DIY Drop Cloth Curtains with Birch Tree Rods

We finally have curtains up in the living room!

Homemade from drop cloths...and hanging from skinny little birch tree rods.

It took a while to get these done...mostly because I am still scared of my sewing machine - even though it wasn't really that much sewing - but my mom really has to coach me. 

Or just let me watch her ;) 

As you can probably tell, on our gigantic bow window they are still pretty much just decorative. 

They do cover almost the whole thing when closed, but we've never really needed to close them. 

The beauty of living in the country. 

The only people that probably see us are neighbors driving by at night.

After quite a while of trying to figure out how I wanted to hang them, we decided on grommets and some extra thick jute. Which was nice, because it added some needed extra length as well as another texture. It also helped bring a rustic element onto the curtains themselves, so they work better with the very "rustic rods". 

The bow window took an entire birch tree, which was a little tricky to find, but the smaller window only needed a section of one, so it is quite a bit straighter.

BUT, guess what? One of the things I really love most is that the tree above the big window isn't perfectly straight. It adds a bit of whimsy. 

I like the perfectly imperfect look of nature.

So this picture shows the ugly, gigantic, black hole that is the TV, but now you can get an idea of just how big the window is, and see how the rod dips down a little.

For the record, it does really bother me that the TV is currently half way blocking the window. 

In a perfect world there would be enough room for the corner hutch in the dining area. 

In the real world, the solution will be to move it to the other corner and slide the TV fully over. 

However, that is kind of a big project because I have to take my millions of breakables that are crammed in there out, and well, it's just not high on the priority list when there will be a little baby joining the family in less than a month!

Maybe it will be a summer project if my baby is a really good napper and my husband feels like using his muscles. ;)

Another reason it took us so long to get the curtains up was that we had to wait until we could get to IKEA to get the rod hooks. Which requires a trip to the cities for us.

The bow window display is forever changing - although I kinda like how this collection of random things came together, so it will probably stay for a while...especially since I'll be busy learning how to do mom things and not sure how much time I will have for decorating for a while.

I'm a lover of natural light and getting as much sun into the house as possible, so all of my curtains are light and filter the sun. Actually I usually just use sheers... :)

I think I forgot to mention the other obvious reason I love my curtain rods and decorating with nature...

Because it's FREE!! 

This really is a very frugal way to do curtains.

Drop cloths are not at all expensive, rods were free, and the IKEA hooks were under $5 I'm pretty sure. Grommets and jute are also pretty cheap.

When you add it all up, wayyy less than the cost of curtain panels from just about any store.

Plus, they are custom.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my curtains! 

They add another texture to my neutral world - which is so important when decorating with neutrals.

And, they just make the living room feel quite a bit cozier and homier I think.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to spring! 

Blessings, 

Olivia

Sharing at: Feathered Nest Fridays, Create, Bake, Grow & Gather