Making it myself - Camper Curtains

One of the first things we noticed with the new camper, while on our maiden voyage, three years ago, was that it had horizontal shades instead of curtains and they were attached at the top and bottom so they were secure. If the windows were open and the shades were pulled down there was almost no air flow. It wasn't a huge deal, we would simply leave the shades open at night when it got warm. Then we took a trip to the southern states last year and we stayed in a few RV parks where the days and nights were warm and the lack of trees didn't provide much shade from the bright sunshine.  We loved it except in the early morning when we were trying to sleep and the sun provided a very early, very bright alarm clock.  The black-out shading on the windows were little help when the windows were open. The screens provided almost no filter from the light.

It was at this point we discussed putting in curtains. Because they open vertically we could block off most of the window, providing shade from the sun and allowing air to flow freely. It also afforded us a some privacy at night when the inside lights were on.

While shopping the material two weeks ago, my husband felt that my sage green color I'd chose was too plain. He picked out a woodland theme that I really liked but thought would clash with the interior. The compromise was obvious; I'd make reversible curtains which obviously resolve the double thickness issue as well as give each of us the option to put them up and decide which worked best. (We'd decided earlier that I needed to line the curtains to prevent fading and do a better job of blocking the sun in the early morning hours.)

Last week I made the curtains, six of them. Hanging them was no small feat. The valances that came with the camper were attached before some of the cabinets. We didn't want to remove them completely and the material was just stapled on in an odd miss-mosh way that worked visually but made doing anything with them a pain in the back side. Ultimately we came up with a system of simple rods and hangers that could be attached to the valances from the inside. Small spaces made this time consuming but the end result worked.

The husband hung them. The woodland theme indeed clashed but the colors all worked.  The sage color looked great but when the sun shone in the pattern of the woodland material showed through and looked strange.  We decided the woodland pattern worked well enough, it is a camper after all, and the sage looked better from the outside looking in. We've gotten used to it and think it looks fine, but if it starts to bother us too much I've already figured out a way to cover the valance with the leftover sage material.  For now this works.