Whitney's Roman Shades

UPDATE!!

I will be joining Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors for her Saturday Nite Special! Scroll down for the button!

So I am so excited to share my next project with you… I mentioned that we finished building our home about 6 months ago. One of my favorite details of my home is the trim work. My super handy stepdad did all of the trim. I will share more detailed pictures of that in a separate blog. When thinking about window coverings, I was at first totally sold on shutters. I love the look from the outside and they are easy to maintain and all of that stuff. We put off the purchase of these because of cost and about a month after living in our house my mind started changing. I knew I wanted something that would show off and compliment all his work and not take away from it. I love natural light and I felt that shutters would cut that in half at least. I also love the look of my windows open and the shutters would cover that up as well. I started entertaining the idea of roman shades and decided to google. That’s when I stumbled upon this treasure…http://www.terrelldesigns.com/howto-videoclips.htm

I found a series of tutorials on making your own roman shades. I am a visual learner so I decided to give it a try. After watching them I decided that I could for sure make my own. I won’t repeat the directions that she gives but I will tell you to check it out. These require minimal sewing ability and they are super quick and cheap to make. I will offer my own advice from now making several of my own.

~ I used eye hooks rather than the pulleys and locking pulleys that she uses. They are much cheaper and a heck of a lot easier to find. Just drill a pilot hole and twist it in.
~ I skip the Velcro all-together. I just made my shades about 2 inches longer than her pattern, wrapped it around my 1x2 and stapled it. I think this is a much cleaner look.
~ I use a fan/light pull at the end of my cords… much cuter than that plastic thing.

I was so pleased with the outcome. They are easy to use and I feel that they totally compliment my trim which was a main focus. I did add some small scrolls from Hobby Lobby to my living room shades just to give them a little more pop. I just attached a nail to the 1x2 from the shade and hung it up. The best part of this project… the $ I saved. These cost a fraction of the price of the shutters. Thanks so much for stopping by! I will be posting this with Kimba over at A Soft Place To Land for DIY Day. Check it out... Lot's of talent there...http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2009/08/diy-day_19.html