How to Cover a Bookcase With Curtains

Hide unsightly clutter by covering your bookcases with curtains.

Covering your bookcases with curtains hides clutter and softens the look of your room. Adding curtains to a bank of individual bookcases unifies them, creating the illusion of a single unit. Books behind curtains also gather less dust. The keys to a professionally fabricated look are using sleek, unobtrusive hardware and making your curtains for a custom fit.

Things You'll Need

• Metal measuring tape
• Barrel brackets, 3/8-inch pair
• Pencil
• Drill and bit
• Screws
• Screwdriver
• Center support
• Fabric
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Fusible hemming tape, 1/2-inch
• Iron
• Fusible hemming tape, 1-inch
• Fusible interfacing, double-sided
• Tailor's chalk
• Hand-sewing needle
• Thread
• Curtain rings, 13/16-inch inside diameter
• Curtain rod, 3/8-inch

Instructions

1. Measure the width of your bookcase with a metal measuring tape. Measure the width along the top of the bookcase, which isn't always the same as the width at the base. Measure just below the molding if your bookcase is topped with crown molding. Measure from the top of the bookcase -- or just below the crown molding, if you have it -- to the floor.

2. Hold a 3/8-inch outside-mount barrel bracket up to the top left corner of the bookcase. Hold it just below the molding, if your bookcase has it. Mark the screw hole locations with a pencil. Repeat with a second bracket on the right side of the bookcase.

3. Drill pilot holes at your pencil marks, sized according to the manufacturer's instructions. Screw the barrel brackets to the bookcase, using the screws included with the brackets, or the recommended size.

4. Install center supports according to the manufacturer's instructions -- styles vary by maker -- for single bookcases wider than 42 inches. Install additional center supports between the sections of double and triple bookcases, or where the bookcases abut, if you're curtaining multiple bookcases as one unit.

5. Add 3 inches to your bookcase height measurement from Step 1. Cut two widths of fabric per single bookcase to that length.

6. Pin 1/2-inch fusible hemming tape to the lengthwise edges of each fabric panel, on the wrong side of the fabric. Fold the pinned edges over lengthwise by 1/2 inch, and fuse the folds together by ironing the fabric. Repeat the process with 1-inch hemming tape and a 1-inch width-wise fold to hem the fabric panels.

7. Cut double-sided fusible interfacing into strips measuring 2 inches deep and 1 inch narrower than the original fabric width. Cut one strip per fabric panel. Pin the strips across the width-wise tops of your fabric panels, on the wrong side of the fabric. Fold the fabric over 2 inches, and fuse the fold into place with an iron.

8. Measure from the top of a barrel bracket plate to the top of its barrel. Lay the curtain panels right side down and measure that distance from the top of each panel. Mark that distance in tailor's chalk 1/8 inch from each end of the headers. Make additional chalk marks every 5 to 7 inches, at evenly spaced intervals. Hand sew curtain rings -- with 13/16-inch inside diameters -- to the back of the header at the chalk marks.

9. Thread a 3/8-inch curtain rod -- measuring 1 inch less than the bookcase width, or as the bracket manufacturer recommends -- through the rings of each curtain panel. Unscrew the barrels from the brackets. Slide each barrel over its corresponding end of the curtain rod. Hold the curtain rod up to the bookcase and adjust the rings and panels to allow for any center supports. Place the rod between the brackets, and screw the barrels back onto the brackets.

Tips & Warnings

• For single bookcases -- or bookcase sections -- 36 inches wide or less, you can use 36-inch-wide craft fabric or 54- to 55-inch upholstery width fabric to make your curtains. For bookcases wider than 36 inches, use 54- to 55-inch wide fabric.

References

• Apartment Therapy; Bookcase Divider with Curtain; Kyle Freeman; December 2008
• "Elle Decor" magazine; Decorator Todd Klein's Pint-Sized Pad Exudes Larger-Than-Life Style; Samuel Cochran; December 2008
• "The Ultimate Curtain Book: A Comprehensive Guide to Creating Your Own Window Treatments"; Isabella Forbes; 1994

Resources

• America Sews with Sue Hausmann: Bookcase Makeover