Oh my goodness, this was the quickest, easiest, cheapest project ever but I’m 100 per cent in love with the results. You know those little upgrades that just make your life both better and prettier? This is one of those for our bedroom.This bedroom has delectable shutters, which I adore, but it makes window treatments kind of hard. You either have to hang curtains in front of the whole alcove (we can tell by the holes in the trim that this is what our predecessors did) or not at all. For the last year and a bit, we’ve opted for the latter option, except for a tension rod light blocking curtain above the shutters. The shutters are great at blocking all natural light, which is great for lie-ins. But, this room gets crazy beautiful morning light and it always seemed a shame to be getting dressed in artificial light just for privacy. Anyway, the other day I was browsing the Manhatten Nest blog (looking for something else entirely), when I stumbled on this post of yore about using liquid starch and fabric for privacy in glass windows.

Obviously, my mind went straight to lace (because my mind always goes straight to lace) and I thought ooh, I gots to try that out one day!ikea sanela blue velvet curtains Serendipitously, we headed to Ikea earlier in the week to scope out tea-light lanterns for the wedding. dunelm mill eyelet blackout curtainsEven more serendipitously, Ikea has JUST started selling lovely scallop edge lace fabric for a mere £1.50 per metre. dandelion clocks curtains blackcurrant Anyway, I got home from work one day and mixed up the starch jelly. dorma toile blue curtains

I ended up mixing 2 tablespoons cornflour (that’s cornstarch across the pond) with about an equal amount of cold water, then mixing that in about a cup and a half of boiling water from the kettle. blackout curtains spotlight singaporeI mixed it in a lunch box and the resulting jelly is both spooky and somewhat non-newtonian.avfc curtains (Random interlude – my first lady boss once told me that some men – ie. our coworker at the time – are like custard powder mix – the more you stir them the more they resist, so keep a light touch. quaker curtains ewing njIt’s been remarkably useful advice and obviously applies to lots of women too!) Unlike Daniel, I didn’t soak my fabric in the mix. It just felt like a messy and icky idea so instead I painted a thick layer of gloop on to the window pane.

Then I cut out a rectangle of lace using a template I’d made earlier. I didn’t iron it first but the one piece I had where there was a crease was the hardest to apply so do iron your fabric if it’s creased at all. Then I applied another thick layer on top, being sure to get it right into all the corners. I tried working top to bottom, centre to corners and a few different ways, but there wasn’t a noticeable difference in ease or result. I did notice that there were sometimes brush marks if I did it too regimented so I ended up going for random patterns of brush strokes. The best thing about using lace (with holes in) is that there are automatically not air pockets so you don’t have to both squeegeeing them out, which is good because I’m really bad at that sort of thing. The other good thing about lace is it’s very forgiving. On one pane, I ended up with a gap in one place, I just cut a small strip and starch-glued it over the top. I can’t even tell where it was now!

This took less than an hour from start to finish. Except I’m going to go back and add a row of scallops in the panes just above it. But I figured if I waited to post about it until I’d done that then I’d probably never post about it. The best thing about this is that to remove it, you just wash it off with warm water, so it’s perfect for renters. My other favourite thing, that doesn’t really show up in pictures, is that it keep the texture of the lace, so it doesn’t look like fake lace contact paper. I noticed Dan got a lot of comments wondering if this could be done in a hot, humid room like a shower. To that, I’d say it wouldn’t work somewhere that gets directly wet. As for humidity, it probably depends just how humid, but this is so cheap (£1.50 of fabric, probably less than a penny worth of cornflour) and easy to install and uninstall that you should just give it a go and let the internet know how it works out! I would say it’s probably not great for a window that would get dirty a lot (like above a sink) because you probably can’t wipe it down.

If this window gets dingy, I’d probably remove all the sheets and run them through the machine in a lingerie bag. It’s that easy to apply. Hopefully I’ll get the scallops up soon and will post back about those!To see the stunning view this is blocking, click here.I added a few more details and answers to common questions on a new blog post. Read all about it here.Click here to see an update for how I removed it after six or so months. San Francisco with an Infant Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Hey Everyone, I’m Corey Decker from “” and I am so excited to be a guest today! chose to use .   They are an awesome deal, you get a PAIR of sheer drapes for $4.99!   used a total of 4 sets, for a total of $20.00! Share with your friends!Shock: Oprah Winfrey has told how she was refused service by a 'racist' shop assistant in SwitzerlandShe is one of the richest and most famous women on the planet.So when Oprah Winfrey popped in to an upmarket boutique for a new designer handbag she was taken aback when the shop assistant refused to show her a bag.

