. Can you believe that is even the same window???  Drastic improvement.

Along those lines, here are some of my tricks when dressing a window.

-Curtains should be either puddled on the ground a bit, or just touching the ground.

-Hang them within about 3-6 inches from the ceiling.

-That means, no more 84" inch panels. 95" all the way.

-Hang your rod wide enough so that the entire panel hangs just on the outside of the window frame. What I do, is have the panel approximately one inch over the window trim. So JUST covering the molding.

-You can either leave them as is, or if you want more privacy, hang roman shades. I hang  mine directly behind the curtain rod. Waaaaay up high on the wall. By doing this, you'll increase the height of the window and it will appear as though the window continues all the way up.

-With the romans, when they are open, open them so that they are JUST covering the top window molding.

-White panels ALWAYS work in a room. Always. If you have a dark space especially. I almost always go with white. I like to use white panels and patterned or bamboo romans (see HERE for my no-sew roman shade tutorial that has something over 18k Pinterest pins). White just brightens the space and again, makes the window seem much larger. Plus they are just so versatile and timeless. I like grommet top (if you plan on opening and closing them a lot especially) or back tab, which give you a nice pleated look. I steer away from tab top.

-If you want to add color or pattern and don't want to use a roman, you can use white panels and then cut one patterned panel down the middle and add them to the outside of the white panels. Giving you just a splash of color.

-For sliding glass doors, I do the same thing. Our deck slider has the rod hung right under the ceiling, with bamboo shades hung directly behind the rod. I used white grommet top panels so that they can be flung open and closed easily. The door looks WAAAAAAY bigger than when we moved in and vertical blinds were in place. YIKES. Stay away from verticals if you can at all help it. Talk about the '90s!

-For rods, I like large brushed nickel. As in, not the skinny skinny rods. I also like round finials. Classic, traditional, timeless. Honestly though, go with what suits your taste. Oil rubbed bronze and black are also nice.

Here are some examples of the window treatments hung in our house so far. We have only done the family room, master bedroom, kitchen, and partially the play room. I say partially because my plan is to make patterned fabric roller shades or romans. I just haven't gotten on that yet. I am working it around in my head, in terms of what color/pattern I want in there.

Playroom

This is the closest shot I have to a before. Before this though, the previous owner had frilly lace curtains hung directly over and on the window.

I would hang the curtains even wider than this if you can. I didn't because I was trying to use the rod I already had, which was stretched out as far as it would go. If I ever feel like it, I'll buy another rod and pull the panels out 6 more inches or so. Notice how I left the space between the rod and the window bare here. Works just fine. Shades to come eventually.

Master Bedroom

Again, closest I have to a before. This was the previous owners. Waaaaay too low. Too shiny. Mini blinds. Brass tiny rod.

Here is the other window.

After. BAM!!!! Can you even believe this is the same window???

Now I realize this is not the same window as the first photo. But, I haven't finished the other window and this one was dressed the exact same way as the other one was, before I took it all down for the photo above.

Notice the high bar, romans hung directly behind it and opened up right to the edge of the window. White panels hung completely on the outside of the window. This looks like a completely different window. Craziness.

Family Room

Before.
Previous Owners. So much wrong with this.

After

This was before we painted and moved the bookcase out of the room.

The room how it is now, from another angle. I don't know why I don't have a straight on shot. Whatev.

Here are some of my suggestions for inexpensive, versatile, white panels.

TARGET Grommet Top 95" FOR $35 (I have these in my family room and kitchen)

IKEA Back Tab 98.5" (comes with hem tape) for $10 a PAIR (these are the ones I have in my bedroom and playroom)

I think I've illustrated my point here. High and wide baby. Any other window treatment questions??

Easy, NO Sew Roman Shades (for $4.50!)

*Welcome to all my Pinterest visitors! I've been blogging less than a month, but if you want to see what I still have up my sleeve, follow me!*

The title says it all folks. Do you love roman shades? Do you love the price of roman shades (at least ones with cute fabric)? Do you love how HARD and time consuming and expensive it is to make your own roman shades? Yeah. Me neither.

I have been on the lookout for patterned, cheerful roman shades that won't cost me half my paycheck, for my kitchen for a couple of months now. These ones from West Elm are great, but geez louise, the price!

So one day I was browsing around Target and I found a lovely DwellStudio tablecloth. It was $9 and I KNEW there was a way I could make it into a window treatment. If nothing else, I could use it to make some throw pillows or something.

Fast forward a month and I am browsing on Pinterest. Lo and behold..........a fabulous idea from The Little Green Notebook. No sew roman shades made from CHEAPO MINI BLINDS. YES!

Now, I have a sewing machine, and I like to sew, but like Angela from 365 Days to Simplicity says, "Each and every one has the devil in them". They just are irritating sometimes and like to jam or run out of thread or the bobbin runs out or the needle breaks, or WHATEVER. They like to torment you while you are trying to do a QUICK project. Grrrr! So, I welcome any no-sew project these days. Seeing as I have five kids running around here during the day and I don't like to get angry and yell at my sewing machine in front of them.

