I Hate Curtains!

There, I said it.  I just do.  I have no vision for them, and plus they are SO expensive!! When I look through pictures or browse JC Penny, I love them.  But when it comes to me trying to actually do them...I blank.   BUT... of all the things you can do to your home, its one of the best things you can do (according to me!)  They give your home character, give it that homey, cozy feel to it... more than anything else.  They make a room look complete and inviting.

Sigh!

So I've had to accept the fact that I need curtains, and I promised myself that in this new house I would do something.  I not only had to find some inspiration, I had to find a way to do it the thrifty way.
(Before I get into this, I just have to say that I am NOT a photographer, and I don't have a fancy camera, so my pics aren't the best. Sorry!)

Here's what I've done so far:

Family Room/Kitchen:

I found these panels on clearance at Target and fell in love with the color and pattern.  Our ceilings are super high and I knew they weren't long enough to hit the floor, but because our couch would hide that fact, I bought them!

Pretty easy, self explanatory, and turned out pretty cute.  I put them on a cheap bistro rod from  Walmart ($1.99 I believe)

Unfortunately, this pattern curtain only comes in a panel. I knew I couldn't use panels in the kitchen, but I wanted desperately to use the same pattern since it has that "great room" feel.   I gave it some thought and came up with this:

I simply took one panel, cut it lengthwise down the middle.   I folded in the rough edge and ironed it down.    Then I ironed pleats into it, and pinched them together with rod clips.  This valance is made up of both pieces of the panel.  The middle pleat attaches the two pieces together.  I loved how it turned out! And I didn't even have to use my sewing machine!

 I bought the rods at Big Lots for about $9 each, and the clips from Target (can't remember how much)

 My Mom loved them so much that we did the same thing in her kitchen.  Only this time we didn't use a panel.  She found this table runner at Target that matched her colors EXACTLY.  So we just ironed pleats into it, clipped it, and DONE!  Awesome!!!  Although I was a little jealous of hers because her table runner cost far less than my panel!

Playroom:

Ok I'm really sorry about these pics.  I had a hard time getting these!  Once again, I used rods from Big Lots.  For this room I knew I wanted plain, neutral colored curtains. and the saying goes to "shop at home first".  So I rifled through my fabric and couldn't find anything very neutral.  But I happened to find a white bedskirt stashed away in my craft closet.  I can't even remember buying it, or what I would ever use it for.  But it was the ReMake brand from Target.  So I just cut the "skirt" part off.  Then I took some burlap ribbon and sewed it to the FINISHED edge of the material.  With the ROUGH edge, I folded it over twice and to the length I wanted, and sewed it down to make the loop to insert the rod.  Thats it...Done!

Master Bedroom:

I really struggled with this window!  It is huge, and our ceilings are really tall so I couldn't find anything within my tight budget that was long enough.  So I finally just bought panels that I knew would be too short.  These came in a 2-pack from Walmart for $12, and I once again used the cheap bistro rods.  

I played around with them for awhile and came up with this.  All I did was tie burlap around the bottom part of the panel, then start pulling a little bit of the material up from the top to give it that bunchy look.  So SIMPLE! 

Ok thats all for now!  But I'm going to keep plugging away at them because although what I've done so far is plain and simple, it has already made such a difference to the look and feel of my home!