Fix It Up Friday: Window Dressing

One of the new house activities that I had forgotten the joys of between our first house and this one is finding window coverings. Ugh. The whole process stresses me out. Everything in the decorating magazines is too overdone. And the prices! For some reason I just don't think that it should cost a mortgage payment to cover a window. So the fact that 6 months after our move we have anything on some of these windows is nothing short of miraculous.

Here is where we started with the kitchen window. A big gaping hole of a window.

Oh yeah, the other problem is that these are original windows to this house. Energy efficiency was not a top priority in the 1980s. Our solution for the time being? Packing Tape. I was a little horrified by the trailer park ambiance that it provided (next stop - aluminum foil), but I soon got over that when I saw the difference that they made in the electric bill.

After a quest that rivaled some of Indiana Jones' best work, I located a Roman shade that measured the illusive 43" of my window. The original plan was to sew the shade but then I realized that I was tremendously pregnant and employed full time. In other words, reality crushed my crafty dreams once again. It's nice but it just doesn't look "finished".

So we went back on the hunt and located the perfect mate for a chocolate Roman shade. Of course, since I managed to not read all the details of this purchase, I ended up with some kind of button top rather than a rod pocket. Never fear, the sewing machine rode to the rescue. Then the 43" problem came up yet again. This time some cosmetic surgery and an actual organ donation were required to resolve the situation. It was touch and go for a few hours, but I think in the end everything turned out ok.

Here is the organ donor. He may be a little lighter around the edges, but he's holding up well.

My other window dressing accomplishment for this house revolves around a love affair with the tension rod and the $5 Wal-Mart sheer panel (you can't get cut fabric by the yard for that price). Here they are covering up the front windows in the dining room.

And here they are as a door panel in our bedroom.

So this is all the progress I have been able to make on the windows in the new house. I think that things are going well, but certainly not at lightning speed. However, we can now say that everything is covered. And the neighborhood is grateful. I guess we will put away that industrial size box of aluminum foil for now.