Dressing our windows

So I’ve learned that January must be fabric sale season.  Thanks to the sleuthing of Ms.Cheap, I was alerted to not one, but TWO big sales.  The first landed me some cute gingham and polka dot prints for Little Miss Diva.  No, I won’t be writing about sewing anytime soon.  My stepmom is going to make some dresses for Little Miss Diva…yay fabulous family seamstress!

 

The 2^nd deal landed me fabric for both my kitchen and master suite windows.

Since I’ve had my eyes on window treatments for the last year, I had marked a few no sew options to try.  In addition to fabric, you’ll need a piece of wood per window, staple gun, Stitch Witchery, iron, L bracket and drill.  As luck would have it, I had everything, but the L brackets, which are an inexpensive purchase at your local hardware store.

Before I started cutting, I measured again for good measure and marked where the L brackets would hang.  I had already decided that I wanted the valances slightly below the crown molding, which is apparently decorating 101 for making your room appear larger.  In your calculations, you’ll want to add an extra inch or two to the length to accommodate your hem and a good 2 inches on the each side to cover the corners.  My windows all run into cabinets, so I thought a cornice board would be overkill.  If you want to do a cornice board, you'll need a little more fabric on the sides.

After cutting the wood to size, I laid it out on top of the fabric and cut after one final measurement (side note: I’m typically terrible with measurements, so I was sweating this one out).  Next, I stapled the fabric into place on the wood and turned the corners much like you would a present.  At this point, you should be pretty freakin’ proud of yourself because it’s going to start looking awesome! 

 

Then, I brought the measuring tape back out to check the length from top to bottom and pinned into place.  I did one pass with the iron to mark the hem and then followed up with stitch witchery to lock it into place.

Tired yet?  You’re so close and this juice is really worth the squeeze. Here’s where the drill comes in.  Using the marks I made earlier, I pre-drilled the holes for the L brackets, before securing them into place.  I have plaster walls, so the pre-drilled holes just made it a little easier for me to get the screw in on the first go.  Each bracket is secured with 2 screws.  Once you’ve got both brackets up, place your new valance on top and viola you’ve got yourself a custom window treatment for a fraction of the price!  

Seriously, this project cost me around $23 a window, which is significantly cheaper than the $300-400/window treatments I was eying at Smith and Noble.