One more post about guest room updates before the big bed reveal..this time to talk about the window treatments we went with for this room.

For starters, we put the window blinds back up.

We were fortunate enough that all the windows in our house came with these nice, faux wood white blinds when we moved in. I’m not sure how much money that saved us in the long run, but it’s a lot, I’m sure. And it adds a lot of privacy and room darkening even without having to use curtains.

 

They even came with the covers to hide the ugly metal hardware that holds the blinds in place.

See how much better?

Of course, I like curtains, so we have both in most rooms of our house.

I will admit that without the blinds in the windows, the basement guestroom was FULL of light…which was nice.

But I figured our guests wouldn’t be as thrilled when the sun started pouring in their room at 5:00am. That room has the most natural light in the morning of any in our house, and let me tell you, it would be hard to sleep through that on a bright summer morning.

So, the blinds went back up after the room was all painted and ready to go. Then, it was time to add curtains.

I originally wanted something more colorful, but ended up choosing a neutral gray option from Target because they were cheap and would match anything else we put in there. However, I made them even cheaper by using one of my favorite tricks for hanging curtains…cutting them in half. Which meant instead of buying four curtain panels, I only needed to buy two. Immediate 50% discount, just for a couple hours of work.

So, I pulled out my trusty fabric scissors and iron-on hem tape to cut these curtains in half.

It’s the same process I followed in this post, so I won’t go into detail about it, but I will say it’s a quick update that cuts the cost of adding window treatments to a room in half. When you’re redecorating two rooms at once, all while trying to save as much money as possible before a baby arrives on the scene, that is a big driving factor in decision making. Of course, if you like really full, lush curtains, this plan won’t work for you as they do end a little…on the little side.

But I think it works. And I don’t even have to sew anything because I can do it all with iron-on hem tape.

Oh, I also gave each window panel a quick ironing to get rid of the wrinkles.

I also washed them ahead of time, before cutting them in half, an important tip because they could shrink a little unevenly, as I’ve found, and you might end up with wonky looking curtains if you cut them in half first.

Also, this time, we used the little rings clips to attach the curtains to the rods, and I’m hooked to this method.

I want to buy them for all the curtains in our house now. It’s just fancier, and gives you a tiny bit more length on the curtains, which is always nice if they are just short of brushing the floor after they are hung up.

I’ll admit, these don’t look as lush as they would if we had bought four full panels and hung them up, but I think they look pretty good.

It adds softness and texture to the room while providing another layer of light-blocking protection for any sensitive sleepers we may host down there. See the difference with the curtains and without? It’s not huge, but noticeable at 5:00am when you don’t have to cover your head with a pillow in order to keep sleeping.

For now, we haven’t decided on if we’re going to use any kind of a curtain for the small window above the bed. It has blinds, and isn’t on the east wall like the other windows, so it isn’t as bright in the early morning…and I’m just not sure how to treat a window like that…so for now, we decided to just leave it.

All in all, a pretty quick little update that makes a big difference. This room is really coming together!

What are your tips and tricks for window treatments? How would you handle the little window above the bed?