I went online to jcpenney.com  because I can usually find pretty good deals on simple curtains. They were having an awesome sale. 60% off to be exact.  So I ordered two of their Lisette Rod Pocket drapes in Cool white for the front window. I only needed two since they were 60″ wide by 84″ long.

Drapes, Lisette Rod-Pocket Panel more info Aqua Dust is shown

While I was at it, I also added two in the 90″ length for the front big window.  So when they came, down came the curtains. While I was taking down the rods, the sheer curtains were put in the dryer with a damp towel and I put the dryer on the cool setting and let them run for 10 minutes to get out the wrinkles. This was recommended on the packaging and it mostly worked. I think it would also help to have a steamer to steam out wrinkles while the curtains are hung.

I added black curtain rings to all five panels and this made a huge difference when it comes to movement along the rod and also with the length.

These sheer panels still let plenty of light in and we can still see out. But on the outside, you can’t see in at all. What a great thing, to finally have privacy.

Here is a shot of the living room sheers, but this isn’t the most flattering photo. It’s hard shooting a curtain when there’s light coming in from outside.

We decided it was also time for some window coverings in our eat-in-kitchen turned craft room as well. At night you can see all the way into our house from the street, so it just feels good to finally have some privacy in there as well. So while I was on JC Penney’s website, I looked around for something that would work in there. The room has three windows that form a bay window. When we moved in I think there were mini-blinds in there that we immediately removed. Curtain rods are too hard to hang, so we decided on some simple roller shades.

Saratoga Roller Shade, Blackout Cut-to-Width 66″ Sale $11.99 to $26.99 Original $20.00 to $45.00 Roller shades effectively block light and ensure privacy, with a light-blocking black-out layer  sandwiched between two layers of vinyl. Roller Shade: cut to the exact width you need from 15″ to 73¼” wide embossed vinyl with the look of fabric white on street side except ivory which is the same color on both sides heavy-duty spring roller mechanism allows you to adjust shade to any height Inside or outside casing installation. Window must be at least ¾” deep for inside mount, 2¼” deep for flush inside mount. Mounting hardware and instructions included. Shades wipe clean with a damp cloth. Imported. Roller shades will be narrower than the width ordered; to avoid the resulting light gap on eachside and to achieve maximum privacy and light control, consider outside  mount.

We ordered three shades, cut wide enough to fully cover the windows when mounted on the frame. However, the mounting brackets need to be positioned fairly precisely, so we used some Handi-Clamps to hold each blind in place. We held each mounting bracket up to the temporarily suspended blind, and holes for the mounting brackets were marked.

Pilot holes were drilled, mounts were screwed in, and the blinds were inserted into the brackets. We adjusted tension according to the included instructions (basically winding or unwinding the mounted blinds so they retract all the way up), and done!

Instant privacy!

The added benefit of having window coverings (in addition to privacy) is that they reduce our energy bill. So we’ll update you later on that.

xo

Cathleen