It’s been on my Master Bedroom ‘to-do’ list to change out the curtains, although, in a normal world, this would occur after the renovations we want to complete in this room, I went ahead and tackled them.
The long part of the story is how I finally came around to the fabric for these curtains, and the short part of the story is how I was recently inspired by Molly over at The Nesting Game to add a roman shade into the mix.
I had been looking for a good master bedroom curtain fabric for some time (which is part of the reason why my army green, grommet top tarps were still hanging until this point in time). I wanted something light, airy, and with some type of pattern that didn’t overtake the room. My long term plans for this room have some built-in shelving, a new headboard, wood flooring, and an awesome global/vintage patterned rug. Eventually there will be a lot of texture going on and keeping it simple on the curtains (but not boring) was important.
First things first, after removing the old curtains and mini-blinds, we mounted a piece of wood painted white above the window. We did this not only hold the weight of the curtains and blinds, but also to enable us to hang them taller, making the windows appear larger.
*H of E Tip: If there wasn’t a roman shade, this wouldn’t be a good idea because the wood would be visible. Make sure you have some sort of blinds or shade to cover the extra piece of wood before going this route.
The story can get long about my searching fabric websites and fabric stores and home stores and on and on, but I’ll save you the reading. Eventually, I found a duvet cover in a linen vintage ticking stripe pattern that I loved at the Pottery Barn Outlet. King duvet covers are around 110″ wide and 96″ long. It was just wide enough for two panels and the perfect length. Since the duvet cover was patterned on the front and back, I could get four panels out of it for just $75. These very similar Pottery Barn panels cost $109 each!
The the only issue with this plan was the sunlight that these loose weave linen panels would, no doubt, let in at the crack of dawn. As mentioned above, The Nesting Game made some pretty amazing roman shades out of mini-blinds, and since we don’t have a shortage of mini-blinds in this house, I jumped at the chance to transform them into something prettier and more sun-repellant.
You can get the full how-to scoop over there since I followed her instructions (minus the decorative greek key). The only difference is that I used black out curtain liner instead of fabric. It was cheap, and since I already had the PB-esque panels, using nice fabric wasn’t necessary.
It was actually pretty enjoyable, the first one took me a while just to figure out the logistics, but the second one took just a quick 45 minutes. I think it only took me that long because the fabric glue bottle was really hard to squeeze!
Completing it all took pretty much my whole weekend. Overall it was pretty simple stuff, just time consuming to wait for the glue to dry on the shades and rip out all of the original seams on the duvet cover. I love the way it turned out too! Hopefully I can get some better photos to share when I have more daylight.
Have a WONDERFUL Monday!
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They look great! How smart to use the duvet cover for the curtains AND to hang the shades higher! I may steal your blackout fabric idea for our bedroom. Great job!
How crafty you are,Erin!Those curtains look beautiful!
Great job. I love the roman shades. I have been wanting to try making my own roman shades but have been a little intimidated by the process.
It was actually pretty easy! You should give it a try!
Hi Erin,
I have been reading your blog for the past few weeks and have really enjoyed it. I was just catching up on it today and I scrolled through your curtain tutorial and your ring caught my eye. I have the SAME EXACT setting. I have never seen anyone else with it!!! So I just wanted to drop in and say hi.
Sara B
…and I have that SAME EXACT duvet. hahaha!!! This is hilarious. We have such good taste.
… Wait…. are you married to a man named Matt? Do you have a little dog that looks like Toto from the Wizard of Oz? Maybe we’re the Bizarro’s of each other?
Blake…Italian Greyhound named Mona…I’m okay with it if you are. HAHA!! Hope you have a great day.
s
Looks great! I love the fabric.