Friends... Roman Shades... Nurseries, lend me your eyes

Our house is an east/west facing house, with the nursery in the back. It has big windows that let in a ton of light. The large nursery window happens to face directly west, which will be great, when the baby doesn't need to sleep at all hours of the day. We bought the "blackout" roller shade which works except there is about a 1/2 inch gap on either side (due to my poor measurements) that still let a significant amount of light peep in. Also a plain vinyl-ish roller shade isn't exactly the most fashionable thing to hang in a nursery.

I wanted to have Roman shades made out of the fabric we are using for the bedding and the quotes I got to have them made were outrageous, Every quote ranged from $180 - $230 per window (and there are 2 in the nursery)! Considering the fabric I'm using is like $15 bucks a yard, I'd say these folks are overvaluing their ability to sew a hem on a rectangle and stick a string through it.

So Like any crazy person with ZERO sewing experience, I decided I was going to try to do it myself. So, as I do with all projects I googled it. I stumbled across a blog that had a no-sew roman shade  step by step tutorial....using mini-blinds. JACKPOT! I highly recommend it. Below are the after pics. We are just getting started on this room (sad, I know) so there's a lot more to come (like bedding, a glider, lamp, wall art etc.). I think it turned out pretty nice!

Here's the $ breakdown:
4 yards of fabric - $60
2 cheapo sets of mini blinds - $15
fabric glue - $4
heat n' bond $7
Total spent: $86

I got 2 custom roman shades for half the price it would have cost me to have one made. It's a great solution especially since we are renting and dropping major bucks on window treatments just isn't something renters do. The best part is if you already have mini-blinds up your halfway there just go pick out some fabric you like and some fabric glue and you are good to go!

Now go make some shades!