DIY Rustic Shutters and Window Treatments

One of the first things you are going to need to do when you move into a new construction home is get blinds up, especially if you live in a community where the homes are close together like ours. This can be a big expense so budgeting for it before hand is important. We ordered ours from Lowes and also paid $99 more to get them professionally measured and installed. Since that caused an extra delay we temporarily used light filtering paper blinds which we highly recommend. They are quick, easy to install and durable. In fact we still have one hanging in our garage (we didn't want to spend the money on a blind just for the garage but we wanted something for privacy and to make the outside look uniform). If you don't have the extra money in your budget to purchase actual blinds these are a great thing to use in the mean time so you at least get your privacy,  We ordered professional blinds for most of our windows but I really wanted something different and rustic looking for the windows that had ledges - the windows above the kitchen sink, the one in our mudroom, the one in our powder room, and the one above our soaking bath tub. I loved the idea of shutters but the ones I really wanted were pricey. So I started looking to Pinterest for some ideas. I found these and immediately fell in love. The only problem is Katie is not "crafty" and Marc doesn't have any wood-working skills to speak of. Luckily for me, my father is a very talented woodworker so with a little bit of enticing him with the chance to spend the week with his grandsons he agreed to make them for us.          

You can read Anne's full tutorial on how to make those on her blog Ilovethatjunk.com. I will say she must have been quite the bargain hunter because we were not able to make them quite that cheap. My dad bought 3/4" thick pine lumber and used a chop saw to cut it to the correct measurements of the windows. Since I wanted it to look rustic there was no need to sand it. He used basic white paint and applied it very thinly to let the grains of the wood show through so I could get that natural rustic look I was trying to achieve.  The only thing we have left to do is find some stained bronze knobs or handles for them.  I love that we can quickly close them for privacy at night. 

I plan to add a valance to the top of these using the
 same pattern fabric seen below

   Now that those were installed the only windows left were the ones on my front door and the door that will lead out to our future deck. The front door really didn't need anything but I wanted to add something to make it stand out a little more. Again, I have absolutely no craftiness in me at all and that includes sewing (am I the only crunchy mom blogger out there that can't sew??). I can always envision what I want can come up wiht the creative ideas but when it comes to the actual "sewing" part it ends up disasterous.....and I've had multiple people try to teach me. My hands just refuse to listen to my brain. So this time mom came to the rescue.  

 I found the fabric (in case you were wondering people use upholstery fabric to make curtains all the time. That might be common knowledge to crafty moms but it was news to me). A good rule of thumb to figure out how much fabric to use is to measure the length and height of your window then add 1 inch to each side and then double that amount. Essential, you are going to sew those two pieces together (inside out) like you are making a pillow case so that you have the same print on the front as the back.  I then decided on burlap ribbon for the bow and attached the bow with burlap string. What I like about that is it allows us to easily untie the string at night for privacy with out undoing the entire bow.    

         I won't even try to explain how my dear mother made these but I do know it entailed the use of a sewing machine. Maybe if this post gets a lot of interest I will talk her into opening up her own Etsy shop. :)   My next step is to add burlap valances above the other blinds and then paint the walls so stay tuned!