ORC Week 5: The Beach Cabin Sleeper Attic- DIY Roman Shades

Hi there! I can’t believe it’s already Week 5 of this challenge. It really great to see everyone’s projects for the One Room Challenge coming together! Check them out here. This week, I set out to DIY Roman Shades for the Sleeper Attic. Last summer, we didn’t have any window covering, so I thought not only would some roman shades add a little design on the far wall but they would also add a bit of privacy.

I set out to follow some DIY No Sew directions using blinds (because I don’t own a sewing machine and barely own needles and thread. I went to the store, bought the least expensive blinds I could find, and set out to cut the “ladder cord” but not the “pull cord” … which I didn’t do correctly. In my defense, our self-propelled vacuum ate one of the strings, I cut it out, but I think I cut the pull cord in the process.

Since I had No Sew Hem tape, I decided to proceed without the blinds and figure out the “pull” feature later. If you read this post, you know that I love the faux Roman Shades I purchased for my kids’ room. I especially loved how I could simply buy a tension rod from Target to install them. (Another benefit of losing the blinds.)

I made sure to leave a small opening for the tension rod and then began folding the fabric. I wanted to folds to be fairly big so I used our ruler to measure but then also lined up the dots of the fabric. Because the fabric was so thick, I used my hem tape in both folds to ensure that it stayed.

I had a lot of help from Crew Jone’s too…

One of the biggest challenges of this, well, “Challenge” is being an hour away from the Beach Cabin, so little fixes and adjustments turn into a bigger hassle. When I hung the shades in the attic, I realized that the folds were a little too big. Also, my fabric was incredibly thick so the hem tape didn’t hold as I had hoped. Back to the drawing board.

With one week to go, it’s all in the details now… See you next week!