"Good Enough" Burlap Shades

Oh, there you are.
I mean, here I am!

I know, it has been MONTHS since I last posted anything. Here at House Number Three, we've been dealing with three straight months of sickness. The kind of sickness that required hospital visits and trips to specialists, and sleepless, worrisome nights. Everything-else-takes-a-back-seat sickness. But we're over it. I hope. We're breathing a little easier, and getting more sleep.

And then the holidays were thrown in there, somewhere. Before I knew it, the hubs and I spent our Valentine's Day schlepping kids around to THEIR activities, while we shared a shake at the local diner.

But then today, I did a project. I made something, and it felt good! I even managed to take some pictures, and I just couldn't wait to share it with you all!

Somewhere during the holidays, we kinda-sorta started putting our basement together. We patched a damaged wall, painted most of it, bought a sectional, and had Santa deliver a ping pong table. We love to travel, so I decided to decorate it with pictures of the places we've been and give the whole room a travel theme. I'm still working on it, so that's for a later post.

In the meantime, I had three windows to dress. They're your typical, ugly basement windows with no view at all, except for some metal window wells.

I thought about doing bamboo roman shades, but they were more money than I wanted to pay for a room where raucous teens and tweens would be spending their time. I went to Ikea, hoping to find a solution, but none appeared, so I had just kind of given up, thinking that something would pop into my mind eventually.

Then, last week, my sister-in-law, Charlotte, had a curtain project of her own that went horribly awry. Let's just say she now needs both a new vacuum cleaner and a dryer. But she also had a huge bolt of burlap that she no longer wanted!

TA-DA! An idea popped: burlap roman shades!

I mostly work under the motto of "Eh, it's good enough." And when you're working with burlap, that's a good working motto. First of all, I lucked out, because the width of the bolt was exactly the length of my windows, so there wasn't a lot of cutting or measuring that I had to do. Second of all, I read a few blog posts on working with burlap. If you're looking for perfectly straight hems, or even some sewing at all, this is not the project for you. But, if you're looking for a quick, easy, inexpensive way to cover some windows that require nothing more than a glue gun and some scissors, read on!

First of all, gather the materials: burlap, jute twine, scissors, and a glue gun. Measure your windows and cut the burlap to fit. I learned a really cool trick for cutting burlap: pull a string/fiber out from where you want to cut. It will leave you with a nice, straight cutting guide.

Once the burlap is cut, fold down the top to make a pocket for your rod. I used $3.00 tension rods from Walmart.

Ignore the cruddiness of my glue gun. It's probably 20 years old, but still does the job! Be careful not to burn yourself with the hot glue as you press down the edge. Again, I just sort of eyeballed it as I folded and pressed. Once you've done that, slide the tension rod through the pocket and hang it up.

Finally, take some jute twine (purchased at Walmart in the hardware department for less than $2.00) and run it over the top of the rod.

Seriously, I didn't even bother to tack it to the burlap at all. It's just hanging there. TA-DA! In about an hour, I had three burlap shades hanging in the basement.

Roll the burlap shade up to the desired length, then tie off with the jute.

I love how they allow the light to filter through, while covering up those unsightly window wells. Now if I could just get the kids to put the ping pong paddles away.

Burlap is all the rage right now, and I like that it's heavier, so it makes a good shade-type material. Don't try to fight it. Just let the burlap do what it's going to do and I think you'll have success with your project.

So there you have it! No-sew burlap shades that are, eh, good enough!