Our recent road trip to visit Katie and her stunning home kicked our DIY motivation into high gear once we returned. You know how progress on a project sometimes comes in bursts—full steam ahead for a while, then a pause for recovery (often fueled by a little getaway)? That’s exactly how it goes for us. After a four-day Hammer-And-Paint-Brush hiatus, we came home refreshed and ready to tackle a handful of small but satisfying projects. One of those was sewing dining room curtains, and they might be my favorite thing in the whole house.
I adore the finished curtains. While we love our hallway frame gallery, the giant bedroom light fixture, and the oversized gray sectional, these curtains feel extra special. The joke around here is that I must have spent months on them—they’re that beloved—yet they actually took only about an hour and a half to two hours to make. All credit to Katie’s house for the inspiration.
We’d grabbed an amazing deal on Robert Allen fabric at a local outlet called U-Fab. It was designer-quality material marked down because of a small irregular white stripe along one edge, which we could easily work around. The fabric was reduced to $12.99 per yard from an original price well over $40 per yard. I calculated five yards would produce two roughly 90-inch panels—about $32 per panel—much cheaper than buying the fabric at full price.
We’re not big on actually closing curtains—except in the nursery—so the panels were intended to hang high and wide to add height and drama while letting daylight pour in. That meant width wasn’t a major concern since we were aiming for generous coverage and wanted them to drape in front of the wall rather than block the window.
Here’s how I made them. I rolled the fabric out on a 5 x 8′ rug to get a straight edge, then measured and cut two 90″ lengths. Using the rug’s corners and edges makes it easy to get straight cuts without fuss. The fabric width off the bolt was about 57″, but because of that defect I trimmed about three inches from one side. I didn’t remove the flawed edge entirely—after hemming it vanished from view.
Once the first panel was cut, I used it as a template on the remaining fabric to make the second panel identical. Then I washed both panels to preshrink them so future laundering would be predictable. After drying, I grabbed them while still mostly wrinkle-free to skip extra ironing later.
For hemming, I debated between my usual iron-on hem tape and trying the sewing machine I’d recently acquired. In the end I sewed the hems. I ironed a half-inch seam on one short edge to stabilize the fabric, then folded that seam over once more and stitched it down. That extra fold hid the raw edge and produced a clean finish on both front and back without pinning. The technique worked equally well on the long 90″ sides.
To hang them I clipped seven oil-rubbed bronze ring clips to each panel and slid them onto a long oil-rubbed bronze rod. The rod had to be 144″ long, so we grabbed one at Lowe’s since other stores didn’t carry a rod that long. Using clips meant no rod pocket sewing and a much faster install.
Our method for finding the perfect height is low-tech but effective: one person stands on a chair holding the rod while the other stands back and judges how the curtains graze the floor. We tweak until it’s right, then measure and mark for the brackets. It’s practical, collaborative, and comes with the occasional dramatic “don’t move” shout.
The panels are hung wide—about 19″ past the window trim on each side—so they frame the window and reveal the side window rather than covering it. The dark rod echoes other deep tones in the room, like the dining table and the back of the built-ins. A dark rod hung high and wide really frames a window the way eyeliner frames an eye.
The fabric is mostly blue with pops of green, chartreuse, white, and brown. Up close it’s lively and layered; from a distance it reads as a teal-blue. The pattern ties into other room details—the teal on the built-ins and the yellow-green knobs—making it feel cohesive and intentional even though some of those choices were made separately.
I even set the table for no reason other than I was happy and wanted to stare at the room. A runner, plates, napkins, and a few clipped branches made the table feel finished. Sometimes projects give you that small joy—the type that makes you wander back into a room just to grin at the view.
It’s remarkable how much curtains—paired with a bit of color on the built-ins—can change the feel of a room. We flipped the former formal living room into our dining room and swapped the layout so the space works better for our family. Looking at old walkthrough photos reminds us how quickly a house can evolve when you imagine beyond the furnishings and paint.
We’re not done with this room—next up we plan to open a doorway to the kitchen and add a chandelier over the table—but for now the curtains make a dramatic and uplifting difference. Have you made curtains or rearranged rooms lately? Little changes like this can bring a lot of joy.