Semi-Custom Drapes on a Budget

Just recently I found some discount drapery panels in just the shade of camel I most wanted for my dining/living room. At around $15 per panel, they were cheap enough for me to buy an extra one to create a box pleat valance for the top of the window. What follows below are the photos that explain where the window treatment started and where it’s ended up.

This photo shows what the window and room looked like when we bought the house:

I removed the sheers and painted the room in Benjamin Moore China Blue. We pulled up the carpet and buffed the hardwood floors too. Notice how the window doesn’t have a lot of trim on it:

I installed the builder grade (cheapest) white composite blinds from Budget Blinds. For this window it was around $50. When the window is as simple as this one is, it’s pretty easy to hang the blinds yourself.

Next came the panels. I hung them on the inside bar of a double rod.

For the valance, I used sticky velcro to attach a valance I stitched out of the extra panel. The step-by-step photos of how to stitch the valance are in the photo set on my flickr account.

Voila! A semi-custom drape. This probably came to around $100 including the blinds, the fabric and the hardware. The black metal tiebacks were on sale at Target.