In this post: Curtains are often expensive or just plain ugly! Get pretty, easy, inexpensive curtains with this simple Ikea Curtain Hack!
Blinds. Curtains. Shutters. Everywhere you look, it seems that the options for window coverings have one of three problems:
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- They’re ugly,
- They’re a cleaning nightmare, or
- They’re expensive.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in having ugly in my home. At. All. And while I ADORE the look of California shutters, I cannot seem to get past the dust factor. Who wants to have to clean those things all the time?! Besides, I most certainly do NOT want to have to remortgage my house just to get a little privacy from the locals.
In the past (at our last house actually) we used drop cloths to create inexpensive curtains. And they were great – for a time.
But for our new house, I wanted something a little softer. A little more romantic, maybe? Or perhaps elegant is the word I mean.
In any case, I found the perfect solution for inexpensive curtains – with an Ikea hack!
How to Get Pretty, Easy, and Inexpensive White Curtains
Supplies
(Supply list contains affiliate links for ease of shopping!)
*Some have mentioned that the Vivan curtains are not available on Amazon or at Ikea. I’ve also used this same curtain hack with other curtain panels. Most recently in our dining room with these ones from Amazon (shown below).
Instructions
1. Wash curtains according to package directions. This will make them softer and they will hang much better than if not washed.
2. Hang curtain rod(s). Remember to hang “high and wide” to give the impression of larger windows and to let in plenty of light.
3. Add the curtain rings with clips to the rods. An uneven number on each side/for each curtain panel works best. For our living room curtains, we used 7 rings per panel. In the dining room, we used 5 for each panel (we used a total of four panels in the dining room).
4. After washing curtains, lay them out over a chair or on a table top upside down. Depending upon the height of the curtain rods, fold the small hemmed edge (what is meant to be the bottom of the curtain) over to create sort of a ruffled edge. For our living room curtains, this fold was about 11 inches. For the dining room, because of the bulkhead, the fold was closer to 13 inches.
5. While carefully keeping the fold in place, attach the curtain panels to the ring clips. First clip one end, then the opposite. Next attach the center of the curtain using the middle ring clip, followed by the remaining clips. (I just eyeballed the distance between clips, but you can measure if you’re more particular than I am.)
By flipping the curtain panels upside down, you get a softer top hem and a nice wide lower hem. And of course, you get the look of soft ruffled curtains for a fraction of the price!
Have you tried any curtain hacks at your house? What have you found to be a pretty, yet easy and inexpensive curtain solution?
