A curtain dilema solved!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a super Memorial day weekend! Ours is low key: barbequeing and hangin' out with family.

I wanted to share a curtain project I recently completed, with the help of my friend Chris. I have this large picture window in our front living room, that is insetted with a window seat underneath. The top of the window hits the ceiling part of the inset, and there is just an 11 inch strip of wall on each side of the window. Really hard to put a rod across, and too short to hang traditional curtains on.

Pretty bare and pathetic!


This calls for a custom curtain treatment!


I knew what colors I wanted for the panels, so I went shopping at Joanne's and found the perfect fabric. I had in my mind the design, but I don't really sew much, and so that's where my friend Chris came in. I descibed what I wanted it to look like, and she told me how much fabric to get. Isn't it lovely?


Now the dilema: how to outfit the area so that you can hang a panel. We took a trip to Home Depot, and with the help of a creative employee we came up with this:

First, we grabbed a pair of closet pole sockets and a 1' wodden dowel.. I spray painted them black. Then we bought a package of 1" rubber leg tip which fit perfectly inside the sockets. Then I purchased 2 traverse rod center supports(at Walmart) to hold the other side of the dowel that will be the curtain rod.

Socket and leg tip

Shows socket, rubber leg tip, and center support piece all mounted.


I cut the dowel a little longer, so the curtain would overlap the edge of the window slightly.
Get it, now that you see it all together?


I also spray painted it black, although you won't see it when the panels are on. Pretty imaginative, huh?


For the panels, we measured the area, and then eyeballed literally how long of a drop I wanted on the black and cream check. We finished the panel with a 1 1'2" seam on the sides and bottom, and made a 3" rod pocket, so it would slide across and cover the closet socket against the wall.


I seriously love it! It makes the room seem so much more cozy and designer-ish like!

Very simple, yet it looks like I bought it custom.

Oh, and to finish off the end of the dowel, I bought two drawer knobs, and spray painted them black. Then I hot glued them on the ends of the dowel to make it look finished.
Hope I inspired you all to tackle that weird space by just starting somewhere, and enlisting the help of a good friend to come up with some great ideas!

Stay tuned for an easy tutorial on how to cover a lampsahde, and make it look like a custom piece!

Have a fun and safe holiday weekend!