Unexpected House Guest
Decorate your home to complement life and impress your guests!

Normally, I don’t dress up windows in home being staged for sale but in this particular instance, the realtor/investor asked for something on the windows. Since the house is small and I staged it to feel contemporary, I didn’t want to use the standard traditional looking sheers. Plus I had to turn around these coverings within 24 hours so i could finish the job. So I put the wheels in motion and set off to figure something out.

A naked window

First - What to hang?

Here is one of the windows…I had 3 more of the same size, and one more larger in the front of the house.  The windows let in nice natural light which is what I wanted to maintain – I didn’t want the spaces to feel too heavy or closed in with the treatments.

So I thought about Ikea’s Lill fabric panels, which are light gauze fabric, and would keep the contemporary look rather than the traditional look. And they are incredibly cheap at only $5 for a pair! BINGO!  I only needed 2 pairs of these and the I selected a slightly heavier white fabric (also from Ikea) for the larger window in the front room.

Next I wondered - How to Hang?

What I didn’t want to do was drill to hang standard brackets that are traditionally sold with rods.  My drill’s battery had died the day before (end of life) nor did I want to go through the mess of drilling into the walls, screws and the whole mess.  The rods in Ikea were all the wrong size anyway, I had to stop by the hardware store to pickup something that would work.

So while I was in the hardware store, the plan just came together before my eyes!  I left there with a small box  3m Command removable small wire hooks, 4 tension rods, and cup holder hooks as a backup.  Armed with these items and the fabric panels I had picked up earlier at Ikea, I was on my way!

Let the hanging begin!

Basically my idea was to hang the hooks on the corner of each window and set the rod (with the panel on it) in each hook!  To start, I hung the hook in each corner of the window, making sure each hook was lined up (straight) with each other. I would suggest using a straight edge or even the rods themselves to make sure they are hung evenly.

Of course, the great thing about the 3M strips is you can take them off and add a new backing just in case you hang one of them too high or too low. Like this one…

first hook in place

After both of the hooks are hung, test the straightness by placing the rod in the hooks before you thread on the fabric panel. This is to ensure you have hung the rods straight.

Once they are hung straight, go ahead and thread the fabric onto the rod.

Now these windows hung approx 84 from the floor, and the fabric panels were actually 98″ in length. So to accommodate the longer length, I just tied a soft knot in each of the single window to raise it up of of the floor. Plus it looks sorta cool that way as well…dontcha think?

Dressed and ready for showings!

In the end, I spent about $28 at Ikea for the fabric panels and then another $25 at the hardware store for the tension rods, and hooks. The largest expense was the hooks!  I recommend using two hooks for each window under 3 ft, and anything larger, add another hook per 3 ft. So the large window was approx 60″ wide, so I used 3 hooks. I would only use this with LIGHT fabric – anything really heavy would have been too heavy for the hooks and the room.

Good luck with dressing up your windows for a quick sale and hope this info has been helpful!