My $6.79 No-Sew Curtains

• She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
• She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed (and curtained!) with scarlet.
• She maketh herself (and her windows!) coverings of tapestry...

I know they don't really look like tapestry, but you have to know how long I've procrastinated on these curtains to know how pitifully proud I am that I did them!

I've been needing and intended to do something about the (lack of) curtains in my college-age son's room for a long time. He originally had blinds and some matching curtains and bedspread in a southwestern theme when we first moved into our house 12 years ago, when he was ten. Since then, the bedspread and curtains long discarded, we had blinds and simple valances up until a couple of years ago. When we finally got the last of our old worn out windows replaced with double pane glass, one of his blinds went amiss, and so he's had one blind, one bare window ever since then.

Now myself, ever the perfectionist, decided that covering the window with just anything/something wasn't enough, it had to be just right, and since he needed new curtains, I may as well get a new bedspread--and have you ever tried to pin down a semi-grown son about what kind of frou-frou decor he wants for his room? Yeah.

The situation got critical this summer, though, with the heat--his room faces the west and he gets lots of sun beating down on his corner room in the afternoon and evenings.

And so, partially inspired by the Nester's motto of "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful", and her many truly beautiful window "mistreatments" as she calls them--I came up with an easy no-sew solution.

Each window has a plain navy flat twin sized sheet, folded in half lengthwise, clipped together with cafe curtain rings. That's it. When they get dusty, I can take them down and throw them in the washer and dryer and re-hang them. He's happy with the simplicity and the fact that I didn't spend much, I'm happy with the fact that he has window coverings again, and I think everyone will be happier with the lower electric bill. That's what I call win-win.

Total cost: $6.79 ($3 each for the sheets, about $.79 for the pack of curtain rings)

I think I may spray paint the curtain rods a dark color, those old white hoopties look kind of stark. I may even break down and buy new ones--I saved so much on the curtains, who knows what I may tackle next?

What project have you been working on lately? For more ideas see:

Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

Until next time...