Quick, Easy, and Cheap Curtains for my Living Room

We have been trying to make our living room less formal and more practical. With 5 kids and only one TV, there were frequent arguments minor disagreements over what to watch. For Christmas, we bought the family a new TV for the living room and took out the coffee table to make more space. The 2 love seats face each other and it has become a favorite new spot to watch TV, do homework, play Barbies, or read. I had some formal swags and tiers that I had made for our old house about 17 years ago! I wanted something brighter and more casual.

I was at WalMart the other day and spied this pretty, striped home dec fabric on clearance for $5/yd. I looked through my excessive hoard stock of patterns and found this simple, reversible topper. I bought the black scroll fabric at JoAnn's for $7/yd. It only took 1 yard of each to make both valances, so I only spent $12 on the set!

Of course, I plan to choose one side to show at a time, but I put one of each up to see which I like better. I can't decide! My kids all voted for the stripes, which I like because it's light and has colors. But the black is very elegant and sets off the dark wood in the room, too. For $12, I have 2 new looks for my living room! The best part is, these only took 30 minutes each to make. The pattern I used is Butterick 6568. Leave a comment and tell me which look you like! Have a great day- back soon!  Lisa