Curtain ideas

[laurens10]

Our poor little house is sitting all by itself with nothing in the windows. It's a little creepy looking being so empty, and we would like to make it look live in at least for the sake of our neighbors

Comments

[msmidge]

Mini-blinds can be pretty cheap at Target if you would consider those. They definitely aren't as homey as curtains but they're better than nothing. I think I saw some for about $4 each last week.

I was looking for curtains at Target and the cheapest thing I could find on clearance was about $12 per pair. In GA (or here, actually--I forgot that they exist here too) I would go to Big Lots for curtains and curtain rods, but I'm not sure if you have Big Lots there.

[laurens10]

I tried overstock.com (who knows, maybe curtains get overstocked...?), and the cheapest I could find were $12 as well. Meh.

[msmidge]

You could see if you can find clearance items at TJ Max and Marshalls. I have seen curtains there for as cheap a $3 a panel on clearance--but you may not be able to find enough matching ones for a whole room.

[laurens10]

Bah, matching? I don't care about matching if they are $3 a panel!

Thank you! It would have never occured to me to look there!

[42itous]

Your local hardware store has curtain rods. Standard size curtains can probably be found at Target, or if you felt like sewing them, even cheaper by buying fabric.

[chanaleh]

I was going to say, too: are you looking for *cheaper* than Target? :-}

Also, for his previous living room, Pup bought super-cheap pleated paper shades at Home Depot that were supposed to be a temporary solution and ended up being sufficient for years.

[laurens10]

Yup, I'm actually looking for cheaper than Target.

I want to stay away from blinds/shades. They would be fine if we were living there, and two of the windows have them now, but they still give a STAYOUT! vibe in this current circumstance, which I want to counteract.

What I have in mind are some gawd-awful, tacky kitschy yet homey curtains. The sort of thing that says anything but "Abandoned Property". I'm wondering if Goodwill or other thrift stores typically sell curtains.

I've also been trying to figure out what to do with the window that's boarded up. It's the hole that was left when the stained glass window was plucked out by the sellers. I'm thinking painting a smiley face on it is not an option.

[chanaleh]

Why not just get a couple yards of kitschy fabric (remnants, maybe) to tack up at each window?

Goodwill is possible. There are one or two dollar-store-level cheap furnishings places at the Meadow Glen Mall that might have something in your line. They have a Marshall's, too.

And, I don't see why the smiley face is not an option!! It certainly wouldn't give off the vibe of "Abandoned Property"! :-) Are you going to put in more stained glass someday?

[laurens10]

Yeah, we hope to put in more stained glass soon. We are looking to buy a replacement pane (it's about 23 inches square). We want to check out local stained glass makers first, but our best bet, I hear, is eBay.

[merilisa]

If S cares to drive to Waltham, I have bunches of suitable fabric you can have your pick of, or take it all. They need to be washed, but otherwise the fabric is good quality fabric that was purchased by a friend of my Mom's to make dresses. Sue passed a few years ago, and Mom took custody of the fabric because she thought I would want it for quilting but it is too heavy for quilting, yet perfect for recovering a chair or curtains or some other heavy fabric use. It is about two large garbage bags of it, so you can select fabric that you like and pass on or pass over what you don't prefer

[msmidge]

Very good ideas!

[laurens10]

Thank you for these fantastic ideas! I should figure out how warm it needs to be for painting to work.

[msmidge]

It'll say on the paint can. You also need the surface to be dry.