I recommend IKEA for panels and blinds if you live near one. They have nice linen panels as well as pleated, roller and other blinds all well-priced.

I'll second bluebird's recommendation on the paper blinds. You just cut the width to size, if it's not what you need, and hang (self-stick). They give total privacy and look fine. I did a kitchen face lift last January and the sun was so bright against the snow that it was blinding. Used them for the first time and they were great. Here's a link to them at several places.Paper temporary blinds

Redi-shades -online or home Depot or Lowes.

Look into spring loaded rods...you can fit them inside the window at whatever height you want and no holes or drilling required. Then hang whatever you want from them for privacy...be it inexpensive curtains or using clip rings to clip on linen hand towels or printed pillow cases or even a hunk of fabric...you can "hem" the fabric yourself by using the iron on stitch witchery...or fabric glue, or even a glue gun. With the spring loaded rods, you can also raise and lower them to whatever height you want...maybe lower during the day for more light, higher at night for more privacy...

Wish I lived closer to an Ikea. It would be at least a 3 hour drive, each way.

I think those paper shades will do the trick for the master bath as I don't have to cover the window all the way up. I can leave the top third open for sunlight and sky and still have privacy in the back.

I don't want to block out the light and sky in the living and dining. I guess I could cover the lower sashes and leave the top open. I assume those Redi-shades aren't operable? Reading the description, it doesn't say anything about raising or lowering.

In one end of my sunroom, surrounding my daybed, I put up off-white crinkle sheers on tension rods. I had those for my previous house for temporary use. When we were on a trip, I popped those into my windows in my family room to help conceal the fact that we were gone. I don't have enough of those for all nine windows and the sliding doors in the sunroom. But, it helps me with privacy with the workmen coming and going outside.

Thanks

Do you think using these would be "penny-wise, pound foolish?"

These pure linen sheer shades would fit my living and dining windows, at a sale price of $42 each. I could mount the shades inside using tension rods. I wouldn't untie them once up.

I think these would get me by for a year.

Does this look too much like a bedroom? Too "young" for me?

My house, although colonial, has small rooms with paneling painted white, so I think of it as a cottage. Floors are refinished and stained dark walnut.

I have substantial, original window trim and the sills have the piece that is called a "stool" that comes out an inch or so on each side and on the front edge.

Thanks.

If you're planning to go with something temporary for a year, I wouldn't recommend paper shades. Maybe there's a difference in brands, but our designer had them installed in our home while we were waiting on our shutters to arrive, and I hated them after the first week, when at least one came crashing down on a daily basis no matter how well we thought we had them adhered with the sticky stuff.

That's a really pretty shade that you've just posted. You might try looking online (I found several nice and quite affordable gently used curtain sets for my previous home on Etsy) to see if there's something you can use that won't break the bank.

I love JC Penney's for reasonably priced curtains and drapes. I would also check online at overstock.com

I agree with Jen -paper shades fall off- I ended up stapling them to the inside of the window frame. I've used everything from window film to bed sheets depending on the situation and have had luck with Home Goods, Tuesday Morning and even Kmart, especially if you can find the Martha Stewart brand on sale. You also can order Ikea on-line.

I looked at Bed Bath and Beyond today. Nothing was interesting.

What about these panels for the bath (until I can get plantation shutters)? These look mounted with tension rods top and bottom--what would be door window panels usually attached with flat sash rods. My pedestal tub is a refinished 1933 with a "telephone" handheld shower and spout.

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those look terrific! I, too, really like to have light and view at the top. I put plantation shutters in some very large windows in my master bath and had them made so the top louvers operate separately and can be left open. If I were to do it again, I'd have the shutters made just for the bottom part of the window and leave the top bare.

I am sorry, I don't have pictures... but in a similar situation when I first moved here, I put hooks on the window frames, put button holes in the fabric paint cloth and hung them. During the day when I wanted them open I just took one side off, and slipped it over on the hook of the other side. It was temporary! It worked, It was reasonable.

Later I used those drop cloth when I was painting furniture in the garage...

Moni

I used tension rods, cheap white flat sheets and clip on rings. They actually looked pretty good.

The bath isn't finished--the tile grouting needs to be finished; the picture molding needs to be finished; the wood grilles/muntins need to go in the windows and the tub/faucet needs to be placed; the shower floor tile needs to be installed and the glass walls installed.

I'm thinking of using blue toile cafe curtains on tension rods to cover 2/3 of the windows for right now. Not expensive and when I decide on the permanent window treatments, I can move the curtains to an upstairs room.

I would wait forever for their workmanship!

You can see why it's taking so long! Each piece of picture molding is drawn out on the wall in proportion. Where there will be towel racks, he puts a molding above and below to make it look proportional. Same guy did all the tile. The floors are heated and he laid the electric wires for that, too. He matched the window trim to the original house.

BTW -- our building code won't allow a chandelier to be within 8' of a tub or shower.. So, there is a SolaTube centered over the tub. The two wooden bead chandeliers are centered outside the windows, in the "walk" area of the long bathroom. It is 8.5' x 20'.

My tiny master bedroom! I wanted a large bath, walk-in closet, mudroom and laundry, so I sacrificed for the bedroom since it's for sleeping.

This is the overhead chandelier -- should the window rods and clips be pewter or black?