Office Curtain Update -

Okay okay, we know we haven’t shared our office yet, so the word update doesn’t really apply, but the current state of the curtains in our office do not warrant “reveal” pictures yet. We started out with long white billowy curtains on the one and only window, but my little fur ball of a cat has decided he loves them and they are his. I’ll spare you all of the details, but billowy curtains just won’t work in this room despite my many tries. Insert sad and defeated faces.

So, for the last few months, we’ve been living with them like this.

Insert ashamed faces as we back away and pretend like we don’t know who lives here. In a fit of frustration, we just simply threw the curtains up and looped them through the top of the rod. Good thing this little guy is cute.

Anyways, if you follow us on twitter, you’ve already seen this fabric, and it’s actually… drumrollplease, a fabric shower curtain for $14.99 from Marshalls! Score. Perfect motivation to be big girls and have an actual curtain with this fun pattern.

Shower curtains and tablecloths are actually our favorite things to purchase on a whim, because they are meant to take more wear and tear and are a cheaper way to purchase more quality fabric which is perfect for us or any renter. Since window sizes change from place to place, it’s hard to justify spending top $ for the perfect fabric for a custom fitted curtain, so alternatives like this make it affordable!

After doing some Pinterest research, we found we liked a topper more fancily named a Stagecoach Topper the best, and we went to work.

Admittedly I did not follow any sort of instructions, so I’ll show you how we managed to create our curtain step by step!

First, we measured our curtain rod (slightly longer than the window) and cut our material 1″ wider than our measurements to account for a seam.

Eyeballing our desired length of the shade, we measured that as well and added 6″ to account for a 1″ seam on the bottom and top, and 4″ excess for the rod pocket at the top.

I (Jodie, Paige and the sewing machine hate each other) chose to sew the sides because I’m comfortable with my sewing machine, but if you’re on team Paige, iron on hem works amazing as well! After the sides, move on to the bottom and top hems. Ps. If you do choose to work with a shower curtain or rectangle tablecloth, if you cut it right, two of the sides are already hemmed for you! Boom. You just cut your time in half. Pat yourself on the back.

Lastly, create the rod pocket by folding over the top hem (hemming it before just makes it a bit prettier in the end) about 2″ (depending on the size of your curtain rod) and sew (or iron, I just wanted to add another parentheses for dramatic effect) away! If you want to encorporate ribbon into the seam as we did, just pin the ribbon in place, and sew it right into the seam.

If you’re still following along, here’s what you should end up with!

We hung the topper on the rod and tied the bows at our desired height, and boom! We’re done.

Much improved over the thrown-there-don’t-care curtains, don’tchathink? We love how mounting the curtain higher makes the small window appear larger and lets in more light!

As for the windows previous occupant, don’t worry, we’ve already found a place for the abused white curtains to go where they can live up to their full potential, and surprise! they’re going back into the office. Confused? Us too. Stay tuned for another pre-office-reveal post in a couple of weeks!

Update: Pssst! We’ve switched up the curtain again… check out our new roman shade & tutorial here!