Drop Cloth {Curtains}

When we first moved into our rental house, there were certain elements to the house that SCREAMED rental.

Is it just me, or are recessed kitchen ceilings waaaay out of style?? Who needs that much fluorescent lighting anyways? (or any at all). Or how about the plywood kitchen cabinets and walls and walls of white paint? Hmmm....

I guess I can't blame the owners...there's just some things you have to install when you own rental properties to make them affordable, long-lasting, and renter-friendly.

Over the past 4 months of living here, I've learned to work with what I've got and live with the things that I can't change. It's amazing what seems to "disappear" once you live in a place for awhile...this can be a good thing or a bad thing. In this case, since there are things my landlord definitely won't budge on...with a capital B....it's a very good thing. :0)

Let me interject here...I don't want to come across as ungrateful or that I don't like where we live. Actually, I really love it here and there are so many more pros than cons....but of course, being the domestic/home-decorating girl that I am...I do want it to reflect 'me' more than our landlord....which means a little changing here and there.

Anyways...onto the reason for this post!

This is basically what our living room window looked like when we moved in....

...except white.

I didn't take any "before" photos...but this gives you an idea. It's funny though...all the photos I saw on the Internet displayed living rooms in an attractive light with these blinds.....when in reality...they sorta look like a tacky office building window covering. Just my opinion though. ;-)

After reading Layla's blog on how to install "drop cloth curtains" (go here) I knew that was just the thing I wanted to give that window an update. They're so cheap and easy, too! What could be better?

Here's my "after" photos:

Much better, yes?

The only thing I changed was to add the cuff on the top. I measured the length I wanted for the cuff (with extra for a seem allowance) and cut. I then flipped the panel around, and sewed the right side of the cuff down on the wrong side of the long curtain panel. This way when I ironed it on the crease where I sewed, both the cuff and the panel's right sides would face the front. It sounds confusing...but was actually super easy.

A word to the wise though, if you decide to go this route with your curtains, make sure you know when you're at home depot that you're getting two drop cloths made from the same fabric and that there isn't a big seam horizontally through one of your panels. All you have to do is look closely on the side of the package to see if there is a seam across....and look at both panels closely side by side. Other than that, easy breezy!!!

Have a beautiful day,

Gail