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Giving the window areas of your home some life doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.

Why not add some little features in obvious areas? You can beautify your home with these window treatments without the usual expense…

Tie-backs

An often overlooked but very easy way to personalise your window decorations, the tie backs that curtains usually come with tend to be fairly boring.

So why not replace them with…

• Antique door knobs. Only basic DIY skills required here. Add some boutique doorknobs to pull your curtains back behind. Stylish, and affordable.
• Gold or silver chains. But without the cost of the real precious metals obviously! Buy some heavy chains to use as ties, and spray them the colour of your choice.
• Leather belts. Use some old leather belts – as long as they’re not too frayed around the buckle. Or in fact, even if they are! It all depends what look you’re going for.
• Neck ties. Got a whole bunch of gentleman’s ties knocking around? Here’s a possible use for them. This can be a great option because there are lots of patterns readily available.

Valance

If you’re not down with your curtain-related terminology, “valance” is the decoration that hangs along the top of your frame. It often serves to hide the curtain rail or any other mechanism that you’ve got up there. They’re also sometimes known as “swag.”

Instead of expensive shop-bought valances you can try…

• Pennants or small flags. This is particularly easy in the US, where most sports team, camps, and societies seem to do their own little bunting flags. There’s no need to sew these together to make a valance. You can simply tie them up in a row, possibly with a little bit of ribbon if they don’t come with attachments of their own. Great for kids’ rooms.
• DIY with fun fabric. This will require some basic DIY skills again. All you really need to do is make a long and flat U-frame to shape the valance. Polystyrene is a good option for a lightweight material to use for this – you can get it in the form of ‘insulation panels’ from most DIY stores. You can pick up some interesting fabric (you won’t need very much after all!) for surprisingly little too. Then all you need to do is wrap your fabric around your carefully measured A-frame and pin it in place. Make sure the pattern is straight!

Curtains

New curtains can be horribly expensive – especially if you’re trying to match existing décor. So why not make your own matching sets for a fraction of the cost of buying them new?

How about…

• Re-purposing old bed sheets. You’re going to need some basic sewing skills for this one, but the world is then your oyster when it comes to plaits and ruffles.
• Printing designs on plain linen curtains. Saving you the expense of pricey patterns, is this fun solution. The easiest way to do this is with stencils and spray paint. But you could also make a stamp out of a sponge for easy repeat patterns.

If you’re at all worried about marking your windows, it’s probably best to check with your window cleaning company first, or you might end up with some permanent additions to your glass!

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Source by Brianne Andrews