The Frilly Things - All the Curtains
The pop up trailer was missing all the soft things...mattresses, cushions, and curtains. Although curtains can sometimes be considered “frilly” and not needed, Brooke definitely needed curtains to cover her windows…the vinyl covering the screen was clear and there was no way I was going to be able to get dressed (or have any privacy!) with the current arrangement!
The trailer did not have a built-in curtain track. The previous owner(s) of Brooke had installed cup hooks above the window - I figured they had simply run a thin dowel with a curtain to cover the window in the past. I thought if it worked for them, then why not now? I began looking for dowels/rods, but was reminded that I had extra curtain rods already in my garage - why not use them? I replaced the cup hooks (they were rusted and gross) and installed small screw eyes instead. I then got S-hooks and hooked them on the screw eyes and then on my curtain rods; this way I’ll be able to take down the rods for transportation.
I found some sage green black-out curtains at WalMart and determined that I could cut them into strips. They were 84” long (MUCH too long for these windows!!), but 42” long was perfect, so I cut the two panels in half, giving me 4 panels. I’m not a seamstress, but I can sew a hem, so I pulled out my sewing machine and got to work. After measuring the windows, I figured if I cut each panel in half again (giving me now a total of 8 panels), I could cover both windows - the big one with 5 panels and the smaller with 3.
The finishing touch was a magnetic tie-back. I think these curtains will do the job nicely - and I love the color as well!
The optional curtain was the bed curtains…those were definitely not necessary as there’s only us three girls, but I thought if I had the time, then it’d be nice to make them! There were no tracks for these curtains either, so I went to Pinterest to browse ideas and saw several that I merged into my final plan.
This process is a stellar example of how I create as I go - my first plan was adequate, but within a day I had improved on it! I put in screw eyes at each corner and in the center of each bunk. I then tied paracord to each screw eye, threading it though the middle screw eye for stability. Make sure when you use paracord that the ends are melted or they will come undone and fray!
I saw a blog that used binder clips in their van to hang curtains for shade and privacy, but that wasn’t an option here since I wanted to be able to open and shut the curtains! So, I thought about using the binder clips as the hooks for my curtains…they could slide on the paracord but yet hold onto the fabric with ease.
The curtains themselves went though a couple of revisions. The first one I didn’t have quite enough fabric, and as you can see in the first photo, they were a little too see-through. But, they were a good test of the concept and it seemed to work well. I used fabric adhesive (iron-on hem) to seal up the edges of this sheer fabric, and also put a little bit of ribbon into the hem to use as a tie-back. My next revision of the curtains themselves was to purchase a twin sheet and cut it in half, sew new hems, and sew that smaller bit of blue fabric to the cream to give some color and depth (and coverage!). I really like the curtains now, but once they were hung, I wasn’t a huge fan of how much sag there was in the paracord.
My final revision on the bunk end curtains was to thread wire through my screw eyes. This way I could make it as tight as possible and, unlike paracord, there wouldn’t be any sag to the wire - or at least not as much as the cord would have! I put the binder clips on the wire, clipped on the curtains, and stood back to admire the handiwork. They slid easily on the wire, the ribbon tied both curtains shut nicely, and the fabric covered the bunks completely. I can always add more binder clips if I wanted to totally get rid of the “puckering”. Total cost for this project, about $12/bunk end.
