After having a house of my own pre husband, I’m not a fan of apartment living and can’t wait until we have a house. But for now it works best for us and our current apartment is pretty nice. There are only a few things that I have a great disdain for . . . The one we’ll cover today is our bedroom window.

All the other windows in our house face trees, open grassy/park areas . . . in other words not other buildings or parking lots. It feels like we’re nestled back in our own private woodsey lot  . . . until you walk into our bedroom. The one window is about 10ft from where cars park and a street lamp . . . a motion sensored street lamp . . . that is on all night long.

We have dark, thick curtains ( these ) and they help a lot, but they aren’t blackout curtains. After many fitful nights sleep, I finally decided to add some blackout lining. I purchased 5 yards of this lining at Joann’s with a 50% coupon and a thread to match since I didn’t have that color in my stash for $18.

My curtain panels are 42×84 so I cut two lining panels at 40×80. This would gave me a little edging so the lining wasn’t visible from the front, and the 80” length made sure I hit the pre-made seam under the grommets which I wanted to keep.

Then I just simply ran it through my sewing machine – sewing the two together as close to the premade seam as I could. Since my curtains are ‘silk’ I have to hand wash them and by only sewing the top I can keep the the lining separated while I do so. I doubt hand washing would hurt the lining, but the washing machine doesn’t seem like the best idea. Don’t take my word for it though.

They’ve been up for a about a week, and I sleep so much better already. This might be the best $20 I’ve ever spent.