The big cover up

For this week's Metamorphosis Monday (check out the party at BNOTP over here) I have some major window 'mis'treatments (go to the Nester's blog here to read all about this term 'mistreatment') to share with you. Now these windows have been so severely mistreated that I hesitated sharing it with you at all, but this solution has made me a happier girl... so here goes.

We are renting our home so we obviously don't want to put much money into the house. We have a cute sunroom on the back of the house which has become our daughter's play room and tv room. We come and go through our back door which is attached to this room so we end up seeing this room a lot. There are five large picture windows here overlooking the back yard. Luckily the sun never shines directly into the room and we have a large and private backyard so there is no reason to cover these windows at all with any window coverings.
The problem is this:

Yep, metal blinds which were likely installed sixty years ago when this house was built. I contemplated just removing them but I didn't want to have to remove the hardware and leave the ugly holes visible, only to have to put it all back up when we eventually move. I also considered replacing these with bamboo blinds, but the windows aren't a standard size so I'd have to special order them and that doesn't make financial sense at all in this rented house.

SO- here's my window mistreatment solution:

Teeny tiny valence with burlap trim covering the unsightly metal blinds.

I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the whole process but here's the scoop. I found this tan and white striped linen fabric at the thrift store a few months ago and paid $30 for it. It must have been a valance in an office, hotel, or a very large home as it was about twelve feet long and three feet wide. Since it already had the seam sewn in the top to slide a rod through it was simple. My sister had a bunch of small tension rods that she was throwing away so I took those and they fit perfectly. The sunroom has a lower ceiling so the windows aren't very high and if I left the fabric too long it would block our view outside and darken the room too much. I decided to just cut the fabric at about five inches in length, but being the inpatient person that I am, of course I didn't worry about marking or measuring anything or cutting a straight line, and it ended up looking horrible.
Burlap to the rescue! I cut three inch strips of burlap (following along the horizontal strands to ensure it was a straight line) and using fabric glue I attached the strips to the striped fabric and voila!



I'm very happy with the way it looks. It covers up those nasty metal blinds perfectly and it probably cost me about $15 total.
Here's a shot of the before next to the after (don't mind the heinous plastic frame above the window, I neglected to mention that this room is also decorated in true man cave fashion complete with golf pics and hockey jerseys....lovely, I know).

Mr. Max is pretty happy on his bench here as he surveys the yard on squirrel watch.