Window Treatments

When we bought our home in 2003, I made the curtains for almost every window in the house including a pair of light yellow panels for the sliding glass doors in our dining room and a matching roman shade for over the sink in the adjoining kitchen.


Fast forward to a few months ago when I took down the panels to wash. They needed a good cleaning between dust, cat fur and general age. I thought I had used fabric that was washer & dryer safe. After cleaning, I ironed the wrinkles out, hung them up and ... oops! They were about 4 inches shorter:


We decided to leave them up for the time being (they still worked - just looked a little funny) while I decided what to do. I considered purchasing new panels and a matching shade, but couldn't find anything that I liked enough and for a price I liked. Instead I thought I might find a coordinating fabric and extend the existing panels.

On Friday while fabric shopping for the ribbon blanket and nursing cover, I came across a striped fabric that I thought would be perfect. On a whim, I went ahead and bought it. I pre-washed all of the fabrics that night to be sure I don't repeat my mistake in the future. Sunday I checked the measurements of the existing panels and created new top sections for each:


Then on Monday I made a matching valance to hang in front of the roman shade in our kitchen:


Altogether I spent about $25 on supplies including the spring rod to hold the valance - a mere fraction of what it would have cost to completely replace them with store bought options. And now we have a look we both like that's unique to our home.