Window Treatments

Master Bedroom: My old apartment, which was in an older home (before I was married), had these really tall windows. I bought that dull-minty green  fabric you see in the pic below from Walmart for about $1/yd and with no sewing involved, made hanging drapes that were held by 2 small grapevine wreaths at the corners (which were on hooks attached to the wall). After Joel and I got married and bought our home I cut that same material down to make mini versions of my former window treatment for my new bedroom windows (which were a fraction of the size of my apartment windows). No grapevine wreaths needed now . The valance set we bought at Value City. I think they were probably marked down or on clearance.

Sunroom: I decided to throw in the sunroom here since I did make my own cafe style rods out of pvc tubing, end caps, brackets, etc and some left over interior wall paint.

Somehow I did mess up on the measurements and the main rod is a bit shorter than I need, but I will make do (see last picture at bottom).  The rod above hangs over 2 windows. You’ll see the aprx. 16 foot rod down below.  It might have cost me $10-15 to make these rods (everything included). Thats a great savings. However, I did have some regrets because I didn’t do it “quite right”.

What I learned from this project…

• Having a (aprx) 16- foot rod that doesn’t come apart is NOT convenient. You may want to reconsider doing it that way. I’ve tried to move this thing through the house. Not good.  A shorter rod wouldn’t be so bad though.
  

• Don’t use housepaint (hehe)…I’m all about using what I have on hand and cutting corners. But honestly, I think you need spray on paint or something that won’t come off easily. And maybe something to seal it.
  

• When you paint a long rod like this, you need a proper place to put it to dry. I didn’t have this option handy and I was painting outside when the fall leaves were on the ground. Newspaper stuck to my rod, I was in a hurry.

• Sometimes it isn’t as rewarding to take the cheap route.
  

I won’t be applying for any jobs with Martha Stewart. I’m not that patient nor precise with measurements!

Click here to read one of the posts I found while researching “how to” make my pvc rods. I recommend doing it his way instead of taking my shortcuts. I also see he has some pics of making an “L” shaped rod (probably with an “L” bar?) – looks very interesting to me!

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*I’ve also linked this post up at Women Living Well.