A Cheap Change Of Curtains

When people ask what I blog about, I usually hem and haw because of my "niche-less" status. I mean, I actually do like to decorate my house á la cheap, but with our recent move, the busyness of my freelance work, family obligations, and so on, there's been little time to decorate the house (and blog and socialize...) until Sunday, when I found these:

Ooh la la, as my 7-year-old "Fancy Nancy" reading daughter would say. Aren't these curtains gorgeous? I lovvvve them. Where did I find them? Why, at Goodwill of course. Whaaa? Yes, two panels for $6.99.

I don't sew, but I can spot a good deal. You see, we needed a change, the original curtains matched these ones:

Ack! No offense to the previous owners (those are actually very high quality lined curtains and heavy to boot) but I have this thing about letting light in, without giving up privacy. Remember what I did in the kitchen?

So, I put those curtains on either side of our picture window and added two sheer panels (two for $4.99, also from Goodwill) for privacy without sacrificing light. It is good.

I did have to put them on the original rod, which is a curtain pulley system. Or to get technical and say I learned something:

"A rod that opens with a cord is called a traverse rod. This means that the drape traverses across the rod when you open or close it."

Okay, so I put these new curtains on the existing "traverse rod."

Why would I do this? Because; a) I was being extremely cheap and b) I like a challenge. (No told me that figuring out how to do this would involve some serious creativity and screwdrivers and such!) but I may end up putting them on a regular curtain rod, if of course, I find a good deal!

Remember, using what you have is a good thing. Being creative is also good. And let's face it, reusing and recycling is all the rage.

Where have you aspired to be creative and also save money?