apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I read the article, and there are some great ideas in it especially if you're on a tight budget as I am. We recently moved and our bedroom is one very large rectangular shaped room. We have a library set up at one end with a loveseat, and the other half with the bed, dressers, etc. We wanted to use our previous bedroom curtains but needed to order another pair for the extra set of windows but Country Curtains stopped making them. They were very expensive, lined 100% cotton. We have another pair of curtains that were from the living room, but they are a solid sage green. The bedroom's are a vintage rose. Is it OK to use 2 different types of curtains in one large open room like that? Or perhaps I ought to think about sheets? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

I once used a frosted Ikea shower curtain as a curtain for privacy. For curtain rods, I have used half inch diameter (I think) electrical conduit (silver colour) or half inch diameter copper pipe with copper end caps. Using these lets you use the 90* and 45* angle 'elbows' for those tricky bay windows everyone loves to complain about. They are also quite strong and come in 8 and 10 foot lengths. Also, I took the doors off my closet and used the Ikea DIGNITET or DEKA curtain wire and many, many LIL Tulle curtains, so that it is opaque. It looks like a wall of bridal veils. Other ideas I have tried: using a cheap polyester lave tablecloth as a light filtering/privacy curtain. Tea towels with a single blue stripe border as cafe curtains, with clips and a tension rod. For blackout window coverings, I have used fabric covered cardboard friction fit into the windows. Let me know if you like these ideas.

Margie - I don't see why not. Try it out.

I'm having similar questions myself at the moment... I bought this curtain and decided to get more to match and - nope, they were all out. I think I'm just going to make some of my own curtains from a humungous amount of fabric a friend gave me, and toss the curtain in my sewing box to make something else out of later.

LOVE the ones in the pic, too.

A friend once used some lovely thin wool military surplus blankets as curtains. They weren't from the US(ugh, olive drab) but some other country, were light grey with one red stripe, and looked very good.

For a more organic look in my house we've used these curtain panels from IKEA - they come in rolls which you can cut to any length, without worrying about hemming because the material doesn't really fray. Also one roll really goes a long way! We only went through about 3/4 of a roll for the entire row of windows in the living room. Light actually shines through pretty well so we've backed our panels with plain white paper of the same length but slightly thinner than the width of the panel (you could also use fabric or craft paper - anything you can get in rolls or by the yard). To make them more adjustable we simply use wooden clothespins when we want to roll them up and pin them in place. We've attached them to the windows by simply folding the top of the panels/paper over a yard stick and nailing the (now invisible) yardstick to the windowframe, but I'm sure this could be adapted if you don't like the idea of nailing.

The IKEA website describes these panels as being 100% polyester; however I would describe the texture as being kind of similar to seagrass (especially the brown). The overall effect is very pleasant - it looks like we spent a lot more than $15 bucks on our window treatments and we get lots of compliments on them all the time!

I plan to knit a cafe curtain out of cheap cotton for my kitchen-- only a few dollars and hours for the whole thing.

fjorlief, those sound like Swiss blankets, although that seems like a really bulky, heavy solution for windows. Maybe they're great at controlling drafts?