Did ya miss me?

I am back today to share some happy windows with you!

We have been in our new place about 7 months now with curtains only in the living room.

And that is only because that room had giant windows with NO blinds.

Seven months later we now have prettily dressed windows in 98% of the house!

3 days and 3 trips to Ikea later, our long weekend gave us the time to get it done. We had actually already bought some of the curtains and rods months ago, but Ikea was out of some of the size rod we needed… which meant… project = stalled. Boo hoo.

We live so, so, very close to Ikea, but it is like that dreaded feeling when you know you have to run into Walmart… times 100. It seriously sucks hours of your life away before you know what has even happened.

I am so happy with the difference some nice curtains make! It’s amazing!

First, I have to remind you again of the CRAZY way our curtains were hung in this house when we moved in. Hint… it involves a 2×4 and velcro.

I have never heard of such a thing, but 98% of the rooms had 2×4’s nailed in above the windows with velcro stapled to it. Theeeeeen, the curtains had velcro all sewn into them and were slapped up on the 2×4’s.

Can we say that you might be a redneck if your curtains are velcroed on?

What made this so bad was that not only did we have to go through the pain of removing all the screwed up 2×4’s, but that also meant that not only did we have to invest in new curtains, but also in new rods and hardware for each and every stinking window!

All of that stuff is so expensive, lemme tell you.

I am so thankful that we have Ikea as a quick option even though it is soul sucking. They have the cheapest hardware and curtains that I have found anywhere! And we are talking 98″ curtains!

Are you ready for the before and afters?

The Living Room before had custom made curtains with a matching shade for the back door.

See the 2×4? And the velcro?

I was not a fan of these curtains and wanted to have a more symmetrical look with curtains on both sides of the fireplace.

These curtains were made out of drop cloths!  :) I, of course, read about this in blogland. It is the best because it is cheap and requires NO sewing!

Strange as it seems, yes, we do have curtains on our back door. We just slide it over to use the door.

Ummmm, should I mention before someone else does that you might be a redneck if you have dropcloth curtains that cover your back door?  Ha!

 

The kitchen before had velcroed valances {all before pics below are the real estate pics from previous owners} and I really wanted some long flowing curtains.

These panels are called Ferle at Ikea and are only $15 for TWO 98″ panels. Even with the curtain rod at the ceiling, the 98″ was too long for the room, but it was an easy fix with some curtain clips.

I just folded over the curtains at the top and clipped them over that fold, and voila! Custom length curtains with nothing painful like sewing. :)

For the window by the sink, I cut off the appropriate length at the top, folded over a few inches as the “hem” and clipped on the rings. That left the bottom part hemmed and beautimous.

The bay window was a pain, but Ikea sells a connector piece for about $5 or so where you can put the three rods together. This a pretty nice alternative to the extremely pricey bay window curtain rods out there.

 

The dining room was another bay window, ack! Here is the before…

And our after…

These curtains are called Vivan and are only $10 for TWO panels, 98″ long! That is $5 a panel. CAH-RAZY compared to even Target and Walmart.

That rug was a Christmas gift, and the hope chest was a redo we did this summer. Maybe one day I’ll get around to sharing it, because you would NOT believe the transformation. It looked ready for the trash heap before.  :)

 

Now we move upstairs!

This was the boys’ room before….

We actually redid the boys’ room over Christmas on a cheap Ikea budget and it turned out so cute. For their room, I bought Ikea fabric for around $24, cut it down the middle and hung it with curtain clips. I still have to go back and “hem” it with the hemming tape. {One day, I’ll learn to sew… I hope!}

This is Haylee’s before… These curtains {and hardware} did not stay with the house.

I picked out the Ingerlise curtains for Haylee’s room and she loved them thankfully! They were $25 for two 98″ panels which isn’t too bad. I was going to do the fabric route for her too, but when I was looking at these, I figured it would be about the same price and I wouldn’t have to do the cutting and hemming. Sounds good to me!

She loves them, and it really pulls the room together.

Here is the playroom before… This is Davis in the picture, but this is the previous owner’s stuff. This was the day that we all came to the house for the inspection.  :)

I picked out these curtains for the playroom and love how bold and crazy they are! They really are a “wow” factor, and I think work for a fun playroom!

Aren’t they crazy and cool?  :)

Here is the Master Bedroom before… Those curtains and hardware did not stay.

These turquoise curtains were also only $10 for two panels! {I can’t get over the cheapness. Can you tell?} I can’t find the link online to the turquoise color, but they are also called Vivan like the Dining Room curtains.

Sorry about the “cheat shot.” Only this part of room was photograph ready.  :)

This was a L-O-T of work! So much so that Monday night of our long weekend, Chris joked that he was ready to go back to work so he could get a break!

What a difference curtains make in a house! Especially the NON-velcro version.

Any other Ikea lover/haters out there like me? Love the cheapness, hate the Ikea madness? Can you believe we finally have curtains???