Howdy. Hope all is well with you.
Today I wanted to show you the curtains I made to cover Freedom's skylight windows. Our 1998 Ford Conversion van has long, narrow windows in the high top portion of the roof and they are set at an angle. Boy do they let in a lot of heat. And that can be useful or brutal; I needed a way to regulate it.
The solution was a long narrow strip of Reflectix for each of those strips of windows along both sides. Reflectix is so useful, but it's so ugly; some curtains were in order. I also wanted a way to let the sun shine into those skylight windows should we be caught in a cold spell somewhere. Reflectix fixes both problems.
If the sun is shining and it's cold out, the Reflectix comes down along with the curtains. Lots of warming is on its way. If it's warm outside, the Reflectix goes up as well as the curtains and that brutal heat is tamed. Put 'em up, take 'em down.... Rawwhhhhhhide!!!! OOPS! Sorry go carried away. But hey, do you remember Clint Eastwood playing Rowdy Yates? Oh my.... Where was I? Oh yes, Freedom's curtains.
Once on the road there may be need of adjustments. Or the curtains may get an overhaul at some point but for now they are working and I like how they look (I LOVE that blue!).
This is Reflectix, being used here in the windows of the side doors to reflect heat. I used this photo because Freedom is in storage and basically I am too lazy to go over there and get a different photo :-) If you look closely you can see the skylight windows at the top left corner.
If you remember from a previous post the other side of the Reflextic is covered with black, tightly woven fabric. That side will be used at night if we need to be in stealth mode. That post is here https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3720370496126944301#editor/target=post;postID=916008398565535451;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=7;src=postnameERE.
Below are the curtains I made for the skylight windows. It's just a long, long strip of fabric (did I mention I LOVE this blue?) with a casing sewn along each long edge, top and bottom. Florist wire was used in the casings to hold the curtains' shape and position; I didn't want them hanging straight down, but rather held in place up against the angle of those windows. The florist wire along the bottom edge does the trick by helping to keep the bottom resting on the ledge just below the windows. I used small drapery hooks to hang them up. I attached a safety pin to the curtain from the back, going in behind the florist wire and then back through the fabric and then closed the safety pin. The pin was then hooked over the pointy, straight, open hook part of the drapery hook. (EW, too many hooks in that sentence, but I don't know how else to explain it.) Then the part of the hook that would normally attach to the drapery rod attachment is hung over the strip of wood trim that runs along the top of those long, narrow windows. It's a bit saggy, and I need to adjust where the hook is attached to the fabric and/or add more hooks so it will hang just along the top edge of the wood trim like it does ion the right side of this photo. These hooks will make the curtain easy to take down and put up.
Today I wanted to show you the curtains I made to cover Freedom's skylight windows. Our 1998 Ford Conversion van has long, narrow windows in the high top portion of the roof and they are set at an angle. Boy do they let in a lot of heat. And that can be useful or brutal; I needed a way to regulate it.
The solution was a long narrow strip of Reflectix for each of those strips of windows along both sides. Reflectix is so useful, but it's so ugly; some curtains were in order. I also wanted a way to let the sun shine into those skylight windows should we be caught in a cold spell somewhere. Reflectix fixes both problems.
If the sun is shining and it's cold out, the Reflectix comes down along with the curtains. Lots of warming is on its way. If it's warm outside, the Reflectix goes up as well as the curtains and that brutal heat is tamed. Put 'em up, take 'em down.... Rawwhhhhhhide!!!! OOPS! Sorry go carried away. But hey, do you remember Clint Eastwood playing Rowdy Yates? Oh my.... Where was I? Oh yes, Freedom's curtains.
Once on the road there may be need of adjustments. Or the curtains may get an overhaul at some point but for now they are working and I like how they look (I LOVE that blue!).
This is Reflectix, being used here in the windows of the side doors to reflect heat. I used this photo because Freedom is in storage and basically I am too lazy to go over there and get a different photo :-) If you look closely you can see the skylight windows at the top left corner.
If you remember from a previous post the other side of the Reflextic is covered with black, tightly woven fabric. That side will be used at night if we need to be in stealth mode. That post is here https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3720370496126944301#editor/target=post;postID=916008398565535451;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=7;src=postnameERE.
Below are the curtains I made for the skylight windows. It's just a long, long strip of fabric (did I mention I LOVE this blue?) with a casing sewn along each long edge, top and bottom. Florist wire was used in the casings to hold the curtains' shape and position; I didn't want them hanging straight down, but rather held in place up against the angle of those windows. The florist wire along the bottom edge does the trick by helping to keep the bottom resting on the ledge just below the windows. I used small drapery hooks to hang them up. I attached a safety pin to the curtain from the back, going in behind the florist wire and then back through the fabric and then closed the safety pin. The pin was then hooked over the pointy, straight, open hook part of the drapery hook. (EW, too many hooks in that sentence, but I don't know how else to explain it.) Then the part of the hook that would normally attach to the drapery rod attachment is hung over the strip of wood trim that runs along the top of those long, narrow windows. It's a bit saggy, and I need to adjust where the hook is attached to the fabric and/or add more hooks so it will hang just along the top edge of the wood trim like it does ion the right side of this photo. These hooks will make the curtain easy to take down and put up.
Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs today. We appreciate your interest in reading about the process of getting Freedom ready to roll and our planned future of adventure.
The Chiweenie Brothers, Burger, and I wish you a lovely day.
Hugs, Shawna
It is such a pretty shade of blue and should really do the trick! Good job!! :)
ReplyDeleteLove, Ila