When friends ask me for design advice, they’re often surprised to hear me advocating for the easy way out. “No need to take out the tape measure when hanging your picture frame.” And “No, don’t bother ironing the tablecloth; it’s fine as is.”
Call it the Remodelista school of thought: Just as we advocate a mix of high and low in your interiors, the same rule applies when it comes to investing your time. Not every DIY project has to take hours.
Case in point: This project involving a set of casual homemade linen curtains, no stitching required.
Photography by Meredith Swinehart.

Above: When I turned a spare bedroom in my San Francisco apartment into my home office (see A Room Finds Its Purpose in Farrow & Ball Paint), I giddily removed a pair of unsightly vinyl mini-blinds from the windows, leaving me scrambling to find something to cover them with. I shopped around but didn’t like what I found online, and I was exhausted from painting and disinclined to sew my own curtains. So I ordered one long piece of linen-cotton fabric, cut it into three equal parts, and clipped each panel onto a hanging rod. Yes, it really was that easy.
Above: I can’t take credit for this act of sheer brilliance; I was inspired by the Remodelista Book (on page 263, Miranda Heller used “straight-from-the-bolt fabric as curtains” in her Cape Cod home).

Above: I covered two large windows for a grand total of $186....