No Sew Curtains and Window Treatment

That's right! I said no sew! No expensive hardware either! And no crazy power tools!

Materials:
Canvas Drop Cloth ~ $10
Tree limb ~ at least 6 feet ~ FREE!
1"x12"x6' board ~ $10
Wall Brackets ~ $7 each ~ look at the directions below, the design of the brackets is important
White Paint ~ I actually had a can of spray paint leftover but any paint will do
A dark stain ~ I happened to have Dark Walnut on hand
Stitch Witchery ~ $2.50

$40 Total {not including all the cute decor you'll need for your shelf}

Where to start..... first measure the window, or sliding door in this case to get your measurements. The width of my sliding door is 5 feet across. So I figured roughly 6 feet would work for the rod and for the shelf. Luckily you can find a 1"x12" board at 6 feet, no cutting needed. And while looking for a stump for my Side Table I also picked up a few branches that were about 6 feet. The wall brackets I found at Lowe's in the closet organizing section. They have a wide variety to chose from.

Please ignore the hideous wallpaper from our unfinished basement!

*** Before I go any further, please let me state while I love decorating the home and trying to have a ready-for-a-photo-shoot-at-any-moment appearance... I do have to live here and the space has to function for me. Having said that AND the fact that my big shade tree in the backyard has suddenly disappeared {listen to me whine about it here} I refuse to give up my tacky blinds.

Start with your brackets. Position them where you would like your board to sit. Since I'm keeping my blinds, I aligned the brackets so my shelf could sit directly on top of the blinds. When screwing in your brackets please make sure to either use anchors or screw into the frame of your window/door. There will be quite a bit of weight resting on these brackets; the curtains, the rod {tree limb}, the shelf and everything you decide to put on the shelf.

You can see here I made sure the brackets are even with
the top of the blinds.

Prepare your shelf using whatever technique you would like. I opted for a new technique to make the wood look old. First I painted the entire board white.

Once your paint is dry sand down all the edges of the board to expose the wood. I also roughed up the corners quite a bit and even here and there in spots throughout the middle of the board

It may be difficult to see the difference between the paint
and wood but you can tell I've really rounded the edges
of my board

Use a wet rag to clean off all the dust. Grab your stain and a brush. You'll want to paint on the stain a few sections at a time.

I worked in 1-2 feet sections

Use an old rag to wipe off the excess. You'll notice some of your white will be stained.

Depending on the look you want you can really darken
the look of your board. You can tell from this picture
there's still some stain left where I wiped. Leave it if you
like that look otherwise it will take a few more wipes

Here's what the board will look like during this process

Sanding along the edges will allow more stain to soak into the exposed wood areas. I love the effect it creates.

The corners especially look nice

Once your stain has dried bring it inside to your window. Screw the board to your brackets and you've got yourself a cute little shelf!

Now you're ready for the rod AKA your tree limb. So I didn't have bark falling everywhere I did use some sand paper and gently rub off some extra bark. Once your ready just thread the limb into your brackets. This is why the design of your bracket is important. You want something kind of loopy that the limb can fit into.

To secure the rod so it doesn't come crashing down if I adjust the curtains, I drilled a tiny hole through each end of the rod. I grabbed some fishing line and thread it through the hole and wrapped the line around one of the scrolls in the back

The tiny hole is just to the right of the scroll closest to the front.
I thread the line through here, wrapped one end over the top and
around the scroll in the back. Grab the end that's fed through to
the back and wrap it around the scroll too. Now the rod is secured
to the bracket

Time to make your curtains! Grab the drop cloth.

They have a variety of size in the paint dept. This one is 6' x 9'
and I had plenty leftover.... in fact I'll probably make a pillow.

Since I'm keeping the blinds I don't necessarily need these curtains to be functional. So I turned the fabric and used the 6 foot side as my width. This left me with plenty of room to adjust for the height of the curtain. The length from floor to my rod was 6'9" BUT I'm using a couple inches for ties {subtract a few inches} and I'll also need to hem the curtain {add an inch}. Keep this in mind when cutting your drop cloth. The total length I actually ended up cutting was still 6'9" but double check your measurements.

Measure twice, cut once!

Once I had my length I cut the drop cloth in half giving me two pieces at 3'x6'9".

Here's how to make your hems without a sewing machine. Grab the Stitch Witchery or something similar and follow the directions.

$2.50 for 20 yards!

I heated up my iron and folded over about 1/2" to 1" of fabric and pressed

Next cut the Stitch Witchery to the length you need, fold the fabric over again and with a damp cloth press again. Follow these steps for all the sides you've cut.

I went back without the damp cloth and hit the material
with just the iron in some places that didn't quite stick

Now we'll make the ties. Cut a scrap piece that's left over. I grabbed a piece that was about 2' x 14". This allowed for 12 ties for each drape {24 total} at 1" a piece.

Grab one panel and layout 12 of the ties making sure the equal distance apart. Cut squares from the Stitch Witchery and press them into place

Make sure these are secure. The weight of the curtain is
going to be on these ties.

You're ready to tie up your curtains!

One side's done!

I spent $45 total for the entire window treatment but you also spend $45 for just the curtains...

Pottery Barn

Time to decorate. I grabbed some of the new items I talked about in my More This'N'That blog and few other items laying around and started filling my shelf.

Books, vintage camera, bowls, clock, and a ceramic dish are a few of the other items I included.

Step back and enjoy!

In this crazy universe we live in I have a total side note here: One of my fav gal pals was talking to me about some decorating/remodeling she was doing around her home. {I had not mentioned this upcoming project to her yet}. She was explaining how she had taken down some old drapes the previous owner had left and discovered they were perfect as a drop cloth. I just stared at her for a minute. Crazy world. She's taking down her drapes to use as a drop cloth and I'm taking a drop cloth to put up as curtains!

***UPDATE***
I've added in Curtain Ties!

Linking up on It's Party Time with It's So Very Cheri, Nifty Thrifty Sundays with Nifty Thrifty Things., Sunday Show Off with Twigg Studios., DIY Project Parade with DIY Showoff., Craft-O-Maniac Monday with Craft-O-Maniac, Mop It Up Mondays with I Should Be Mopping The Floor, Open Call Tuesday with Salt Tree, Show Me What Ya Got with Not Just a Housewife, Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop with Homemaker on a Dime, Wow Us Wednesday with Savvy Southern Style, Primp Your Stuff with Primp Junktion, White Wednesday with Faded Charm Cottage, Penny Pinching Party with The Thrifty Home, Blog Hop with Adorned from Above, Your Whims Wednesday with My Girlish Whims, We Did It with Sew Much Ado, Transformation Thursday with The Shabby Creek Cottage, Time Travel Thursday with The Brambleberry Cottage, Under $100 Linky Party with Beyond the Picket Fence, Creative Inspirations Linky Party with Embracing Change, Friday's Unfolded with Stuff and Nonsense, Shabbilicous Friday Link Party with Shabby Art Boutique, Feathered Nest Friday with French Country Cottage.