Q: I am utterly overwhelmed by installing a decent black-out curtain or shade in Isaac’s room. He needs darkness to nap. Towels flung over a pressure-sensitive rod do the trick but . . . .
It’s an over-sized window, with an air-conditioner installed at the top, and ugly metal looking brackets on either side of the a/c across the width of the window…. Our goal is – a black out layer, something pretty over it (eg more sheer or decorative)….either above the a/c or starting everything below it.
A: Wow, this IS a design challenge! Thanks for writing. (I shortened the question for clarity – hope you don’t mind.)
In sum, you need to be able to darken the room w/ the A/C running, but the room should look cute whether it’s on or off.
I suggest installing a blackout roller shade in the middle of the window, right below the A/C. Get a color instead of white. (You can order roller shades yourself from online resources – Smith + Noble is decent; YourBlinds.com has Hunter Douglas products and excellent customer service.) With that shade pulled down over the lower half of the window and the A/C blocking the upper half, the room will be dark.
We’re not done: leaving it at that would look odd, and I want to be able to cover that ugly A/C when it’s not being used.
So let’s replace your ugly brackets with one new bracket & rod set at the top of the window, and one set in the center of the window. (These are from Rejuvenation – they have excellent hardware and period light fixtures.)
Still with me? On the rods, hang 2 sets of cafe curtains, one covering the A/C at the top, the other covering the roller shade at the bottom. Ring-top or tab-top curtains are easiest to pull back. (This picture is of Pottery Barn’s Hudson cafe curtains with a valence at the top; I’m suggesting 2 sets of the curtains for you – no valence.)
If the window is oversized height-wise, you may have to buy regular curtains and hem them. This is what Stitch Witchery is for; most Ikea curtains come with it. (More about Ikea in an earlier blog entry.)
So in sum, divide and conquer. You’ll be able to draw each set of curtains separately depending on whether the A/C is off or on and whether you want to block the light or just filter it.
