I have spent this week getting really sidetracked about curtains, blinds, and window treatments. I think some of it has to do with my brain loving to solve problems, and it won’t let go until I have a solution.

The issue is my bedroom windows. While the actual windows—the glass in the metal frames—are a standard size, the window frames in the house that the windows are set into are not at all standard. They’re the kind you often see in old houses, with really thick woodwork framing the windows. When I was buying shades for the bedroom windows before I moved in, I found that the window frame was about half an inch too small for one size of shades. The smaller size would cover the glass part, and I figured that would work. What I hadn’t counted on was the fact that the lower window pane, the one that raises to open the window, sits out about 2 inches in front of the upper pane, which meant that while the shades covered the lower pane perfectly, there’s a big gap on the upper pane that lets a lot of light through from behind the blackout shades. From May through August, this is pretty important because the sun rises very early. It starts getting light before 5 a.m. around the summer solstice.

I put up some lace curtains and concentrated the gathers on the sides, which helped some, and then I resorted to a solution I used in my old house, throwing some lined curtains I had from my previous apartment over the curtain rods to help block light. I did this in the old house when they put a super-bright bulb in the street lamp right in front of my bedroom window. This solution has worked pretty well. The curtains block a lot of light but let enough in that I can let the sun wake me up. It doesn’t start getting too bright until the sun is more fully up. The problem is that throwing curtains over the rods holding the lace curtains is kind of tacky. The initial idea was to just put them up at night, but then I end up just leaving them there. I have to move them if I open the windows so that air can actually come in.

So I’ve been brainstorming ideas to solve this problem. Getting blinds cut to fit the window frame would be expensive, and I suspect there would still be light coming in around the edges. Another idea I had was to get roller blinds to fit up under the lace curtains. When rolled up they wouldn’t show, but I could pull them down at night. Then it occurred to me that I could just get larger curtain rods and hang the lined curtains over the lace curtains. I have tie backs to pull them aside during the day. It turned out that I’d bought the wrong size of curtain rod for one of the windows, so I already had the 3-inch deep one for one window, and I had an extra 2-inch deep one to put the lace curtain on. I just needed to buy one more 3-inch deep rod.

But then when I was buying that one, I saw that they had roller blinds that you can get cut to fit, so now I’m wondering it that might be a better idea. Put the lace curtains on the deeper rods, then fit roller blinds under the curtains to pull down at night. The room darkening ones aren’t that expensive, and I’m not sure I want total blackout. Between these and the blackout shades I already have, it should cut the light. Or maybe that’s a project for next summer. If I situate the rods for the lined curtains right, all I’d have to do is take out the smaller rods and move the lace curtains to the big ones. Then I found some other blinds you can adjust to fit yourself that aren’t that expensive and that I can get locally. So I ended up deciding to go that way and am just going to put up the deeper rods to use the lace curtains to cover the blind roller. I figured out that because the curtains are behind furniture, the curtains wouldn’t go back in place after I pulled them back, so I’d end up where I am now, with the curtains just hanging all the time. With blinds behind the lace curtains, I could at least see the lace and I might actually get around to raising the blinds occasionally.

I had to go through the process of planning to hang the curtains to come around to this conclusion, so the time spent thinking about how to hang the curtains wasn’t wasted. It merely consumed a lot of brain space.

But then during all this I started pondering the kitchen window, which is awkward because it’s behind the air fryer oven, so I don’t want curtains that hang down, but it’s on the front of the house, so I want some privacy. I have tall hedges along the street in front of the yard so you can’t see directly into my house, but you can kind of see into the kitchen from down the road. I currently have some faux stained glass privacy film on the lower part of the window, so you can’t see me from the neck down, but while researching various blinds options I found a really pretty valance that matches some placemats I already have. I’d have to replace the privacy film because it would clash, but the film I’ve got wasn’t great and I’ve been meaning to replace it. I found one that’s colorless, so it looks like etched glass. That would make the window look finished, leave me a spot to look out, but also block more from view outside.

Meanwhile, I was thinking about putting my last set of lace curtains on the front window because when I walk around town I love the look of lace curtains in the front windows. I’d been thinking of putting those curtains in the spare room but they’d be prettier in the front window. I wanted something on the spare room window because it’s right across from my neighbors’ front porch, where they spend a lot of time, and because of that same size issue there’s a slight gap around the edges of the miniblinds I have in that window. I do yoga in that room, and I feel like I’m giving the neighbors a lovely view when I do downward dog in front of that window. I don’t know how much they can actually see, and maybe you’d have to get close to the window to really see into that room (it’s on the second floor), but I feel self-conscious. That room will also be the guest room, so I want to give guests some privacy and block some light. But then the last set of lace curtains has different dimensions, and I don’t think it would fit in any of my windows. I may get a set of Roman shades like I have on my front door to go on that window, and I’ve found new lace curtains that would be pretty in my front room windows. The smaller curtain rods currently on the bedroom windows can go there.

See, curtain and blind obsession. I have managed to get work done in spite of all this, but mostly because I use curtain research as a reward for getting writing done. When I write for a certain amount of time, I’m allowed to get on Wayfair or Ikea and browse curtains. Having made all these decisions, my brain has finally let the subject go. I’m going to start with picking up the shades the next time I go out, and then putting those up and putting up the new curtain rods will be my weekend project. I’ll roll out the rest of the window projects over time.