I am looking for an easy, temporary way to hang drapes. All my bedrooms have blinds on the windows, but when my daughter comes with the baby, she likes the room pitch black, which the blinds do not allow. In the past, she has brought with her a portable black out that attaches to the window by suction cups, but it is too small for my windows, so we tape up cardboard for the other part; not pretty from the outside!
I was going to buy cheap blackout drapes to hang when they are here, but do not want to install a curtain rod. My initial thought was to get curtains with the grommet top and put a few nails at the top of the window trim to hook the grommets onto. I could them remove the nails when not in use, and no one would see the holes. I realize the curtain may not hang as nicely as it would with a rod, but this is just for function, not beauty!
Any other thoughts on how best to accomplish this? I thought about a tension bar behind the blinds where the curtain would be inside, but there isn’t enough depth between the blinds and the window to install a rod. I think curtains over the blinds will give my daughter the darkness she wants as most of the cheaper blackout drapes really don’t filter all light.
I don’t recommend this for beauty, but in a similar situation I put twin fitted sheets over the window. Window has blinds but they let in too much light. So I hooked a black twin sheet over the blinds at the top and around the windowsill at the bottom. If your blinds are interior mount, a couple cup hooks on the top molding would hold the sheet. Sheets vary in their lightfastness but regular cotton ones were enough for my windows. Two per window might work if they are thinner. Nice and temporary.
Start w post #2 ideas, but how about command adhesive hooks to hold a rod for the curtain/ sheets/grommeted drape (tablecloth, maybe?) up? There are some pretty big ones, and with one in the center of the window, if needed might just do the trick.
We’ve had an old dark colored duvet cover thumb tacked to the top of the window frame over the pleated shades in my S’s room where GS sleeps here since he was born. We don’t use the room otherwise so it works to leave it up, but three small tacks have kept it in place for almost 2 years now.
@momofsenior1 Eye mask would be a no no for a 12 month old
We have done the cardboard in the past, actually flatten USPS shipping boxes, as that is all we had! While no one complained, this is a ground level bedroom on the front side of our townhome, so it didn’t look nice from the outside. The idea of heavy paper, maybe Kraft paper would do the job directly on the windows. That way I could use doublesided tape; with the cardboard, I have to use gray tape to keep it up. The thought of drapes were so the neighbors didn’t have to look at what we put up; almost everyone has blinds.
My daughter insists the baby sleep in a totally darkened room; which room she sleeps in depends on whether my son and his family are here also, which is why I want something temporary. When we downsized, I got rid of extra blankets and comforters not needed. This is a large window, which I just realize is just a tad smaller than the king comforter on the queen bed in that room. No one will be sleeping there this trip, so if I can find command hooks large enough to hold it up, that could work. Off to search!!
LOL. I thought it was for your daughter. My baby experience with mine is she could sleep anywhere, anytime, in any time of lighting. Never gave it a thought that it could be for the baby ; )
I just came up with another idea, that will be cheaper! I think if I use a roll of black or maybe beige, thick, shelf liner, like used for wired shelves, I can tape or use velcro dots, to place on each window pane. This way I can remove when the baby is gone, and reuse, as I can roll up each piece. With the blinds in place, this should be plenty dark without light seeping around the drapes. Same concept as the cardboard, but better looking from the outside.
@BunsenBurner Unfortunately the film is not reusable; I don’t want to leave it up when the kids aren’t here. Otherwise, I was really thinking of buying that the last time they were here.
When my daughter was a freshman in college her dorm window overlooked a bright neon light across the street. The blinds that the college supplied didn’t do it and she was having problems sleeping with the bright light (even with an eye mask). I bought inexpensive black out curtains in Target and a tension curtain rod (like the one in the link above). It worked great (until the RA decided after a few inspections where they said they were OK that now they were a danger because they were not made of flame retardant material).
@thumper1 A tension bar was a thought, but I don’t have the depth to mount as an inside mount due to the blinds.
I like to over think things, and after looking at the cheap blackout drapes and how to hang them, I think we have decided to just put up the shelf liner with double stick tape of some sort. I have measured the individual windows; there are 3 together with the two end ones smaller than the center. We will do whatever it takes to keep the little princess asleep during naps and the morning
My college kids have used the large command adhesive hooks with curtain rods in various apartments where they were not permitted to make holes in walls, and they work great. We used rubber bands to secure the rod ends to the hooks to keep the rods stationary.
