DIY Bed Curtain for Kids Sharing a Room

Our girls have shared a room for almost their whole lives.  At least since number 2 left our room!

There is a bit of a problem right now as the oldest can read, and we let her after she goes to bed.  The younger does not yet read and claims the light makes it 'too hard' to sleep.  We tried having them in separate rooms, but that hasn't worked.  There is also a sleeping mask, but doesn't quite do the trick.

My suggestion of putting up a curtain was met with a big thumbs up.  I tried to figure out some way to put up a curtain.  First, we didn't want to make too big of a commitment because who knows if a curtain will solve the current problem.  Undoubtedly, the kids will at some time pull too hard and down will come down the fabric.  So attaching it to the wall or the ceiling would not be ideal.

First, I tried to get an inexpensive canopy bed to hang the curtain.

But I ended up getting scammed on gumtree.  Lesson learned:  07519379638 is a scam number, phillarkin37@gmail.com is a scam email and Paypal account.  Also, don't pay for anything by gift on Paypal!

Already out £60, and speculative about the whole project to begin with, Niall did not want me to do anything expensive.  So I ended up taking apart the existing bed, buying some new timber, and using the timber to make poles on two ends of the bed.

There was a little luck, and John Lewis had a pair of blackout curtains, already sewn, that fit just right.  They were less than the blackout material!

I used a 22mm wooden dowel, which isn't quite strong enough to hold the weight of the material.  I'll probably end up buying a curtain rod with some finials drilled into the two posts down the line.  It looks a little homespun, but it fills a need.†

The curtain doesn't block out all the light, but reportedly it blocks out enough (from the lower placed reading lamp) to make sleep possible.

This one is happy with her new curtain, and says it can double as a performance stage.