Front Windows - Curtains and Blinds!

This past month has been a little crazy - Reebok CrossFit Games and the launch of a new school year (I work for a healthy school lunch provider). 

Despite the busyness, we have still been doing projects, just not writing about them! Our windows need serious help. From all the pictures I've posted, we all know that vertical blinds are what keeps me up at night. Blinds and curtains (I've now learned) can be a huge investment! One that we weren't ready to take yet. So, for the time being, I was just decorating around them. 

All my windows are at least 84" - which means most of the cheap-y curtains were out of the picture. I thought about making my own with some awesome fabric, but even then the panels (could) cost me around $30 each. 

I found 2 (matching!!) rods at Ross for $4.99 a piece. Score. Then I also happened to find a set of neutral panels in the clearance section at Home Goods, at the right length, for $10!

I also purchased two black tie backs for $2.99 each. It tied in the black cow rug, and it gave our curtains some definition.

I always resort to neutral color palette. I would love to be a bit more bold, but I couldn't pass up $10. It definitely adds to our front wall, don't you think? Now if we could just replace those darn vertical blinds...

Fast forward 2 days (and in the middle of writing this post...) I found them! Remember how I said the vertical blinds kept me up at night? I started hardcore researching pricing and brands etc. for pricing. I wanted to get away with as few windows needing blinds as possible. I talked with my parents and this was their advice: make sure you have matching 2" blinds for every window that is in the front of your house, facing the street. Okay, cool... We have 6 of those (7 sets of blinds though because 1 of our windows is a double wide).

God must have really been getting sick of me praying for new blinds because I walked into ReStore (local charity place where people take their home/yard materials they don't want), and just the day before a lady donated 6 sets of brand new 2" blinds with all the hardware ! All I needed to find was one more small set to fit a long awkward window in the study (I found one that matched!)! They were $7.50 per window. Yes, you read it correctly - for all the blinds in my house it cost us less than $75. Un-freakin-believable. My parents even flipped out, which says a lot since they are the king and queen of good deals. 

I promise a much better photo soon, but I was SO excited I snapped a quick photo and have been dying to post it!

And to thank ReStore for providing us with such a great steal, we removed our vertical blinds and donated them right back ;).