Hey guys! This project came about because I bought some sweet framed botanical framed prints from Antique Farm House to hang on either side of our bay window in our living room. I absolutely love the botanical prints, but after hanging them I felt that the room needed something extra to balance it out.
I first saw these window treatments a while back on Maria Louise Design and thought they were so pretty! But at the time I didn’t have a room where I thought they’d be a good fit for until now. And I’ve never seen these used for a bay window, so I had no idea how it was going to turn out.
What You’ll Need:
Supplies:
- Reclaimed wood (I used reclaimed fence boards that were 12″ wide and 3/4″ thick)
- Hooks and screws
- Wood screws
- Command hooks
- Curtain panels
I’ve included the links for all the supplies below (except for the reclaimed wood).
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click through and make a purchase. If you do make a purchase through one of my affiliate links, thank you so much for helping support my blog!
Tools:
- Hand or table saw
- Power drill
- Measuring tape
- Level
- Angle ruler
- Pencil or chalk
I measured the width of my windows including the trim and cut my reclaimed wood accordingly. For example, the single window in my living room measures 40″ wide, so I cut my reclaimed wood to the same width to measure 40″ x 8″.
Cutting the wood for the bay window was a little more tricky. The large window measures 65″ and the two small windows measure 29″ each. I cut one piece of wood to measure 65″ x 8″ and two more pieces at 29″ x 8″. Then I measured the ends that would meet in between the windows with the angle ruler and cut them at a 22 1/2 degree angle so they would fit together nicely.
I measured the distance between the curtain tabs so knew how far apart to place the hooks on the wood. They measure 7″ across from the mid points of each tab, so I decided to place the hooks on the wood at 6″ intervals so the curtains would hang nicely but not too tightly.
I calculated the number of hooks I would need for the bay window by taking the total length of the boards put together and dividing it by 6 since I would be placing a hook every 6 inches on the board: 65 + 29 + 29 = 123 / 6 = 20.5, so I would need 21 hooks (you’ll need one additional hook as a starting point of the row of hooks on the board). You’ll notice that it came out to 20.5, which means I had an extra 3 inches on the board. I split the difference by leaving 1 1/2″ between the end of the board and the first hook on either end.
I did the same for the side window, but since it was one window it was a little easier: 40 / 6 = 6.66, which means I would need 7 hooks with 2″ between the edge of the board and the first hook.
I screwed the longest board into the wall over the bay window first, then fit in the two side boards and screwed them into the wall as well.
Since the curtain panels have 9 tabs each and the side window only had 7 hooks, I cut and sewed 2 of the panels to have 7 tabs each and then crossed and overlapped them over each other in the window.
For the bay window, I took two panels and starting at each corner of the big window, I worked them toward the center and crossed and overlapped them in the center. Then I took another two curtain panels and starting at the edge of each small window worked them over the small window and then overlapped them over the curtains in the big window. I used Command hooks which I attached to the window trim to hook the knots I made in each curtain panel to keep them in place.
You don’t have to hang your curtains the same way – experiment a bit and have fun finding different cute ways to hang them!
The cat on the couch is Baby Girl, one of our 11 cats. This is her favorite place to sleep, so we think of this room as hers 🙂
I really love how these turned out! They add that little extra something this room needed to give it a finished look.
While I was taking pictures, Baby Girl sat up and put her ears back as if to say “Enough pictures already!” so I will leave it at that 🙂
I hope you enjoyed this project! If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments section below. I’m sure I didn’t explain it as well as I could have so any questions you may have will help me iron out any kinks I have in my instructions.
Until next time!
I love it, the fabric against the wood is so opposites attract!
Thanks so much Christine!
What kind of curtains would i get that have those loops at the top so that they hang like that?
They are called Tab Top curtain panels Carla
Hi Carla! I’m sorry I didn’t see your question until now. Like Kani said, they are called tab topped curtains and I put the link for Amazon where I got mine.
Those are stunning.
Thanks so much Jeanie!
I made some for my little entry area, love them
Awesome! 🙂
Michelle,
Thanks for the shout out! Love the window treatments and how yours turned out!
XO,
Maria
Thanks so much Maria!
MICHELLE,
I love this and am going to replicate in our bedroom. Im about to order the tab panels and am wondering how much extra length should I allow in order to allow for the knot tied in the curtain?
Thank you for sharing your idea! I just love it!
Sincerely,
Jill
Hi Jill! I’d give the curtains around 3 feet extra length for the knot.
For example, my windows are 65″ long and the curtains I have are 98″ long. 98 – 65 = 33, and taking in account for how far the curtain hangs above the window is roughly 6″, that would be 39″.
I hope this helps! 🙂
Hi Michelle,
I just love the look of these window treatments! I think they will work beautifully in our living room too. I will certainly give them a try.
Regards,
Lucienne
Hi! I love it! We just bought a house and this is my goal. The window with is 36 inch.. so I assume because the width of the curtain is 55 inch there is felt over curtin because they lay flat? Did you have to adjust your curtain width? I just didn’t know if I could maybe try and us one curtain panel per window and do 27.6 inches.
Just your thoughts on the width part of this project?
Great job !! Looks great in your room. I was thinking about that in my bedroom or office. Thanks for the great information. Suzann
I want to use this window treatment for a 3 ft wide x 5 ft high window with no frame. Because I rent, I prefer not to drill the wood plank into the wall. Any reason Command Strips wouldn’t work to attach the wood plank with hooks? The curtain panels are very light weight.
Hi! I love these and would love to make them. Where did you get the reclaimed wood from?
Thank you!
Lacy
Hi Lacy! Almost all my reclaimed wood projects (including this one) are made from old fence boards. I never run out of wood because it seems like there’s always someone I know replacing their fence and they’re more than happy to let me haul away the old boards!
I have a window over my sink and then a taller window, similar to yours, by kitchen table I would like to do this.
How do you recommend to estimate what length of curtains to get? Thanks
Hi Michelle
So beautiful and creative! My window is 118” wide. The curtains you used were 55”x98” for your 65” wide window. The only curtains you altered were for the smaller window I believe. How do I figure out what size curtains I need for my window? Are the curtains you used 55” total width or is each curtain panel 55”? Thank you for your help
Louann
Hi Louann! I try to get the width of the panels in total around twice as wide as the window. So for 118″ window, you would need 4 panels at 55″ each = 220″, which is a little short of being twice as wide as your window. Try it with 4 panels first, and then if they don’t hang the way you like them to you can always get 2 more panels. I hope that helps! 🙂