Shades and drop cloth drapes

So our house is almost done! This weekend I had to go out and buy new blinds and drapes for several of the windows. Now was the worst time budget-wise since our wedding is less than three weeks away, but I am not the type of person who can throw a sheet on a window and call it good. Ick. So I searched the internet for cheaper alternative as I needed 5 blinds and a huge one for the family room window. I ended up finding two that were very affordable and that I liked. I liked these and they were very similar to ones that we had in the mater bedroom. My other option were these bamboo roman shades. I really like the fabric shades because they do block out a lot of sunlight which is great for sleeping in on the weekends, however I really hate how you can see the seams and strings from the outside looking in, and since these were going on the front of the house I went with the bamboo. I was able to get 5 shades for about $130.00.

Please excuse the messy rooms, one is wedding central and the other is just a mess, I have no excuse for that!

 I like how they look. They do let in quite a bit of light, and I think that they look pretty in the daytime, but I am not sure how much people can see in. I need to test that. For now they are fine because no one is in either room.

This monster was another story, there is no way that I could find a shade to cover this for less than $100.00. I thought about getting an outdoor shade, but the choices really looked cheap. Then as my luck would have it a stumbled upon The Walton's post on YHL. She used painters drop cloths on her windows and they looked so good! Needless to say I was at Lowes that afternoon! 

Here is my very nicely {inexpensively} dressed window!

They are a little more wrinkly than I realized, but I love them! The drapes are 6x9 foot 8 oz painters drop clothes from lowes, mine were 9.79 each and I bought the drapery rings for about 6.00 each at Target because I had a gift card. You just need to wash and dry them and then hang them up with the drapery rings. It best to start with the outside and work your way in. I discovered that some were actually longer than others so I just folded mine over at the top, absolutely no sewing. If you are a major perfectionist you could use the iron hem and go that route, but folding them over was quick and easy and if I made one to short I just let it out a little. I loved the drapes so much that I went out and got more for the front living room!

I will have more pictures to come of my house transformation. They should be all done by tomorrow. The outside looks so good that I have been sprucing up the inside some more to match!