THE EASIEST TRICK TO TURN ANY CURTAINS YOU MAY HAVE TO DIY BLACKOUT CURTAINS, PERFECT FOR A NURSERY OR KID’S ROOMS.
Whoever the turd is that said you can sleep when your dead clearly never had tiny children. Sleep is crucial for survival. Mine, and everyone else’s around me if I don’t get enough.
Here’s something else you need to know: I’m super picky about curtains. That’s why we don’t have a lot in our house even though I love them because I’m just really picky about how they look and feel.
Finding blackout curtains that were not grommet top (which I don’t like) was proving to be difficult and we needed some for his nursery pronto. I have been searching for white blackout curtains for our daughter’s room, but that’s besides the point.
This little guy’s room needed gray blackout curtains, though. When I stumbled across these at Ikea, coupled with the price, I knew I had to get them. Only one problem, they weren’t blackout curtain material. So, I got creative instead!
Now, granted, I’m sure I am not the first one to do this or see this, but I still thought I would share this helpful trick! You ready?
BLACKOUT LINER!

That’s right guys – no sewing machine! Just curtains of your choice and blackout lining fabric!

Our curtains are from Ikea. Then I found these blackout curtain liner panels (affiliate) at Walmart! The ones I got originally are all sold out, boo, BUT I found these for the same price and great reviews! Then I found this fabric fuse (or sometimes it’s called hemming tape) for under $4 from Amazon.
This was literally the easiest thing ever.
Put a couple pieces on here in the middle and bottom of the existing curtain panels. This stuff is no sew, no frills, no fuss. Glorious.

Then I positioned them where I wanted to be using the clips we had for the top of our curtains and boom – instant DIY blackout curtains! You can do it too! All you’ll need is the beautiful, curtains of your choice and a blackout curtain liner or two.


We chose clips instead of just hanging them directly on the rod because our windows are a little high in this room and so we bought 95″ curtains and 95″ blackout panels and I just hemmed them to the right length. I figured since I was hemming and I’m a novice seamstress, I wanted to give myself some room for error and use the clips to adjust height here. This ain’t a sewing blog. It’s a mediocre home reno blog. Let’s not fool ourselves. That’s it! Can you believe it?! Second shortest DIY project on this blog to date. (The first is here).
UPDATE: See these curtains in the completed nursery reveal here!
Again, this is probably somewhere on the blogosphere, but I was just so pleased that my hunt for black out curtains could be laid to rest with this trick to DIY my own and wanted to share with the rest of you fine folks!
Janelle
Saturday 11th of June 2022
Thank you! I kept buying black out curtains and none of them looked as good as my old curtains. Once I found this I went straight on Amazon found the liners and redid my old curtains and returned the black out curtains that didnt match well. Only thing is I had to buy the tape from Michaels because Amazon was forcing me to buy 2 rolls.
Jane
Sunday 27th of March 2022
Excellent idea. Wonderfully presented. Not a bunch of 10 min. click bate with maybe the information.
Angie
Saturday 29th of August 2020
I am going to have to find these blackout curtain liners. I didn’t know they made those til I ran across this article.
Carmen
Wednesday 16th of September 2020
YES! We got ours at Walmart, but I don't know if they still sell them anymore, I have a hard time finding them when people ask :(
Sue
Thursday 11th of June 2020
I just found your brilliant blog- got to say, so refreshing, a happy find rather than the blonde models with their rather Xtian fundamentalists ways, that they manage to squeeze in to every decorating tip, lol. Of course, I still steal any tips I can... So, I have some nice block/black out curtains from Walmart, a pretty pattern on a dark blue fabric. Only now I want to go with a more beige or gray or something lighter...thinking I can paint them with basic latex interior paint? Stencil or use painters tape to make stripes or a plaid thing? Just to forewarn you, I am currently figuring out recipes to paint my sofa, love seat and chair with ottoman. Latex satin, fabric softener and water blend...any ideas?
Carmen
Tuesday 16th of June 2020
I'm honestly not sure about painting curtains. I do know that you can paint fabric, but having never done it, I don't want to give bad advice!
Leslie
Saturday 23rd of May 2020
Kudos to your reply back to “Less” from 05/14/2020. ???????????? I hope They read it and realizes what a dumbass comment they made!
Carmen
Sunday 24th of May 2020
I don't have time for people like that - I'm all about giving grace but trolls can troll on to someone else.....