Inexpensive Bamboo Shades | $100 Room Challenge Week 3

This week has been all about the inexpensive bamboo shades.  I might have been a bit overboard obsessive in my hunt for these blinds.  However,  I feel justified in the fact that I have to get our master bedroom done for only $100! If you are just joining me I am currently on week 3 of the $100 Room Challenge hosted by Erin over at Lemons Lavender and Laundry. I am so close to finishing this challenge and I am loving the progress so far! Below is a BEFORE picture of our bedroom and the windows. You can also check out week 1 HERE and week 2 HERE.

Inexpensive Bamboo Shades

This week my main focus was finding budget friendly bamboo shades. Let me start by saying bamboo shades are generally “inexpensive” relatively speaking.  You can find great ones at Lowes or Home Depot for under $100 depending on your window size.  However, when you only have $20 left to spend and a 69 inch wide window like me, $20 dollars is almost a joke!  It was time to get creative!

I scoured Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, garage sales and so did my mom and sister.  All with no luck.  I was not going to give up because I really felt like the bamboo blinds would be the icing on the cake in this makeover!

Google for the Win

The next option became looking for 3 separate shades.  We figured out that three 24 in. by 72 in. individual blinds would fit perfectly across our window.  So I started googling “bamboo shades IKEA”.  Random, I know.  Mostly because I hoped that IKEA sold bamboo shades and second,  that they would be cheap.  I was desperate!  I scrolled across the google results and this Big Lots add popped up!

I nearly jumped off the couch when I saw that they were only $8!  Seriously, $8 is amazing, right?  I immediately called my local Big Lots store to see if they carried them or had them in stock.  They did,  and the next day I went by and grabbed 3 boxes like the package below.

The only problem (so far) was that, if you recall I only had $20 to spend, not $24.  AHHH! This however was my only viable option.  Four dollars over budget doesn’t seem too bad, right?  Well it was just killing the rule follower in me! So I chatted with my husband and sister and they brought up the fact that I din’t use all of the 3rd $15 sheet of plywood for my shiplap wall that I shared last week.  Since I was planning to use it for another project (our bathroom), why not just put in the budget that I only spent $7.50 on that one board since I did use less than half of it?  Well folks that is what I plan on doing. You can see my adjustments in the budget at the end of this post!

On to the Shades!

Now that I had the shades I had to figure out if they would work.  Below you can see that these shades hang off of cup hooks. But you can also see that they are not that appealing to the eye. I mean,  look at all the cords and ugly hooks that are exposed. Yuck!

Once I had the three shades hung up and they were all level I knew I needed them to look pretty.  So unfortunately I had to throw “basic functionality” out the window! (I think I am so funny sometimes 😉 ) I decided to fold them up to basically cover the ugliness.

Also, do you notice how the far left shade is longer than the other two? I had my work cut out for me!

What I ended up having to do was fold them up and place each fold over the cup hooks.  The cup hooks perfectly held and secured the bamboo.  The picture above shows the two shades on the left folded 2 times and the far right shade only folded up once. Luckily,  they were able to fit on the cup hooks and the bamboo itself was extremely flexible. Which also helped when it came to straightening them all out.

The Secret

My original blinds are still behind the bamboo shades! 🙂

The funny thing is that I never ended up removing the white wooden blinds that were originally on the window! They are just hidden behind the folded bamboo blinds which now serve as more of a bamboo valance. It works for us for now! Plus we can still use our original blinds at night!

All Hung Up

Here is a quick peek at the finished product!  I will save the pretty pictures for next week when I show you the entire master bedroom finished! But I must say,  I felt pretty darn clever for figuring out how to make these bamboo shades work and for so cheap!

 

Love this look!

What do you think? I personally LOVE them! You should see the difference they make in the room. They add that perfect coastal touch that I was craving!

Oh, and I did also receive the bed skirt in the mail and was able to put it on the bed.  I plan on sharing that next week as well.  So,  two more items were checked off my list.  I am getting so close to being finished!

The Budget

So far this is what I have spent…

Plywood board 2 x $15 = $30

1/2 Plywood Board 1 at  $7.50

Trim for the top 2 x $7 = $14

Trim for the sides 2 x $3 = $6

Bed Skirt $15

Paint/Tools- I already had! (Thank goodness)

Inexpensive Bamboo Shades from Big Lots 3 x $8 = $24

Total = $96.50

The Final Week

It appears that going in to this last week I have $3.50 left in the budget! It also looks like I better kick it into high gear because the deadline is approaching a lot quicker than I thought. Wish me luck my friends!

I hope you will stop by again next week to see the final reveal of our Master Bedroom!

XOXO,

Kelly

/Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 /

Don’t forget to look at the progress of the other bloggers in this challenge! Just click on the pictures below.