I had my living room and dining room painted this weekend and realized that my old window treatments would not work. Because the rooms are directly across from each other and painted two dramatically different colors, I would need the window treatments to be cohesive to balance out the stark contrast.
I found a window treatment set that had the colors of both rooms in the pattern, and fell in love with them. The problem was that if I purchased 4 sets, it would cost far more than I had budgeted for them.
After staring at the curtains for a minute, I got a great idea that would allow me to have the curtains I wanted for less. I would get the two panels for the dining room, and use the two toppers at the living room window. This way the fabric is used in both rooms tying the rooms them together, but each room would maintain it’s own personality. This cut the cost of my window treatment in half. In addition, it allowed me to take a formal window treatment and make it more modern by simplifying the design.
This isn’t the first time I have used this idea to manage the cost of my window treatments. There are currently sheer curtains for the windows in these two rooms that are used with the panels and toppers. These also came with matching window valances. I used the sheer curtains in the living room and dining room, and hung the matching valances in the kitchen. Once again, this saved me from buying curtains from the kitchen but also tied the design of the kitchen to the design in the dining room.
In short, just because window treatments come in sets, doesn’t mean you have to use them that way. You can break up the set. You can cut a foot off the bottom of an extra long panel and use it as a topper in another room. You can even cut down old dinging room curtains and remodel them into cafe curtains for your kitchen or bathroom.
~If you liked this you should also read my blogs at the home blog, the parents blog, and the frugal blog. You can read my recent posts here.
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