Securing the Home: DIY Edition

One thing we've established is that I'm a bit neurotic paranoid of a scaredy-cat. And ever since we moved into this house, I've one little issue that keeps bothering me.

This:

In our living room, I have my little place that I sit at every night enjoying my usual DVR of deliciousness (SYTYCD, Teen Mom, Bachelor Pad, mmmm... keepin' in klassy). Yet, I'm always scared that somebody's peeking in through the side windows at me! Nothing scares the shiz out of me more than when someone rings the doorbell and as I'm going to answer it, they suddenly pop their face into the window. Yes, I'm talkin' about you, next-door neighbor. No, not that one.

So I decided I would get some curtains for them - easy enough, right? Um, is it ever?

The first issue is that each side of the window is only 7 inches wide, so we really had to figure out how we would actually hang them.

My first thought was a tension rod. (Note to self: do not Google "7 inch rod" - like, EVER.) That was a big fail for more reasons than one, but mostly because I couldn't find a small enough tension rod.

So, Greg and I (and the sales associate at Lowe's) had to get a little creative. We decided we would buy hooks to screw in the top of the window area and then we cut a dowel rod to place in the hooks and voila!

When it came to the curtains, that was another story. I wanted to do something super-neutral and, uh, cheap. Thinking I'd just pick up cheapo curtains, I headed - where else? - Ikea! I couldn't really find anything I liked until I wandered into the fabric area and came across this awesome linen-esque, neutral fabric.

Side note: I came across this super-cute frame for $30 at Ikea. I think it would be so cute spray-painted (maybe in a nursery) or even just the way it is, but I have no place for it right now so left sans "Ung Drill."

So, I was back to making my own curtains, AGAIN. Read some not super descriptive directions on how to do that here.

Then, I just slid the curtains through the towel rod and placed it back on the hooks. Worked like a charm. While they're super-neutral, they're really more functional more than anything (no peeking into our household)! The damage? About $24.