A Window Mistreatment
I hope y’all are having a good week. I’m writing this in between bands of severe weather. The one thing I don’t like about Spring is severe weather. I love rain and thunderstorms, but tornadoes are so not my fave.
Anyway, I thought it was about time to show you how I came up with the window mistreatment {thank you Nester for coining the term!} in the newly remodeled bathroom. It’s so easy you won’t even believe it! 🙂
I had a crazy dilemma to deal with because the window is halfway in the shower. I frosted the glass with contact paper, and then added a set of shutters that I snagged at a yard sale for a few bucks. The window still needed some “softening.” So I went fabric shopping and found the perfect fabric at my favorite local fabric shop – Willow Tree Fabrics! I *lurve* – the gray blue, yellow and white are perfect! The green adds a fabulous pop too!
Since a pole wouldn’t work well because of the wacky window and the shower liner and curtain poles, I had to come up with a better solution. Yay for the quirks of an old house. 🙂
I went to Lowe’s and looked at knobby curtain hold backs, but #1 they were too big and #2 they were about $10 bucks a pop. Ahem. I’m so not spending that much. So, I came up with an unconventional plan B.
I decided on these 1 1/2″ cabinet knobs that I purchased on sale! {woot} You’re probably thinking…”how in the world will cabinet knobs work?”
Well, my awesome hubs cut the heads off the screws that came with the knobs with needle-nosed pliers. Then I made small holes in the wall where the knobs would go. I used liquid nails to attach the headless screws into the holes and I just left it alone overnight. The next morning, I jumped out of bed to see if my crazy idea worked. It did! I screwed the knobs on and all was well.
{I will say that the liquid nails doesn’t have the screws concreted into the wall, but they are secure enough to hold my curtain which isn’t heavy at all. I definitely wouldn’t want my 2 year old swinging from the curtain, but so far it’s working great!}
To make the curtain, I bought two yards of 54″ wide fabric. You can see from the above picture that it’s just a simple square or rectangle. I hide my perfectionism when it comes to treating my windows. I lined the fabric with a sheet that I picked up at a thrift store ages ago.
On the upper hem, I sewed the fabrics together with right sides together and then I folded the top fabric over about an inch. Then I gave it a good crease with the iron. I didn’t want the lining to show at the top where the fabric swags a bit between the knobs. {does that make sense?}
See how the decorative fabric is folded over? I like how there’s no obvious seam at the top of the curtain. I then hemmed the other three sides by just turning under, stitching and ironing…easy peasy.
Don’t you love my selvage scraps loops?
I hot glued the loops on – perfecto! The key to not letting the loops show is to attach them to the curtain a little bit down from the edge. If you attach them closer to the edge, you’ll want to use something prettier than a fabric scrap.
This picture gives you an idea of how everything works together.
Once the curtain looked like this, I purchased two holdbacks from Lowe’s to arrange the fabric to stay in place because I wanted to be able to open and close the shutters freely.
I placed the holdbacks like this…above. 🙂
Then I played and played and played with the fabric to make it swoop and fold and poof and stay just like I wanted it to.
I love that it stays right where I want it!
Let’s dance for mistreatments! 🙂 Have you mistreated any of your windows?
Linked to: Transformation Thursday
myra that is so cute and so very genius as well! i love that fabric also! glad to hear you and yours survived the storm. it got really bad and scary last night in louisiana. we slept in the bathtub! have a great wednesday! 🙂
Soo soo pretty! Love the fabric and originality with which you hung the panel! Think your blog is definitely worth some reading time…
:)Heidi
PS- I am with you on the weather issue ~ my 9 year old gets so nervous during storms she breaks out in hives ~ thanks to a bad one in June last year!
Myra,
You are so talented and inspire me to think ‘outside of the box’….or window, as the case may be!!
I love how you hung the panel with those hold backs. What made you decide to add the lower one and pull the panel away from the corner of the wall? It’s such an original idea AND ‘shape’!
I soooo enjoy reading your blogs…….
Thank you!!!
Myra – I love how your bathroom turned out! The curtain is the perfect touch. The way it is draped is so unique and pretty.
(I don’t have any friends or family in the south and have been thinking of you and your family with the severe storms moving through. I pray that all of you are safe and out of harm’s way.
God Bless!
Oh my that is some pretty fabric there! I have made several mistreatments for my windows and only I know where the mistakes are hahahahahha.
Hope all is well in your area. We are experiencing some pretty nasty wind and tornadoes last week.
That is beautiful fabric!!! Love how you hung it on the side!
I’m about to mistreat my kitchen windows with a couple of table cloths! 🙂 Love the post and glad you all are safe!
If you EVER figure out why older homes have windows in the shower let me know! I have had that problem several times over the years. 🙂
Myra, congratulations on winning a scholarship to Relevant. You totally deserve it!
Hey! First – CONGRATS!! I saw that you won one of the Relevant11 sponsorships 🙂
Second – I LOVE this!! I can’t believe that I’ve never visited your blog, even though we have chatted a bit on Twitter (blush!) I’ll be back – your ideas are fun and easy 🙂
Happy Monday!
I love your fabric! Is there anyone that can tell me if i might5 be able to find it to purchase online?
I love the fabric and how you hung it will the knobs. Looks good with the shutters that give a little more privacy for the bath. I think it would look really awesome if you painted the window and trim white/cream like your crown moulding. That would bring the wood finishes together too. I’m looking forward to the finished kitchen banquet project.
I love the fabric too! I just moved into a semi-converted garage, and and wanting to do something to cover up the garage door. Do you think this hook and fabric method would work for that or do you have a better idea?
Thanks, love the blog!!
Great idea. Quite recently, I needed a Denver double pane window replacement, I was sure that I could do it myself, but it would be better if I immediately hired professionals, just wasting a lot of time. Now I can start cleaning my house again.