How to Stop Light Leak With This Easy Fix
Made in the Shade!
Wait, what? What did I just write? Made in the shade? What a dumb thing to write. I don’t have it made in the shade. Does anyone have it made in the shade right now? (Except for the companies that make toilet paper, for some reason…) COVID is everywhere! It’s the freaking apocalypse! No, what I meant to write was, I made a shade!
Hi guys. It’s me. I hope you are all safe and well and holed up in your own (crappy?) houses. Like many of you, I have suddenly found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. I made a list of things to do whilst apocalypsing and making a shade for my kitchen window was at the very top of that list. You can see the window above. And the sun. The jerk sun that has stabbed my retinas every morning for the last nine years with her tiny light-knives. Finally time to cover her stupid, blinding face.
I already had the fabric, so I just had to measure the window and do some math. Then do some cutting and sewing. You know. Make a shade. Keep up.
As you can see, the stupid sun wasn’t giving up. She tried to squeeze around the edges of my new shade like some kind of primordial ooze. The dreaded light leak! I wasn’t having it. I came up with this easy fix…
That’s a piece of white cardboard with the edges painted to match the window trim. It might look dumb, but who’s going to ever know? (Except me and you guys. Just don’t tell anyone.) With the shade back in place, it looks like this.
Yeah, that is how you stop light leak. No more ooze! I beat the sun! #winning
You may be wondering what it looks like from the outside. Well, have a look…
It looks totally fine! And you were worried…
As usual, there’s no tutorial for you here. That’s what YouTube is for. What I am for is obnoxious displays of skill and talent that defy explanation. However, I do have some pictures of the back of the shade if you’re curious. Let the shade tell you how it was made…
As you may have noticed from those photos, this is not a “working” shade. Well, I mean it works in that it does the job of shading, but it does not open and close. This is a stationary Roman shade. Nothing interesting happens in my kitchen, but if you do stuff in your kitchen that you don’t want other people to (*ahem*) see, then you might consider a shade you can close. Just sayin.
So that’s my shade post. It’s also my kitchen island pendant light post. Did you notice? I finally picked lights! Honestly, I could do a whole separate post about that because I’m a crazy person who buys three sets of pendant lights and then changes her mind and doesn’t install them, but can’t return them, and keeps them in the garage to sell some day when she’s not lazy and there’s not a global pandemic. Should I? Do you care? Tell me.
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Haha just kidding. It’s only me and I’m not committed. Not yet…
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14 Comments
Missy
LOVE the fabric for the shade but LOVE the lights even more. It was the first thing I noticed in that picture. Great job as usual! Your kitchen looks beautiful!
My Crappy House
Thank you! They look like little terrariums.
em
Your shade looks great! You actually put in extra work to make it NOT operate, but who cares, it looks great from the front AND back. Best still, it does what you want it to do (how often do things do that?).
Awesome job! LOVE the colors of your cabinets, your tiles, your blog…
My Crappy House
You know, I couldn’t really figure out how to sew it without a seam showing on the front, so I tied it all up so every fold would be exactly where I want without any stitches showing through. Maaaaybe it could’ve been done more simply, but this really looks harder than it was. I had all of the rings and string from another (functioning) roman shade I made like 15 years ago and saved for parts.
Thanks for the love
Margaret A. Johnson
Awesome shade – Kitchen looks fabulous
My Crappy House
Thank you
Le
I need shades…can you shade my pantry from the evil stabbing of the sun?
Also, that last option in the poll was so funny. I was sorely tempted to pick that one, even though I was never wronged by any light fixture…a table…now that’s another story.
My Crappy House
You have an in-house seamstress, you know… Everything I know about sewing, I learned from my mommy!
Remember, certain people have been wronged by that light fixture hanging over your kitchen table… We’re lucky we’re short
Linda Vitale
I love the new shade, it looks beautiful in your gorgeous kitchen!
Your hand washing video is great you two are adorable!!
My Crappy House
I don’t know how I missed your comment, but a late reply is better than no reply, right? Many delayed thanks for your nice compliments
Frances Rasmussen
Love the shade. Cute PSA video…and you said: “Nothing interesting happens in my kitchen.”
My Crappy House
Hahaha yeah… but this was totally staged! I know, right? We seem so natural… We’re just fantastic actors. Hey, Hollywood! Check us out!
Shortie Rodriguez-Wilson
Love your sense of humor! Love your kitchen! Your shades came out awsome!
Love the lights
My Crappy House
Thank you so much