Blake's family came down last weekend to help him move his stuff out of his apartment and into our new house. His sisters and I left the "grown-ups" to the moving and we did some shopping (Lowe's, not clothes) and a fun little project for the kitchen windows.
I wanted to wait to post this until I had the curtains actually hung, but that's going to be a week or so more and I just can't wait anymore!!!
So, I bring you: Super-Simple Shades! Basically, the jist is this - you buy a cheap roller shade and cover it with fabric. Easy, and the results are awesome. You have custom shades in just a matter of minutes without too much damage to your budget.
I got the idea from Pinterest... go figure.
Supplies are easy. First, you need an adorable dog named Arnold. Okay, you don't NEED him but he is quite adorable! What you will need for sure is:- roller shade You can purchase these at Lowe's. Measure your window and they will cut the shade to fit.
- fabric - I chose indoor/outdoor fabric since these are going in the kitchen. The fabric needs to be solid and rather sturdy. Don't buy anything sheer or anything too thin. I needed 2 yards, 1 yard for each shade.
You will also need:
- fabric scissors
- painter's tape
- foil or some other non-porous material
- super strong adhesive spray (this stuff can be expensive, but it'll last a long time)
- All in all, I spent around $75 to make three window treatments (also made one for the bathroom).
You will need to work in a well-ventilated area on a surface you don't care too much about. I chose the driveway. :) Roll out the shade to 3 inches beyond the length of your window. You don't need to put fabric on the WHOLE roller shade - it would be way too bulky. If you know you will only put the shades half-way down, don't do more than half the length of your window. The less fabric you have to roll up, the better this will work.
So, roll the shade out as far as you need + a few inches. Tape down your non-porous material (I used tin foil) on the excess part of the roller shade (where you will NOT put the fabric). This will keep the adhesive spray from ruining the part of the shade that won't have fabric.
Put the spray nozzle on whatever setting you feel comfortable with - I put it on low. The gooey stuff dries fast, but not TOO fast, so go ahead and spray the whole roller shade surface. Then, carefully (and I do mean CAREFULLY) lay your fabric on top. Start at the top or bottom and lay it inch by inch so that it goes on as smoothly as possible. To smooth it out and squish it to the glue, start in the very CENTER and push the air bubbles outward. A rolling pin might be a beneficial tool for this project (we thought of that idea after we were done!).
So, roll the shade out as far as you need + a few inches. Tape down your non-porous material (I used tin foil) on the excess part of the roller shade (where you will NOT put the fabric). This will keep the adhesive spray from ruining the part of the shade that won't have fabric.
Put the spray nozzle on whatever setting you feel comfortable with - I put it on low. The gooey stuff dries fast, but not TOO fast, so go ahead and spray the whole roller shade surface. Then, carefully (and I do mean CAREFULLY) lay your fabric on top. Start at the top or bottom and lay it inch by inch so that it goes on as smoothly as possible. To smooth it out and squish it to the glue, start in the very CENTER and push the air bubbles outward. A rolling pin might be a beneficial tool for this project (we thought of that idea after we were done!).
No matter how careful you are, it may not be perfect. That's okay. So. Let the gooey spray dry for a few minutes. If you're making two shades, go ahead and repeat the above steps for the second shade. The first will be ready for the next step by the time you are done.
Flip the shade over so the fabric is face-down. Now it's time to adhere the extra bits to the back of the shade. you don't have .
I only had 1 1/2 inches at the bottom, so I needed to put down the tape and foil to keep the adhesive spray from getting everywhere. To know where to tape, I pulled the excess fabric up and then had my sister-in-law place a piece of tape at the very edge of the fabric. If you have a lot of excess fabric, you can just turn the adhesive spray nozzle down to low and put enough spray to cover 2-ish inches and then fold the fabric up. Once it's dry, you can just cut the fabric that isn't glued down. You really don't need more than 1-2 inches of fabric on the back.
Before starting with the sides, fold the corners... then repeat the process of adhering the sides to the back of the shade.
And this is the finished project.... sideways! Like I said, I am strapped for time and you know... I didn't even realize the picture was sideways until just now. I'll post a right-side-up picture once I get the curtains hung in the kitchen. But, for now, you can just tilt your head and... you get it. :)
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