Thrifty Solutions to Make the Old New Again (including a no-sew hem)

When we we got done with the master bedroom, I didn't want to spend more money on just about anything! We still had curtains from our old house where we had two lare windows. In the new room, we had one large and 2 small to work with. So, I had 4 curtain panels ond two long valances whih clearly wouldn't work. Or would it?

Not being able to sew, I quickly blew past the idea of cutting the valance in half to use it as two Then, I came back to it and cut it in half anyway! And I hot glued a hem. Yes, I did. I cut it in half and then ripped the seam just about a half inch in ward from the cut. I folded it upward and placed hot glue along the edge befor ethen folding it in to the existing valance. This created a seam that will work when hanging above your head in a corner and not being pulled on a lot.

This shot compares the appearance of the hot-glued hem to the manufactured one.

The next challenge came with the double hung rods. Again, I only had two from the old house and they were both too long for the two small windows. (Luckily one was the right length for the one large window we needed to dress). A double-hung rod set is about $40! Needing two for the small windows amounted to $80 I didn't want to spend after coming up with a solution to the valance dilemma. So, I found another set of double hung rod brackets for just $8. While the rods were still too long, Mike cut them down to size. The old set had two rods: one for the front (valance) and one for the back (curtain panel).

So, I took the finials and put each matching set on the same rod. Since they're on opposite walls, you wouldn't notice if I hadn't just told you! These rods are on the front and, in the back, the curtain panels are hung on the $1 dowel rods that don't hang our the end so you can't even see them behind the valances. Proof is in the bottom picture. So, for just $10: dowels and brackets, I was able to use what I already had. It saved at least $120 I would have spent on 3 new valances (I'd have had to find 2 small and 1 big to match) and 2 new shorter double-hung bracket sets. Totally worth a couple hours of effort!