Our House Isn't An Open Book

When you buy a house, one of the many decisions to make is how to cover up your windows. Now, I happen to know from experience that windows can be a major selling point to a house. They can let wonderful light in on a sunny day, allow a cool breeze to flow through the house or just make a room appear a little bit larger than it is. Windows are a great thing. I say this, but clearly after our recent house-buying experience, I received a bit of teasing over my obsession to cover all of the windows in our house.

See, for me, it’s not about not letting light in, not wanting a cool breeze or not wanting a room to appear larger – for me, it’s a safety issue. To me, having a house full of open windows where the whole world can see in is very unsettling. (Growing up, the two neighborhoods I lived in required you to have window coverings on all windows.) Evidently not in as many neighborhoods anymore. That didn’t stop me though. No sooner than we signed the papers and received the keys to our new house was I online researching all of the possible options for window coverings. We had some time before we actually were going to stay in the house, so I felt pretty confident that by the first night in the house, we’d have all of our windows covered.

Needless to say, it’s been 3 months in the new house and we have but one tiny window still left to cover. And, I do claim responsibility. Most of the windows are safely covered by curtains, wood slat blinds or roman shades – but there were two windows in the house I dubbed “my projects.” Most of you know I like to do some crafty things – I hardly consider myself “crafty” although my dear friend likes to call me “Martha.” (A name which makes my mother cringe.) These windows were going to be my first foray into sewing my own shades out of wonderful home décor fabric, in a pattern or color that can’t be purchased and they would be something of an accomplishment. I found a pattern (which was called “Home Dec in a Sec” – which claimed any of the 4 roman shades could be made in an hour or less.), purchased my fabric and other accessories and began the journey to making window treatments.

Sixteen hours later, a roman shade was born! (I’m thinking about writing the pattern company about the hour or less claim – completely not true!) It took time, it took effort and some frustration, but it is finished. Mike asked me if the time and frustration was worth it – or, if I wished I had just gone out and bought a shade somewhere. My answer was no – it’s pretty cool to drag out your sewing machine and make something from scratch. Now, one more shade to go, one more window to cover and likely 16 more hours of frustration, but it’ll all be worth it. Just wait until we start painting the house……