We're From the Island of...

We have this window in our bedroom. It's kind of a misfit. It's not shaped the way the other windows are. It's wide but short. To make matters crazier, the window is practically flush with the trim, which means we can't mount anything inside. Any window covering or shade we put up has to be mounted on the wall or on the trim itself. It's just not like the other windows. It's okay. It was born that way.

Mr. Wonderful is not a good sleeper. Lots of light can make it harder for him to sleep in (sleeping in is not really in his vocab, you might say) So last fall I pinned up some dark fabric over the windows. This made Mr. Wonderful very glad, but I was not so enamored. It was UG! So I started sifting through my options.

Shades were not going to be SUPER effective due to the mounting issue. Then I looked at blackout curtains. Most of them have vinyl, which is supposed to off-gas terribly. Then I thought maybe I could just find some thick fabric. But I didn't want it to be severe and dark. Then I found this fabric at Joanne's. (back view)

It was $21/yard down from $35 a yard. It doesn't look terribly thick in the pics, but it really does block a lot of light, and manages to not look dark or depressing. I ended up buying just a yard and hemming all sides, one of which being a long hem so I could have a little rod pocket.

I ended up buying some brown grosgrain ribbon so I could tie it up and let the light in during the daytime.

I safety pinned the ribbon to the curtain in back so when I let it down the ribbons don't fall off. Totally mistreated. Awww, yeah. Also, the window is not crooked, the ceiling is slanted. Do not adjust your monitors. :0)

Not as pretty down, but it's gonna help the mister and much improved from what we had. What's that you say? The bed is not centered on the window? Some of us are pregnant and need a little extra space, mkay?

Oh, and speaking of pregnant, we had our ultrasound on Monday--baby is looking good, and we can't wait to be surprised when he or she is born!!!

Raising the Bar

I tried an experiment this week. I am a devoted Nesting Place reader, and have been intrigued by her window "mistreatment" expertise. I have really no experience in and hardly any opinions about window treatments. I only know that I hate the 80's balloon valances. Seriously.

So when Mr. Wonderful first put up our curtains and said "where do you want 'em?" I was not sure how to respond. I mean, they go above the windows, right? So they have looked like this for the past couple of years (broken shades and all): There's Mr. Wonderful now!

There's me waving in the reflection!

Since I read that curtains should be hung high and wide so as to let in as much light as possible, they have been staring me in the face. All. Winter. Also, those leaf thingys seemed too redundant.

So this week, (with some help from Mr. Wonderful) I rehung the curtain rods. I didn't know exactly where to put them, so I picked 4 inches from the ceiling and about 4 inches from the window moulding (I think 5 inches on the small window). Totally arbitrary. I didn't have to go quite THIS far.

I also super-glued the broken shades. Eventually I'd like to get some bamboo shades, but for now, I just made it work. I also got rid of one of the curtain tie-backs. I dunno. Like I said, I'm pretty clueless. But I DO know that I like the effect much better. And it has stopped them from taunting me with their low-ness and mis-placed-ness. so I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

The windows look bigger, no? If you know of any other good online resources for window treatments, let me know!