Hey guys!

I made my girls some window panels for their room today.  These are so easy to make, and can go in pretty much any room of the house.  If you can handle a hot glue gun, you can master these.  I added some stripes to the girls’, but you can totally skip that part for a neutral panel.

Here is how theirs turned out!

For the fabric I use this drop cloth from Lowe’s.

This is a long drop cloth that is already hemmed on all the edges.  One drop cloth will make 2 long valance… Cheap!

I always start by cutting the drop cloth in half which leaves me with 2 pieces that are about 4′ x 7.5′.

For those of you that want to add some stripes… Here is where I did it.  If you don’t, just skip to the next part!

I used blue painter’s tape to section off a few stripes at the hemmed end of both pieces.

Next I used acrylic paint and foam brushes to fill in my lines… Easy!

That’s it for the lines!  Let the paint dry and you are ready to finish them off!

Now I added my top hot glue hem.  I cut my panels 2″ longer than the finished length I wanted them.

Next, I folded that end 1″ and ironed it.

Then I folded it again and ironed the fold.

Here is where “Old Trusty” comes in…

I used my hot glue gun to hold down that fold.  This is my hot glue gun.  Don’t judge… It’s been very loved.

I bought this one at Walmart and it is my very favorite hot glue gun.  And it’s $6.  Best power tool a mom can buy.

That’s it!  Once you glue that hem down the panel is finished!

This is what I did for the hardware.  I love wood drapery hardware, but it costs a pretty penny.  So… I made my own for my bathroom a while back and decided to do the same here!

Here is what you will need…

Wood pole from Home Depot or Lowe’s.  You can have them cut it to the length you need it.

I use these rod brackets from Lowe’s.  They are in the wood section by dowels.

I also use these finials found in the same section at Lowe’s.

I cut the wood pole to the size I needed and gave everything a coat of my NEW fav…

You can find Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain at Lowe’s as well.  Loving the Kona color…

I attached the wood brackets to the wall with screws and hung everything up.  To attach the finials you just screw them into both ends of the pole.

For my drapery rings I used these that I found at Lowe’s.  You can also find these at Hobby Lobby.

Just clip your panels up and that’s it!

How easy are those?  They can be easily customized, or just left plain and simple.  And the best part… No sew baby!  Here are the girls’ all finished!

Hope you like them!  These really can be used in every room of the house.  You can customize them so easily and they can be made in no time at all!

If you like them, I would so appreciate some pins and shares below!  Hope you have a great Friday night!

Thanks so much!!

~Whitney

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90 Comments

  1. Wondering how I was going to put cheap drapes on front window for 11 years and now I know what to do. many thanks for your idea

  2. Saddened! Went to Lowes, HD and neither one sell those wood brackets. (I have been looking everywhere for those!) The drop cloths… $25 each! I could go to sears and buy ready made panels for cheaper. You girls are sooooo lucky to find what you need at great prices!

    1. If you have a Harbor Frieght around you those drop cloths are about $10-12 there. Sometimes you can find them at craft places like Hobby Lobby (which is a good place to get the clip rings too on the half price sale weeks).

  3. Holy cow, I LOVE these! What a great idea. I love that you can customize them any way that you want and they are super inexpensive to make. Thanks for another great project! 🙂

  4. I used your idea to the diaper boxes out of drop cloth and loved them, only question is how did you get the creases out for these drapes? I ironed the drop cloth but the creases would still not come out. What did u do? Thank you for this inspiration going to do it in my living room because purchasing drapes is just to expensive and this idea and look fits my need better! Thank you

  5. I was JUST telling my husband about using drop cloths for decorating and he was quite unsure of that . . . will have to show him this post! Love the addition of the stripes. Question – how do you then clean these are are they kind of ‘disposable’?

    1. Found drop clothes back in 1992 when my duaghter got her first apartment to make drapes – been using them every since. I sew, but in my latest project for my daughter in her new home were the drapes in the living room. The same concept was used, but I also sewed a decorator strip of fabric across the drapes about 1 foot from the top. The fabric had a narrow stripes of the same color as the drop cloth drapes, as well as, black, gold, and brown which coordinated with her room. Very classy look .