A few years ago, we enclosed our garage and made an office out of one half of it and a fourth bedroom out of the other half. On the bedroom side, there is a metal door with a large window.

The nice light coming in through the window is great. However, since this is a bedroom, there is definitely a need for some type of window covering for privacy. Initially, the solution seemed quite simple. Put up blinds.

After discussing this with my husband, I found out that the metal layer on the door is actually quite thin, so he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get the blinds to stay up.

Of course this left me asking the question, now what do I do? I can’t put holes in the door. Do I have any other options?

After looking around, I found a magnetic curtain rod and decided to give it a try and just hang a curtain.

(If you’re wondering, the magnets on this rod are really quite strong. I had to pull hard to detach them from the door.)

Problem solved, right? No.

I looked everywhere for a curtain that was the right length for the window in the door. Everything I found was either way too long or a few inches too short.

I was about to resign myself to buying fabric and sewing a curtain from scratch. Oh, but wait, my husband just took my sewing machine to our mini-storage.

Then I had an idea. I could buy an already made curtain panel, cut it off to the right length and hem the bottom using a no-sew iron on tape. This way it would already have the rod pocket at the top of the panel to hang it on my magnetic rod.

It worked!

I started with this panel.

Here’s how I did it.

I measured the window from the rod to slightly below the window, allowing about an inch and a half for the seam. I used this measurement to determine how much I needed to cut of the bottom of the panel.

After cutting the excess fabric off the bottom of the panel, I folded the cut edge under twice to create a nice clean hemmed edge. I then ironed the hem down smooth so I could easily place the no-sew tape underneath it.

Notice I cut the corner on a diagonal to finish the end.

Once the edge was nice and flat, I cut the tape to the length I needed, placed it under the hem edge and ironed it down according to the directions on the package. (Actually, I had to leave the iron on the fabric a little longer than directed for it to stick properly.)

Then I just hung it on the rod. The project did not take long at long, and I think it came out pretty well. It definitely works for me, so I’m pleased.

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3 Comments

• Nancy Brown says:

  December 8, 2010 at 3:44 pm

  Where did you get the rod? We have the same problem at our house but with a longer window.

  Reply
  • Amanda says:

    December 8, 2010 at 9:27 pm

    I got that one at Target, but I also found the same thing at Lowes.

    Reply
• Kristina says:

  December 11, 2010 at 1:43 pm

  Great idea! I’d never forget this post. Thanks!

  Reply

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