Some time back I stumbled upon the always stylish Jessica Alba and the recent re-decorating job she undertook for her daughters in Domino Magazine. Ms. Alba enlisted the help of Interior Design gurus Emily Current and Meritt Elliott in the space refresh. Both rooms were elegant, timeless and effortlessly cool while still maintaining an age appropriateness suitable for the two young girls. In one picture, featured in the article I took note of, was one rooms gorgeous white drapes with black pom fringe trim. The drapes, designed by Emily + Meritt for Pottery Barn Teen, seen here are sleek and neutral but add a bit of fun with the pom detail.
I kept these drapes in mind when decorating my daughters room in our new home when we moved to Kansas City. Unfortunately, a new home plus the cost of an out of state move, plus a new addition to the family in the form of our son meant that decorating came with a budget friendly price tag. It’s during times like these that the “Do It Yourself” section of my brain begins firing. If I can’t justify the cost of buying it how can I re-create it?
As you will see in this post, the answer to that question is, “quite easily!”
Step 1: Finding the curtains.
This step was a breeze with the help of my fave budget-friendly home decor stop for (literally) everything, IKEA! On a quick trip to our local IKEA I scooped up 3 sets of solid white panel curtains, similar here for $12.99 a piece. Approx. $40 total for the 3 windows in my daughters room. I also bought 3 RACKA Curtain Rods at $8.99 a piece. So my grand total from IKEA for this project was approximately $65 total.
Step 2: Finding the fringe.
I had decided to use a soft pink pom trim for the curtains and Joann Fabric Light Pink Pom Trim was exactly what I was looking for. The pom fringe trim retails for $3.99 per 4 foot length, however with their generous coupons available online, I did get that price at a discount.
Step 3: Putting it all together.
I do not sew. This is a very important fact to include in this post. Me + a sewing machine = Nothing good! The nice lady at Joann Fabrics listened to what I was trying to pull off here and wisely steered me to a magical substance called Fabric-Tac. Fabric-Tac, for those who haven’t been told of its miraculous abilities, completely eliminated the need of a sewing machine for this project. It is a fabric glue, and it works great!
With all my supplies at the ready, I headed home to do some serious DIY’ing. It truly could not have been easier.
First I ironed the curtain panels. I then laid each panel out, one at a time, on my dining room table and ran the pom trim down the length of each panel. I cut the pom trim to the appropriate length and glued it to the back-facing edge of the panel.
THAT’S IT!
After letting the panels dry overnight they were ready to hang. People, it’s been 3 plus years and they are still looking great, no trim has fallen off, and we get tons of compliments on them!
If you would choose to take on this super-easy project on your own, you can vary the way you apply the pom trim. In my daughter’s room, as seen above, I chose to run the trim down both sides of the panels. However, you could change it up and go with a more minimal look by running the trim down the inner edge or outer edge only.
Photo: Anthropologie
You could also run the trim horizontally across your curtain panels as shown in the above photo, available at Anthropologie. This example also shows that pom trim isn’t just appropriate for youth decor. You can incorporate this look in a very grown-up way in your own home.
Photo: Houzz
This simple little trim can add an unexpected style element, as well as elevate an average curtain panel to an important decorative element to your space. Grab that Fabric-Tac people and get to work on your window dressings!
