Soft treatments on the windows makes such a difference. A child's curtain doesn't have to be anything fancy, but it should be colorful as well as durable. Yes, we do windows!
Kid's curtains can be one of the most costly and difficult decorative items in a room. The treatments on the right assume you have some sort of blind or shade on the window for privacy and light blocking.
Read "5 Tips That Could Save Money On Electric Bill" to see how your kid curtain can make your home more energy efficient.
Quick easy care, easy to change curtains:
Use sheets and clip on rings. Use a solid sheet behind for the lining, putting the two layers wrong side to wrong side.
As you know I always recommend lining, except for sheer type treatments. Why? Because it protects your front/face fabric, makes the treatment hang nicer, and it looks better not having all that light shining through.
And if you use a nice coordinating color on the back, and the sheets are too long, you can just flip the tops over to get the length you want so the lining shows on the front, put the clips on the fold line, giving the appearance of a valance! How easy is that?
Okay, so they're just sheets you say. Yeah, but when the light shines through during the day or at night from street lights, you totally lose the appearance of the fabric, expecially if it's a print.
TIP: Make a little pleat or tuck wherever you clip on a ring to give your curtain more fullness. If the tuck doesn't want to stay, you may need to just tack it with needle and thread or use a tiny safety pin on the back side.
A couple more kid room curtain ideas. . .
Use something funky for a kid curtain rod. How about a boat oar, tree branch, old fishing pole, a baton (you know, the twirling kind), an old piece of pipe. Use angle brackets or wood brackets painted to match to hold it up.
Take a rubber band and scrunch up the end of one flat sheet and mount it on the backside so you can't see it, by stapling, taping or tieing it in place.
Now hand gather/fold the sheet, and make your first swag up and over the middle of the rod, using another rubber band or tie with string to hold the gathers, staple on back side in place, and do the same with the final end. Dress/fluff these as you go along before you staple!
Again, you'll need to use your judgement based on the width of your window. . . . You may need more than two swags and more than one sheet to complete this kid curtain treatment!
If you're using the boat oar or fishing rod, swag it with fish net or camo netting instead of a sheet. The baton could be swagged with nylon netting or organdy fabric. An old piece of rusty pipe could be swagged with an old canvas tarp, or just some unbleached muslin.
DIY Kid Curtain Ideas With Sheets And A Plain Curtain Rod:
- Use two flat sheets . Just slip the hem over the curtain rod. If they're too long, either cut off and sew, glue or iron (with hem tape) a hem. Use what you cut off or one of the pillow cases to make tie backs.
- If the only cheap sheets you can find are solids, use fabric paint and rubber/sponge stamps and stamp your own design. (Be sure to wash your sheets first and don't use fabric softener this time around, so your paint will adhere better).
- If they are white, then dye them! Get quirky and do a tie dye on your kid curtain, using rubber bands to scrunch up the fabric.
- If you have narrow windows, you could split one flat sheet in half and do the same thing, hemming the sides you cut. General rule of thumb is that your curtain panels should equal 2 to 2 1/2 times the width of your window. More is better. So if your window is 36", your 2 panels should total a minimum of 72" wide when laid out flat.
- Another use for two flat sheets. Put them on the curtain rod, and if they're too long it doesn't matter, because you're going to grab the one on the right, and flip it up and over the rod on the left, to give a swag effect. Then take the one on the left and flip it up over the right. Voila'! Swags and cascades for a kid curtain.
Do spend a little time dressing these so they look nice. Get fancy and drape some cording right along with them on each side. You could even gather up the ends that hang down, and attach a silk flower, or tassel there, or tie off with some nice ribbon. - Okay, one more idea with sheets. Get out the two sheets. Put them on the curtain rod. Now we want them to be too long because you're going to mark a spot about 8-12" below the bottom of the window, (or some other point that you deem appropriate after you see where we're going with this), tie the sheet across at this point with a string long enough to leave a couple tails.
Pull this string to the back, and up a few inches, so you get a little bit of a blouse effect (like you tucked your shirt in and pulled it out a little bit so it hangs over the top of your pants), and attach to the wall with a cup hook. Now, how's that for a kid curtain, especially for a girl's room.
Have you tried those Command Hooks? They work great for this, and if you mess up you can take them off without wrecking the wall. You can also paint them with "Fusion" plastic paint, to match either the wall or the window treatment. Now fluff this blousey part out using some nylon netting or newspaper if needed, to get it to stay "fluffed".
You now have a bishop's sleeve kid curtain treatment. Well, you will have after you do the other side!
Have I gotten your creative juices flowing yet? A kid curtain should be based on your kids' interests, so you probably have most of what you need around the house. Let your kids participate in their room design, and have fun!
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