Make A Hands-on Window Shade in 15 Minutes, step by step

Remember when John mused about who would win the bathroom race (he hoped to frame out the mirror and I was on the Hands-on window shade train) here? Well, chugga chugga, baby. Momma won.

We got the fabric at an outlet called Mary Jo’s a while back (here is an affiliate link to it on amazon for folks in other areas). We threw Clara a wormy birthday party with her two go-to colors – pink & orange – so when it came to picking out the fabric for the hall bathroom, where we log some serious potty and bath time with her, I could not resist adding some lively with the bold patterned fabric that featured a few of Clara’s go-to colors. Especially since so much of the room is such a safe/neutral tone (plenty of white tile and trim + gray walls with a soft plum undertone), so it is lively to bring some pops of color with the turquoise knobs that we brought in to the vanity, some colorful art, and our new window shade.

As for the process, it was a semi-similar system to the shade I lately made for the kitchen – except even simpler. Yup, this baby was an $8, fifteen minute curtain (the kitchen one took about an hour). There was still no sewing machine involved, but this time there was also no pinning and less fabric (I only needed half a yard) – so it took a lot less time. You ready for the breakdown? I thought it would be lively to do a minute by minute rundown, so here we go.

Minutes 1 – 3: Make A Paper Template

I broke out six pieces of cardstock and the tape to make a swift paper template for the exact width and length of the window.

Then I taped it up in place. Sometimes it simply helps to visualize things before committing to a certain size/shape.

Minutes 4-5: Cut Your Fabric

Next I carefully placed my paper template on my fabric (so the pattern was centered) and cut it out with an inch border on each side and the bottom with a wider border along the top (3″) since that extra fabric would be used to mount it at the top.

The reason I cut the fabric to simply be an inch wider on those three sides was because that is the width of my hem tape, so once it was hemmed I knew I’d end up with a shade that was exactly the width of the paper template, which perfectly fit our window.

Minutes 6-8: Hem Your Fabric With An Iron

Then I simply hemmed all of the sides with no-sew iron on tape (I like heavy duty Heat N Bond). Oh and there is a little video walkthrough on how to use no-sew tape here for anyone interested.

Minutes 9-11: Attach Wood Piece

After all four sides were hemmed and the fabric was now the same width as my paper template and two inches taller on the top for mounting reasons, we got a piece of 1″ x 2″ scrap wood from the basement and cut it to be a compact bit narrower than the width of the fabric.

Meanwhile, Clara ran off with the measuring tape and was found “helping us measure the tub.” Thanks, girl!

Minutes 12-15: Screw Shade To Window Frame

You can see from this photo that we secured the fabric to the piece of wood. I used a staple gun to attach it so it would be firmly held in place once the wood piece was screwed directly into the top of the window (simply like you’d hang an inside mount shade). And see that rolled bottom edge in John’s left hand in the picture below?

I also grabbed a scrap dowel that we had in the basement and cut it to the same slightly-narrower-than-the-width-of-the-shade size and rolled it into the fabric at the bottom of the shade to create a pleasant wrapped up bottom edge with a bit of weight to it so it would hang nicely. I secured that rolled edge with a few stitches in a few places (no sewing machine came out, so it was simply a minute of “tacking” the fabric in a few spots to hold that tight curl around the dowel). That is optional though, because the shade in the kitchen does not have a dowel at the bottom and it still looks clean and straight. Perhaps I was simply in a dowel mood?

Then, like a finely cooked steak, that baby was done. And since the whole window is also frosted (see how we did that last week), there is privacy but light still streams in – so it does not feel dark. I enjoy how the colors in the fish canvas not only tie into the gray-plum walls but are also echoed in the window fabric. I mean if you cannot have lively with fish art and some bold window fabric in the bathroom, where we can you have lively with it? #fishcanvas4eva

Update: We have had a few “but how do you wash your Hands-on window shade?” questions, so here is that answer for ya: simply like any other store-picked up roman shade or blind, it is not washable, but we did not have any issues with the white Ikea shades that we had for over four years in our first house (which could not be washed). If you truly hoped to be able to wash yours, perhaps you could connect it at the top to the wood mounting piece with washable velcro instead of stapling it?

It still looks a little undone in here since we have to frame out the mirror and I am planning to bring in a few more pops of color to tie in the curtain, but it is getting there. The sweet thing is that the other side of the bathroom has some pleasant bright colors that balance things out fairly well already.

And the room as a whole is certainly looking a lot more “us” than when we began…

So if you have a basic looking bathroom, a half-yard of colorful fabric, and a few bright accessories you can hopefully spice things up without a total gut job. A cheerful little patterned curtain is not even a giant commitment since it is so straightforward to switch out down the line. Oh and did you notice how I colored my brassy doorknob black in the photo below thanks to a little one-second photoshop work? Hah! Someday I will in fact spray him for real.

Here is the updated bathroom list:

• rehang the shower curtain at ceiling height
  
• trim out the unbalanced window (more on that here)
• switch out the light fixture (more on that here)
• add some meaningful art (more on that here)
• build in a shelf over the toilet for some leaning art (more on that here)
• paint the walls a fresher color to assist the original tile pop (more on that here)
• upgrade the vanity hardware (more on that here)
  
• frost the window (more on that here)
• make a bold fabric shade for the window
• frame out the mirror over the vanity for a less builder-basic look
• ORB that brassy gold doorknob
• paint the whitewashed shelf in a solid white tone (since the room is coming together more & we are feeling that now – we will keep you posted!)
• add finishing touches/accessories and dish out a budget breakdown for you folks

Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Simply click on this button: