Domestic Dispatches: 5 Ways to Cover 50 Windows on a Budget - Gardenista
Photographs by Mimi Giboin. Curtains can go very, very wrong. On the other hand, don’t ignore them until too late, after all the remodel money has been spent. It looked like a good idea on paper, too. Instead, walk from room to room and evaluate each window calmly. Or do you live somewhere where the site has privacy and your amazing views are the thing you are concerned about?” 2: Hang simple solid-color curtain panels. To get the most visual impact, “curtains look nicest when they go from the floor all the way to the ceiling, even if the window is not full height,” says Tang. In my both my living room and guest bedroom (above), twin panels frame the casement windows. In all, I used six yards of Cream Linen Fabric ($14.99 a yard from Ballard Designs). No need to sew a rod pocket. I attached clips to the top of each panel. 4: Use the money you saved in other rooms to splurge on custom shades or blinds for the bedroom. You spend at least one-third of your life in this room, so you want good coverage: for privacy and to block the sunlight on Saturday morning when your husband takes the dogs out and lets you sleep in. The big question is always whether to hang shades (and blinds) on the outside of the window jamb or to recess them. For the recessed option, you need to cut the blind or shade precisely– within a quarter of an inch of the width of the window. 5: Some windows may not need anything. (I know that’s self-evident, but the figure made me so happy I couldn’t resist typing it.) 6: Inexpensive cut-to-order wooden or bamboo shades. it causes a glare on the computer screen. Photograph by Michelle Slatalla. “They have a valence; I live in a very traditional house where that sort of detail is appropriate to the architecture.” For more of Michelle’s amateur adventures in home design, see The Death of the Shower Curtain and My Worst Design Decision Ever.