TINKERBELL CURTAIN!

Posted by Ethne~

The girls’ room has never had a great window treatment.  It’s an extra-wide window, which is great for lighting, but hard for window treatments.  Right now, there are ugly vertical blinds.

Fugly blinds.

On my hunt for curtains or a valance - something sweet and girly - naturally I turned to Pottery Barn Kids.  Let’s face it: when you want to decorate your child’s room, girl or boy, it’s guaranteed that you’ll love what you see at Pottery Barn Kids.  Naturally, I found exactly what I wanted in the most recent Pottery Barn Kids catalog I received.

Carried around with care.

COST at Pottery Barn Kids:

--  Gingham Panel w/ Blackout Liner: $69.00 x 2 (XL window, remember) = $138.00

--  Metal Round Rings for hanging on rod: $22.00 for ten x 2 = $44.00

--  Flutter Finial (the rod I liked with butterflies):  $89.00 for Large

--  Holdbacks (2-pack) (holds curtain open at side of window):  $40.00

TOTAL:  $311.00

However, Pottery Barn Kids window treatments are out of my budget.  Will that stop me from my girls having a sweet and girly curtain?  Heck No!

THRIFTY SEARCH:  As I do with many things, I started my search at Super Target.  (I like to buy local, and Target is a MN based corporation.)  I found that similar panels were around $20.00, which is great, but since I needed 2 of them for the girls’ wide window, I wanted to pay less than $40.00. 

Then an inspiration:  a SHOWER CURTAIN would be wide enough for the girls’ window!!  I walked a couple of aisles over at my trusty Super Target, and searched in the bathroom section.  Shower curtains aren’t the plastic sheets of mildew that they once were.  Today, you can find all sorts of fabrics and designs – aisles’ worth.

And what to my wondering eyes appeared?  A canvas (same as Pottery Barn Kids panel fabric) Tinkerbell shower curtain with blues, purples, greens and a few pink butterflies. 

Tink

As it turns out, though I had originally intended to decorate the girls’ room in princess motif, the decorations I put together ended up making it a fairy wonderland.  So this curtain not only matches their room, but it has some flowery, fluttery characteristics I liked from the Pottery Barn catalog.  Tinkerbell is in a shadow at one corner of the curtain, so it is not too cartoon-ish.

Wrinkled....but perfect!

Shaun had already installed brackets for a wide-framed curtain rod, so he asked that I still use that.  This brought me to my next quandary:  how do I hang the curtain on the wide rod?  Easy – with yarn (for strength) and ribbon (for pretty)!  I already had the yarn around the house, and I found the sheer purple ribbon at JoAnn Fabrics.

I tie a nice bow!

I measured the length I needed for the string and ribbon ties, looped them through the curtain’s buttonholes, and strung the ties onto the rod.  Due to the rod’s width, there was the large white metal panel showing through the ties.  I fancied that right up with some flower peel-off stickers that were extras from when I decorated their bedroom walls.

I added the fairy houses I made for the girls (future post), and Shaun took down the horrible vertical blinds.  Yippee!

Daytime....

....Nightime

My COST:

--  Tinkerbell shower curtain = $24.99

--  Rod = $12.99

--  Yarn = found around the house

--  Ribbon = $8.00 (I only used $2.00 worth, but I can't find the receipt to return - to the scrap pile!)

--  Holdback = free from Thrifty Nana!

My TOTAL:  $39.98

SAVINGS:  My version saved me a total of $271.02!

FRUGAL TIP:  Lori and I have done this a lot – find something you like in a magazine or catalog.  If it is unavailable or out of your budget, no worries!  Rip out the page, and carry it to stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, JCPenney’s, Kohl’s, Good Will or Salvation Army (to name a few), and find thrifty alternatives.

CRAFT TIP:  You do not need any special skills here, my friends.  All of the items are pre-made.  Just sprinkle a touch of ingenuity and creativity to pull it all together.