Finn’s room is coming along quite nicely.  And by “quite nicely,” I mean that nothing of interest has been done since I painted it.

Baby steps.  Baby steps.

Yesterday I busted out a roman shade for his window.  It is just for show.  Even though I love the look of roman shades, the process of opening and closing them twice a day is a pain-in-the-ass…  Since his blinds are in pretty good shape and not a wonky color (like my kitchen blinds were), I figured I would throw a valance up over the window to give it a little extra height and bring some more white into the room.

I fell in love with the greek key trim that I spotted at Hobby Lobby, and while I still think it is awesome, I’m a little on the fence about how I feel about it in Finn’s room.  I’m hoping once everything is pulled together, it won’t look so out-of-place.  Maybe it’s too girly.

Since the only thing I had to buy was the trim, I didn’t feel so bad about breaking the bank for what amounts to glorified ribbon… After my 40% off coupon it was $17.00; but everything else I used was lying around the house.  The white fabric is left over from Alice’s curtains and the length of 1×2 was raided from Nathan’s ever-growing scrap wood stash.

I made the shades about an inch and a half wider than the window.  I cut the fabric slightly larger than I needed so I could hem the seams with iron-on seam tape.  The fabric is only about two-thirds the size you would need to cover the whole window.

To attach the trim, I ironed on fuseable seam tape (with the peel-off paper) the entire length first; it needed two strips since it was so wide.

Once I peeled off the paper, I flipped it upside down and ironed it from the back.  The trim would have melted under the heat of the iron.

The mitered corners were the trickiest part, but were much easier than I thought they would be.  I made sure NOT to iron the trim all the way to the corner.  Then I folded the trim at a 45 degree angle backwards at the corner (away from the next edge) …

And then folded it back in the direction of the new edge.

Finally, I carefully flipped the whole thing over and ironed the hell out of the back.  (Even though none of that made sense in actual words, I hope the pictures made it easier to understand.).

I cut a length of 1×2 just shy of the length of my shade.  I used an old-school manual saw and miter box, but if I would have had to buy a new piece of wood at Home Depot, I would have had it cut there (for free – if Nathan wasn’t around).  They also have a self-serve hand saw and miter box to use in the trim department.

I hot glued the top of the fabric to the back of the 1×2.  To get the folds, I whipped out my handy-dandy electric stapler (literally one of the BEST Christmas presents I have ever received – Thanks, Mom!!) and popped two staples into the wood where I wanted my folds to be.  I also stapled the top of the fabric just for good measure.

To hang it on the wall, I marked a level line where I wanted the top of the shade to be and drove three screws through the wood.  I had a tiny bit of a sag in the middle of the fabric when I was done, so I popped a couple extra staples through the back of the fabric and into the wood.

I also hung Finn’s rhino head back up.  A few months ago, it leapt to its death and made sure to maim poor little Finny in the process.  After that trip to the ER, I decided to screw that bitch into the wall.  It. Does. Not. Move.

And wouldn’t ya know?  Finn hates it.

He thinks that he should have Spiderman curtains.  And I keep holding back from buying Spiderman sheets and pillows for two reasons… They are ugly AND I think he’ll be over Spiderman before I even send them through the washing machine once.  This second reason is mostly self-justification, though.  He has been totally into Spidey for over half of his life.  And that is a long time when you are four.

And Nathan wants the room to have a giant AT-AT from Star Wars in it.

I simply cannot win.  (This is why I do all this stuff without telling anyone before hand, I’ll have you know.)