Question: What do you do when you have an old twin-sized duvet cover but no twin-sized bed? Answer: You chop it up and make a curtain! Even though it’s a veritable mecca for hipsters everywhere, once in a while Urban Outfitters does something I like. For example, the BDG V-Neck Tee. But more importantly, that awesome line of Alexander Girard textiles they sold for a while last year. You remember, don’t you? As soon as they went on sale, I snagged one of the Rain Cut-Out Duvet Covers, a pattern that Girard designed in the 1950s. iPone dorm picture for evidence (complete with the old nightstand before it was a desk! It’s like seeing a ghost.): I loved that thing, but knew I probably wouldn’t have a twin bed for too long. It’s like I’m psychic. Up until now it was a cheery thing to break out for overnight guests who crash on the couch, but in my experience drunks don’t seem to care terribly much about their linens. So Eva and I went off to IKEA and bought a curtain rod.

I don’t really have a good how-to to offer since I didn’t do the greatest job, to be perfectly honest. This was my first experience with the magic of iron-on hem tape and I accidentally ended up making all of the hems pretty wide and stupid looking– my fault, not the tape’s. But regardless, I’d totally recommend the stuff since it does produce a very smooth hem and spares you from having to deal with things like needles and thread. This is good for people like me, who jam up sewing machines with admirable reliability and historically wrap up any sewing project  with a long nap and a good cry. Aside from the unattractive hems, I’m really enjoying getting use out of this fabric again and the amount of color it injects into the kitchen. I’m starting to like the way the kitchen’s coming together. I think the combo of the Orange Glo lamp, the curtain, the wall color, and the shiny chrome knobs is a winner. We actually chose the paint color because the chip looked like a lighter hue of that blue in the curtain, but it actually ended up being a little darker.

So the self-mixed color is much closer to what I wanted all along (even though I still think it could be slightly greener). I usually don’t worry about matching shit like that, but I feel like retro kitchens are all about coordination and I’m finding it kind of endearing in there.peva shower curtains ikea DIY Tutorials / Manhattan Apartmentgatsby stripe ready made ring top curtains redWindow treatments are a chore to pick out, buy and hang, and unfortunately the study needed new ones. where to get lunar curtain ffxI’ve gone down a couple other roads with my other windows: customising IKEA curtains and blinds, sewing my own from scratch. ikea curtains matilda

But this room wanted blinds, not curtains, and I didn’t like a lot of the fabrics available for roller blinds and roman blinds alike: too plasticky, too shiny, too ordinary. Custom blinds were indeed an option, and they’d cost a mint. So I had a go at DIY fabric roller blinds and I’m pleased with the results.Debating whether to roll them the other way round instead?) First, this was my plan: two blinds per window. One would be an inner set of sheer blinds, for daylight and privacy. (This room faces the street.) The other set, my nice heavyweight fabric panels, would be mounted on the window frames. Three windows, six blinds. Day-night blinds — two-in-one blinds — do exist, but the selection is really limited on those. Choosing the sheer blinds was easy: readymade Caprice ‘Baltic’ blinds from Spotlight. (We also waited until they were on sale.) For my fabric panels, I chose a mid-weight upholstery fabric: textured, midcentury-esque linen weave, medium grey, cotton backing.

Obviously the main draw of DIY blinds is that you can choose whatever cute fabric strikes your fancy. I don’t need the blinds to be a standout visual feature in this room, but it’s nice to have that tactile, organic quality to the fabric. Costs for the curious: mine worked out to be ~$40 per blind, give or take. About blind hardware: My blind assembly was a lil’ more complicated than planned. I bought three sets of readymade sheer blinds to sit inside the windows, plus three ‘Blind Replacement Kits’ from Spotlight for the DIY outer blinds. However, these particular blind replacement kits are garbage compared to the readymade blinds’ hardware. The kits have a thick cardboard rod and a dinky spring mechanism, and I didn’t want that for my nice linen-weave fabric. So I used the crappy hardware for the inner sheers (which would rarely be raised/lowered) and the nice pull-chain hardware for my outer blinds. Here are my recommendations for blind hardware: 1) Harvesting an existing set from a disused blind.

2) A section of 25mm aluminum conduit, cut to size, plus one of these pull-chain hardware kits they sell at Spotlight and Bunnings. (If you’re in the US or Europe, I’m sure there’s better and more plentiful options; there usually are.) The blind itself is not difficult to assemble, but it does require attention to detail. It’s worth double-checking all your measurements and cuts. You can do this! 1. Determine the dimensions you’ll need for the fabric. I used hardware for a standard 900mm (3ft) blind, but the rod itself was only 860mm wide, to allow room for the mounting brackets. So the fabric had to be 860mm wide as well. (It’s easy to cut down the rod for a custom size; more details on that here.) As for length, I used a standard length of 2.1m. 2. Using your straight-edge, pencil and rotary cutter, carefully measure and cut your fabric panel. This is a great time to use a T-square. 3. Once the fabric panel is cut, apply a bead of fray-stopping liquid to both edges of the fabric and let dry.

This means you won’t have bulky hems jamming up the brackets. 4. On the bottom edge of the fabric, you’ll want to create a pocket for the dowel. I sewed a blind hem as shown, 2” pocket with a 1/2″ inner hem, and ironing and pinning it in place before running the machine. The dowel will slide right into the pocket, but leave it out for now. Hem tape works fine too if you don’t want to break out a machine. 5. Hang the fabric on a clothesline or shower rail and spray with fabric stiffener. Use enough to dampen the fabric without excess water running out, and let thoroughly dry. (Not enough stiffener is better than too much, or else it becomes difficult to iron out. I know the homemade PVA stiffener business sounds questionable but don’t worry, the fabric won’t feel gluey or plasticky to the touch when it’s dry; it’ll just feel like stiff fabric. 6. Iron out the dry fabric on a large, flat surface if possible. (Mine was our kitchen counter, covered in as many towels as I could find.)

Use 1-2 layers of towel between the iron and fabric, or else the iron will stick to the stiffened fabric. 7. Trim the top edge of the fabric so that it has a straight edge, and affix the fabric to the rod using double-sided tape. Once that’s in place, insert the dowel into the bottom hem and carefully roll up the blind. It’s ready for hardware and mounts. (You can see that my rolled-up blind here doesn’t have the dowel pocket sewn yet, whoops.) And there it is, all hung up! The light from behind creates these wild striations in the fabric. That’s a blanket chest underneath, for when this room gets used as a guest room. The peace lily and charity shop ceramics keep it company. (I love that small black vase, which is actually marble. As soon as I saw it I was all, you’re coming home with me.) Slowly but surely making my way around the room, here. The desk and the future workbench are in progress, but the main area I’m taking care of right now is the fireplace, just out of frame in the photo above.