Curtains on the Cheap

I almost titled this “My Curtain Secret” but it’s not a secret because I’ll shout it from the roof tops and tell everyone I know and I do tell everyone I know.. (No roof top shouting) 

I’ve read it over and over on blogs so it’s nothing new and not my idea but in case you don’t read many home decor blogs, or I haven’t told you personally, almost all of the curtains in our house are $5 twin sized flat sheets from Walmart. Most of those are even cut in half so basically $2.50 per panel.. BAM.

This is what they look like in their packaging. Mainstays Twin Sized FLAT sheet. Pay attention to whether they are flat or fitted. They are sold separately and I’ve accidentally purchased fitted sheets before which, as you can imagine, don’t look great as curtains.

The curtains behind my desk are off-white sheets that I dry brushed lines on to give them a little pop of color.  Apparently I was feeling like a big spender that day because this is a WHOLE twin sheet.  No pinching pennies and cutting in half for this lady!

The other side of the living room has the same color panels cut in half on either side of our sliding glass door. We don’t ever close these, so it didn’t matter that they were cut in half and don’t actually span the entire opening.

All of this background, leads me to now.  I decided it was time for a little change in the living room. The off-white panels on the bay window and sliding door were a little too close to the wall color. I wanted some contrast and a little bit of a refresh in there. I bought 2 white sheets. Brought them home. Cut them in half. Hemmed them up and quickly clipped them to our curtain rings (also from Walmart)

It’s one of those things that doesn’t make a huge difference, just looks freshened up. I like them. They’re so clean looking. I might add some type of trim at some point but right now I’m liking the crisp white.

Another great thing about the sheets is that they are very long. Windows look biggest and ceilings look highest when the curtains are hung as close to the ceiling as possible. Using sheets, you never have a problem with length. I just fold mine over at the top and clip them and you’d never notice and don’t have to hem them up.

I’ve mentioned before, about the picture above, that I don’t even have a curtain rod on this wall.  The clips just hang from nails. This brings me to another cheapskate thing.. Nails as curtain “rods”. Another? In the playroom, our curtain rods are sticks of bamboo that I weirdly kindly asked to cut out of a friends’ yard.

Can you see that?! I just lightly brushed gold paint over them and hung them with curtain rod hardware I had.  Not for everyone but also a quick solution to a problem.

Oh gosh, I’m on a roll.. How about this? In our bedroom, the main part of the curtain is a shower curtain that had an awesome pattern and was on clearance and the bottom I sewed on scrap fabric and ribbon to lengthen them so that they can hang closer to the ceiling.