Laundry Room Remodel - Floor to Ceiling Curtains

jlhelms92
Mar 3, 2017
2 min read

As I mentioned in my first post about this remodel, our furnace, water heater, and water softener are all crammed into this narrow room. Both the furnace and water heater sit in the back corner of the room and they are one of the first things you'd notice when walking in from the garage. The goal was to find a way to hide this giant eyesore.

At first I contemplated purchasing a room divider, but with 9 ft ceilings we would have had to go the custom route to cover the height and at that point I wasn't ready to commit to a task so "large." Eventually it dawned on me to put up a set of curtains, from floor to ceiling, with a tension rod. I began the process of shopping for curtains and was having no luck finding reasonably priced 108" or even 96" curtains. I was NOT going to pay $40 (at least) for each curtain panel. Next I tried going the cheap route (Walmart, Big Lots) and even tried looking at sheets that I could turn into curtains, but couldn't find anything close to the height I needed, and I did not like the short look at all.

So that was a big nope. Just when I thought that I was out of luck, I checked out Kirkland's for the first time. Guess what? They actually sell 96" and on occasion 108" curtains! So?... It gets even better... I got a 96" SET for $35. Worth it. I had a choice of cream or deep red. At first I was leaning towards the cream, but once I decided I wanted gray walls, I thought the red would look good as an accent wall sort of thing.

Being only 96" long I had a 12" gap to think about. I tried living with the gap at the top and then at the bottom; I ended up deciding to just add an additional 10" of fabric to the curtains. I didn't do the full 12" to allow some breathing room for the furnace. I knew I could add fabric since I did it to the $5 Big Lots curtains in the living room. It is one of the simplest DIY projects I've done, no sewing required! I bought some burlap and a simple strip of ribbon to act as a nice divider between the two pieces of fabric. I line everything up and use Hobby Lobby's fabric glue! You only have to be careful nt to get it on the front of the curtains because it will soak through and stain. Once the panels were finished, I spray painted the tension rod white to blend in better with the ceiling.

...and viola!

...just like that my ugly furnace, water heater, and gas lines are gone! I was pretty impressed by how much difference this made. Yes, the room is a little shorter now, but honestly it doesn't feel like it because there wasn't necessarily much usable space. Now we use the space between the water heater and furnace for extra drinks like our 48 packs of water! It all stays hidden!