She said the £24,460 crocodile skin item was ‘too expensive’.Instead of making a scene, the billionaire TV magnate calmly left the Swiss store. But she has now hit back at her treatment in a furious interview on US television, claiming she was a victim of ‘racism’.Miss Winfrey, 59, said: ‘I was in Zurich the other day, in a store whose name I will not mention. I didn’t have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear.'I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals. But obviously The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Zurich.‘I go into a store and I say to the woman ‘‘Excuse me, could I see the bag right above your head?” and she says to me “No. Miss Winfrey asked a second time to see the bag, which was locked in a cabinet to deter shoplifters.But oblivious to her fame and fortune, the shop assistant allegedly replied: ‘No, no, you don’t want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that.’

It may have been beyond the salaries of ordinary mortals, but  £24,460 is small change to a celebrity worth about £1.8billion.Miss Winfrey added: ‘I could have had the big blow-up thing and thrown down the black card and all that stuff. Apology: Store owner Trudie Gotz said sorry for the incident but said it was due to a misunderstanding rather than racism Controversy: The bag in question was a Jennifer bag in crocodile skin. Tom Ford designed the handbag for the actress, pictured with it left, and now makes it in a number of different finishes, right Turned away: The assistant serving Oprah Winfrey in the boutique owned by Trudie Goetz (pictured) told Oprah: 'You will not be able to afford that' when she asked to see a hanbag ‘But why do that? But it [racism] still exists, of course it does.’ ‘I left the store but it proves that racism is still an issue,’ she added.Referring to a famous movie scene in which Richard Gere tells a snobbish boutique salesman that he wants to

spend an obscene amount of money she added: ‘I wanted to create a Pretty Woman moment and come back and buy everything and say ‘‘Big mistake!’’. But then I thought she’d get a commission, so let’s not do that,’ she Miss Winfrey was in Zurich for the wedding of her friend Tina Turner to Erwin Bach last month. staying in the five-star Dolder Grand Hotel at the time. The incident happened in a branch of the chic Trois Pommes chain of boutiques. Ironically, its owner Trudie Goetz was also a guest at Miss Turner’s nuptials. Miss Goetz apologised for the incident, blaming it on a ‘misunderstanding’. ‘Everyone wants to sell a crocodile bag,’ Ms Goetz said. saleswomen put customers first and try to be ‘kind’. However, Zurich trade president Markus Hunig condemned the snub saying: ‘It’s totally unacceptable. never heard of anything like it.’ Swiss tourism spokesman Daniela Bar added: ‘We are totally ashamed about what happened.

was completely in the wrong. 'We apologise on behalf of Swiss tourism for what happened. ‘This was a one-off and will not have a long lasting effect on the popularity of Switzerland, but the saleswoman should apologise to Oprah Winfrey.’ It’s not the first time that Miss Winfrey has had a run in with a high-end boutique. In 2005 Hermes apologised to her after she was turned away from their Paris store because it was hosting a private function. Miss Winfrey’s allegations come as Swiss authorities were criticised for introducing ‘apartheid’ style plans to ban asylum seekers from public places such as swimming pools, playing fields and libraries. Switzerland has 48,000 asylum seekers or one for every 332 inhabitants, which is double the European average. Race row: The owner of Trois Pommes, in Zurich, Switzerland, apologised after Oprah Winfrey said she had been the 'victim of racism' while visiting the store Offense: A 'racist' shop assistant at Trois Pommes refused to show Oprah Winfrey a bag because it was 'too expensive' and she should look at the cheaper merchandise, the star claimed during a TV interview

Girls' weekend: Oprah Winfrey and best friend Gayle King ahead of Tina Turner and Erwin Bach's wedding celebrations in Zurich, Switzerland Race row: Oprah Winfrey was a guest at the wedding of Tina Turner and Erwin Bach, pictured, in Zurich, SwitzerlandEven if Oprah Winfrey had been allowed to look at the handbag, she may have thought twice before buying it.The £24,460 bag was reportedly a crocodile-skin version of one of Jennifer Aniston’s favourite designs.The Tom Ford Jennifer Bag, named after the 44-year-old former Friends star, is often seen on the arm of fashion-conscious celebrities.But as Miss Winfrey is a strident opponent of animal fur clothing  and was named 2008 Person of The Year by animal rights group PETA, she may have felt crocodile skin was a step too far.The TV host has occasionally worn leather belts and scarves, but crocodile skin is seen by some campaigners as being particularly cruel, given the poor treatment exotic species are often subjected to by farmers.