window treatments: before and after

When we moved in a few years ago, the girls' room had these old oak-yellow blinds:

In an effort to avoid the expense of new blinds, I added those super-cheap pink curtains from IKEA for less than $20. But, after more than a year of the pink and dirty yellow-brown, I was on the lookout for something to brighten up the room and make it more gender neutral.

Then out of the blue the other day, Abbie said I might like these 96-inch curtains she bought used that didn't work for her. You know I was all over that game- I was thrilled to buy these West Elm striped curtains from her for $20! :) You know you've got a good friend when she knows your style and gives you first dibs on her awesome finds!

We ended up replacing the old broken blinds with new 2-inch white vinyl ones, and...

here's the after:

So much better, don't you think? :)

Man, I love stripes.

Especially when they're super-thrifty West Elm ones from a friend. :)