Ahhem. Yes. No sew all the way.

Here is the kitchen window before we moved in (not ours yet):

Here is the window this morning (scallop will go when we do the cabinets):

Annnnnd here it is NOW:

I am SHOCKED at how nicely they came out. They look professional! They even look nice from the back too. I really can't believe they didn't involve sewing. Our house was full of cheapo mini blinds when we moved in and these two were originally in the first floor bath and laundry room. So those were free. I had the glue and hem tape. AND I have half of the $9 tablecloth fabric left still! So really, they cost me $4.50 for two custom roman shades. Doesn't get much better than that!

Here is the tutorial on how to do it. It may seem like a lot, but they are all simple, short steps. It took me 1.5 hours while watching five children under age 5 for the first one, and 30 minutes for the second one since I knew what I was doing, half the kiddos were sleeping, and I wasn't taking photos.

Sit back, grab something tasty, and follow along!

Here is a shot of everything I used:

Glue (tacky or fabric glue)
Hem Tape
Pen
Scissors
Screwdrivers (for hanging it)
Tape Measure (or ruler)
Butter Knife
Foam Brush










You also need a set of mini blinds and fabric of some sort.

1) Measure your window. I wanted my blinds to be above the molding, not inset into the window frame, since I didn't want to have to cut the blinds I had. I measured the length of the window and added a couple of inches so it would be a bit longer than the window. So 42" long.

2) Open your blinds up all the way:

3) Remove the ladder cord. As you can see here, blinds have a thicker cord to pull it up and down, and then a thinner, "ladder" cord that holds the slats. You want to remove the ladder. The thick cord in the holes you want to keep, so be sure not to cut that one.

What I did is snip it at the top of the blind, then hold it up and snip snip snip above each slat. It takes all of 2 minutes to do both. Once you cut it, pull it out from the bottom. (Don't mind the dirty slats. I wiped them once I was done).

See, I held it tight as I cut it and just snipped the little piece between each slat.

Here is what it looks like now, all wonky because now the slats move freely:

3) Figure out how many slats you need. I wanted my slats to be 6" apart so that my pleats were fairly small. Divide your length, by the inches apart you want them. For me it was 42/6=7. So I need 7, but that includes the top bar and the bottom bar. So really I only need to keep 5 slats.

4) Pry off the round caps on the bottom of the bottom bar. I used a butter knife.

5) Cut or untie the knot and pull it out of the bar. Remove all slats except for the ones you are keeping (so, 5 for mine). Retie the cord into the bar and put the plugs back in. Here is what it looks like now. I just put the slats approx where I wanted them, they are not stuck there or anything.

6) Lay the open blind on your fabric and cut around it. You need enough room on each side for a hem (and room to glue the top and bottom). So add an extra inch or two to each of the four sides.

7) I used the blind to make sure the hems were lined up all the way down, nice and straight, ironing the hem down as I go to make sure the hem is nice and crisp.

8) Now that the hem is ironed down, slip the hem tape into the folded hem and iron according to the package. You want the hem tape to be IN the "pocket" that you ironed. Here it is before I closed it back down:

9) Now that you are all hemmed, lay the blind back on top of the fabric. Lay the top bar down so that the lifting mechanism is face down, touching the fabric.

10) Grab your glue and smear it all over the face of the bar and attach the fabric, overlapping it a bit over the top.

11) Measure out where your slats are going to go. I did mine all 6 inches apart, so I measured and marked with a pen where the top of each slat goes. I measured from the bottom of one slat to the top of the next. I measured and marked on each side of the blind to be sure they line up.

12) Start gluing the slats to the fabric. Glue on the rounded side of the slat and be sure to match up the slats on each side of the fabric. Make sure you don't glue the cord at all, it needs to be able to move.

13) Glue the bottom bar to the fabric, wrapping the fabric around the entire bottom. Sorry I forgot a photo of this step I guess.

14) Let dry. I would like to say I waited overnight for it all to dry, but....I didn't. I waited an hour or so and then hung them up because I was too excited to see the results! They attach to the wall with the original brackets and they go up and down perfectly smooth.

There you have it. My $4.50 set of roman blinds. I really REALLY like them. They are exactly what I was looking for, in a budget I couldn't even have hoped for! After such a successful first attempt, I'll be making ones for our master bath and all the bedrooms in the future. You could also very easily line these if you wanted to. Use the hem tape to attach a liner to the back of the shade, being sure to leave a slit at the top for the cords. I don't need mine to be lined though since I want as much sunlight as possible in my kitchen.

Also, I ran to Target last night, and mini blinds were $3.99! So even if you don't already have some, they are definitely cheap enough that you could buy them brand new and it would still be a very inexpensive project.

Don't be intimidated, it was all VERY simple and pretty easy to put together if you are at all crafty. You know you want to try it. "Pin it" if you love it and "Follow" me for more great ideas to come!

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