since this was yet another weekend where the only reason to go outside was if your house was on fire, we spent the weekend inside, sewing curtains (me), and staining wood and sawing (jason).

also watching a lot of olympics and the walking dead. but that’s not that interesting.

our basement has three windows, two standard and one awkwardly positioned one, that were in desperate need of fun fabric. this was my first attempt at making curtains, but since they only require straight lines, i felt up to the challenge. i’m sure there are lots of much better sources for curtain making out on the internet, but in case you want to hear my tips and tricks, here they go:

figuring out yardage is the one thing you really don’t want to mess up. well okay you don’t want to mess any of it up but this would be a disappointing start. the curtains i was working on were fitting inside the window via a tension rod, so if you’re making big drapey drapes (official terminology), look elsewhere for instructions! to start, figure out:

1. the width of your window + 3 inches for the hems (1 1/2 inches each side) + 4-8 inches for a little scrunch. multiply that by 110% to accommodate the shrinkage when you wash the fabric.
2. the length of your window + 9 inches for the hems (3 1/2 on top–assuming your rod will fit into that–and 5 1/2 on the bottom). multiply by 110%.
3. multiply your answer to #1 by #2 to get your square inches. divide by 12 to get your square feet. divide by 3 to get your yardage and talk the talk at fabric stores (this is such amateur advice).
4. triple check your measurements and math.

wash, dry, then cut the fabric to the correct size based on your equation.

sew your side hems by doing a 1/2 inch hem and then a 1 inch hem on all sides.

sew your top & bottom hems by doing a 1/2 inch hem on both the top and bottom and then an additional 3 inches on top and an additional 5 inches on the bottom. you want the bottom to be thicker it give the curtain a little weight. please check that your curtain rod will fit into the 3 inch top hem (or adjust).

string onto the rods and hang.

then onto the other minor improvements. we decided to stain the butcherblock to give it a little more depth. we also cut off that weird lip on the left hand side that seemed normal at first but was slowly starting to drive me crazy. two small fixes make big improvements, especially with the curtains.

watch the progress unfold from when we first moved in:

when we finished painting the walls:

with the new cabinet:

and now:

isn’t it amazing what a little fabric, stain, and a single cut can do? i’m think so. what’s still on the list?

• for the cabinet:
  • paint it white.
  • we may also get a board that will cover the entire front of the cabinets (and paint that white as well) and make it look like it’s the actual facade. that way, we can push the couch up against it and it doesn’t look strange but still not lose the storage behind it (we’d likely put seasonal and really rarely used items in there, so moving the couch wouldn’t happen often)
  • remove that old countertop and install butcher block counter (we bought that today!)
• decide whether we should paint that door next to the fireplace blue (to match the walls), white (to match the fireplace) or leave it as is
• create a gallery wall of white frames above the cabinet to try to camouflage the fact that the window is off-center and that damn air conditioning unit
• replace all the window treatments with something white, flowy, and with some sort of pattern
• get a big area rug that warms up the place and covers up the linoleum flooring
• get a new coffee table that has storage inside to hide all the blankets (it’s chilly down here)
• get new sconces for over the fireplace
• build bookshelves on the other side of the fireplace (not pictured) and finally get rid of the black bookcases that are at least 15 years old, from ikea, and still standing strong
• hang awesome things up on the walls

3 Comments

• 04 / 03 / 14 / 8:50 pm

  […] Once we put up curtains and made some minor fixes to the cabinet: […]

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• 04 / 15 / 15 / 3:01 pm

  […] Basement Curtains – Despite all the work that’s gone into remodeling our basement, the curtains seem to […]

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• 01 / 12 / 22 / 7:39 pm

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  writes 1beastalityReply