Kid Room Updates

The last time we checked in on the kids' rooms, the windows had sort of a...situation.

I'm not proud of it, though living in permadark has its advantagezzzzz. <-- See that? I did that on purpose. But it was also like nails on a chalkboard to have blankets nailed to the wall and really kind of depressing to never have sunlight in their rooms. So we fixed it! With real live curtains!

But not just any curtains...

HOMEMADE curtains! I drank copious amounts of booze and sat in front of my sewing machine until i passed out. It was just like my 8th birthday all over again.

And we got the fabric at none other than Ikea and i loved that they had nice, modern prints at cheap prices. My daughter chose hers ($0.99/yard! Awesome deal!) and i chose my son's ($7/yard) because he's luckily too young to care. The expensive part came from JoAnn, where i bought blackout liner (because i'm not giving up on sleep), which was normally $7/yard, but i got it for $3.50/yard with a coupon. The sucky part of all of this is that i needed 12 yards (6 yards of each fabric per room). So, it adds up. But i think i won in the end, because 108" lined blackout panels are expensive, especially in a design that i liked if i could find one. This way, i spent relatively less for prints i love.

Moving on, i cut each panel then double-hemmed it on all sides, making sure to crease the top for a curtain rod.

One i had everything hemmed, i cut the blackout liner, which fit snuggly right underneath the side hems, and sewed it all in. Then, they were hung to the ceiling...

The greatest thing about curtains is that you can open them. Write that down.

Lets take a look again at how far we've come with these rooms. My son's room first since he's never first at anything...

Ok, so not much has changed between the last two pics, except that in the last one the curtains are open and we're letting the day in. And yes, there is a pink rocking horse. I get a lot of comments about that, but he loves it, and i can assure you that the pink one works just as well as any other color.

And yes, we're still in nursery mode because i can't bring myself to take that step. I'm gearing up to sell his rocking chair and put a big tub of toys in its place. This means that, one day, i'll have to accept the fact that he'll keep getting older despite my efforts to keep him this way. One day, he'll replace the cute little designs in his room for posters of ....who do boys have posters of these days? Liam Neesons? Moving on...

Daughter's room:

Don't forget that i gave my three-year-old daughter creative control over this room and i kind of love that it looks like a rainbow threw up in here. And what a difference that some daylight makes...

See? No light...

With light...

And the blackout works well...

As for over her bed, i asked her what she wanted and she said "butterflies." I should have known that, because "butterflies" is the answer to almost any question i ask. What do you want for breakfast? "Butterflies." Who's souls do you eat every time you throw a tantrum? "Butterflies."  

I'd originally though i'd paint something on a canvas like i did for my son, but then i thought i'd just get literal with it and cut a bunch of butterflies out of a stiff interfacing (which i already had on hand). Instead of having them all white, i ironed some fabric from my stash onto a small handful of them.

So there you have it. No need to call CPS since i'm no longer making my kids sleep in caves. They have curtains now like real people, which unfortunately i don't even have in my room yet. Priorities, i guess.

Now for the total$:

Boy's room: $21 blackout liner, $42 fabric = $63 for two 108" blackout curtain panels.

Girl's room: $21 blackout liner, $6 (total!) fabric = $27 for two 108" blackout curtain panels.