SHADY BUSINESS

One more project in the remodel is complete! As we wait for all of our trim to arrive I took on the task of finding some new window coverings for the corner kitchen windows. We would have left them bare but with neighbors close on the left side, we wanted to keep some privacy. Here is a reminder of our "before". Oh, these were bad. Old, dirty and burgundy. Now if we were talking Ron Burgundy we'd be okay, but in the case of mini-blinds, not so much.

Ew.

After doing some research and discovering that our windows, of course, were not a standard length, I decided to take on the task of making some roman shades. I did this because:

1. Pattern. Since we have an open concept first floor there isn't anywhere for art to reside. Not to mention everything is basically a solid color in there right now.
2. Cost. I wasn't about to drop over $150 for these two little guys.
3. Custom. While I heavily considered using white faux wood blinds, I thought something a little more custom would suit our tastes better.

That being said I headed off to Pinterest to see what was out there in terms of NO SEW roman blinds. Key words .... NO SEW! After much reading I decided to use this as my base idea. I liked the relaxed look to the shade and making it no sew seemed easy enough.

Inspiration

I met up with Nic at JoAnn's to peruse fabrics and ended up choosing this. 

Simple, relaxed fabric

I liked that the pattern was simple and classic, and that the fabric was a heavier upholstery style, but still very soft. Since we have two windows I knew a bold Ikat or Amy Butler pattern would just be too heavy. This simple stripe coordinated with the solid curtains already over the sliding glass doors, and would be easy to keep straight as I made the shades.

I won't bore you with details, but the only modifications I made were:

1. Adding a liner. One of our windows looks right into our neighbor's kitchen, so a little extra privacy never hurts. I also liked the more finished and polished look so an additional 2 yards of muslin was worth the $10.
2. Using Hem Tape. Like I said, this was a no sew adventure. Me and the iron got real comfortable and I essentially "glued" this bad boy together.
3. Use what you got. Rather than buying an additional pair of dowels for the bottom of the shades I just used the bottom piece of the mini-blinds I took apart.

Below is the final result. Total cost was just about $75 for both. Not SUPER cheap but not a $5 mini-blind solution either. I could have skinnied the cost by not adding a liner, and not using fabric that was close to $30 a yard (thank goodness for 40% off coupons). Time was 1 solid Sunday (6 or so hours) for creation of the panels, and another 2 or so to assemble and hang.

Finished!

I think I'm digging them. Accessorizing our kitchen once it's all done will help a lot to bring the green and blue tones together even more, but for now I am just glad to check one more thing off the list. Also, I eventually will take better photos, this is looking a little pink. Darn cell phones!