DIY: Living Room Window Treatment

Since moving into our loft in October, I have been dying to install a unique window treatment in the living room. Originally I hoped to hang curtains from the top of the window (which is something like 20 feet). I discovered very quickly that curtains for large windows are expensive.

So I waited and waited for great sales to pop up, I researched curtain prices, and kept an eye out for a good deal. It didn't really come along until one day I decided it had been too long since I last used my sewing machine. I took my JoAnne's coupons, decided to bite the bullet and buy some fabric.

I thought yellow would be a really nice accent color for our living room. I think I've mentioned before that we have a modern/Americana theme going. There is a check blue couch centered between our windows. Yellow is bright and it's different - exactly what I wanted.

Here is the fabric I found (6 yards total, 3 per panel, approx $40):

Isn't it cool? It's got three different blues in it, turquoise/navy/and almost a cornflower blue, plus peacocks and hummingbirds, and yellow! I bought 2 yards of navy for stripes and 4 yards for the main portion of the panels (for a total of two curtain panels).

Now I don't have a sewing cut board thingy, so I laid the fabric out in our bedroom, decided where I wanted the stripes to be and just cut with a 90 degree ruler. It took a lot longer than it probably would if I had better supplies. 

After cutting the fabric, I sewed the pieces together, hemmed the sides, and sewed a larger hem at the top to put through the curtain rod. Here is the result:

I was happy with them. But mad that after all that work and buying 40 bucks worth of fabric, two panels only covered the ends of my windows. Don't get me wrong, making curtains is pretty easy and fulfilling, and yes, they are pretty, but I also wanted curtains for a functional purpose - privacy. So I went back to looking around for better options.

I decided to buy roman shades or wooden blinds to replace the aluminum and give it a more cohesive look. But while I was shopping, I ran across some pretty white sheers for $5 each at Walmart. I ended up buying 4 of those instead, an extra set of curtain rods (for the sheers) and put those up. 

Here is the final look! I am very pleased with the result.