Hi there friends and welcome if you’re joining me from sweet Tana’s blog, Your Marketing BFF for her home decor DIY blog hop. Today I’m showing you all what we did with that beautiful stripe fabric we found a couple weeks back. And it’s been a long time coming. I’ve been looking at fabrics for awhile now online. I love the woven wood shades in our kitchen windows but I wanted to go an extra step and add some lovely fabric–a curtain panel for an additional layer of texture and character. I’ve had my eye on some pretty designer ones for awhile but they’re expensive and the lead time is long and I just never got around to ordering so here’s an easy kitchen curtain panel DIY.
My mother-in-law and I went to Zimmans on the north shore of Boston for an outing and found some treasures. I got material for Cade’s 6th birthday coming up soon and while walking the aisles in Zimmans, dreaming up all kinds of ways to use the fabrics (including but not limited to: buying a new house, buying a beach house, buying a mountain house, and/or buying a lake house), I stumbled across this beautiful chambray blue stripe fabric that I couldn’t take my eyes off. It was perfect for my house and not all the fantasy ones.
It was one of those moments where, because it was so different than what I had been looking at for the kitchen windows, I didn’t even consider putting it up there at first. I thought maybe the breakfast nook since we’re needing a bench cushion or pillows in the family room. Something. It was too pretty to leave behind.
But we got home and I climbed up on the counter and had an “a ha” moment. At first, positioning the stripes horizontally and not loving it, I turned the pattern and tucked it in so the stripes went vertically. And that was the moment it clicked. It pulls all the colors in the kitchen together, softens the windows and it couldn’t have been an easier change.
Now I say that because my mother-in-law sewed the panels on three sides for me. If I had been in charge of that silly sewing machine it probably would have gone through a window. I hate them. I hate bobbins and needles and thread you can’t stick through ridiculously small holes and mostly how hard they make projects because I’m far from proficient. But she zipped them out with her magic sewing hands and I got back up on the counter to put them up.
Literally all I needed was a butter knife. I had measured the panels to be long enough to “tuck” the edge under so it looks like a roman shade fold and then I slipped the panel, unsewed edge into the space between where the woven wood shade is screwed in place and the molding of the window.
The woven wood blind holds it in place and when you tuck the edge under, it billows out just enough which makes it look like a more substantial panel. The best part, if I ever get sick of stripes all I need to do is climb back up on the counter and pull it down. No nails or tape or glue. Easy and a lovely change. Clearly this works well because we’ve already got the woven wood panels up there but I imagine a similar concept would work with other kinds of window blinds. Consider adding a layer of fabric over the top of your window coverings with this easy kitchen curtain panel DIY idea.
It’s a pretty change and I’m so thrilled to have it up in our windows. I’m also so thankful to Ruth Eileen Photography for capturing some of the acrobatics to get those things up there! Now there’s more in store, head on over to Andrea’s blog, Pine and Prospect Home to see her faux french window panes DIY, here’s sneaky peek picture.
