She just won't do it

[Airbag]

I have begged my wife for years now to make curtains for the bus and to no avail. So I need to buy them. Now keep in mind our bus is not what you'd call upper end, no chandeliers or crystal goblets hanging from  vintage wine racks. We are simple tee shirt wearing people and all I need are some good blackout style curtains. Any ideas as to where to go?

[gus]

Rick,

We installed the pleated night shades from Camping World. They weren't exactly cheap but weren't bank busters either. The daytime shades do not provide privacy at night with interior lights on.

If I had it to do over again I would get the cellular type for better insulation in spite of the extra cost. Even ours keep the heat out but are not as good as the cellular.

They are under constant tension and can be pulled by hand to any position, no ratchets or springs.

Also they are elegant looking and do wonders for the bus interior.

Best interior investment we made.

[Lin]

Home Depot has lots of options also.  We have blinds and they are fine--just have to make sure they are pulled up before pulling out.

[Dallas]

Cat wouldn't make curtains for our bus either so I had to. I used material from Wally and iron on stitching cloth called "Stitch Witch"
Not great, but it works for us. I can post some pictures if anyone is interested.

Dallas

[Blacksheep]

justblinds.com gave us the best bang for our buck! Good fast service for custom sizes and cheaper than the depot stores!

Ace

[NJT5047]

I have begged my wife for years now to make curtains for the bus and to no avail. So I need to buy them. Now keep in mind our bus is not what you'd call upper end, no chandeliers or crystal goblets hanging from  vintage wine racks. We are simple tee shirt wearing people and all I need are some good blackout style curtains. Any ideas as to where to go?

Welcome to my end of the totem pole Rick!   
The only thing hanging from my ceiling is ACs and wires!   
Anyway, I got goblins...don't have any 'goblets?' 
The below is an example of el-cheapo home-grown window coverings.
We would revisit the color of the treatment, but T has a ton of work in making these things. 
It ain't gonna get 'revisited' any time soon!
The drapes make heating and cooling much easier.  Remarkable the heat/cool load from the windshields.
Our side windows are dual pane Pen's....not so much is gained there. 
JR

[NJT5047]

This is the other end.  Couldn't load them both....probably could, just don't know how..
JR

[Airbag]

JR
That bus looks great I could live in that with no problem looks very comfortable and warm. You have raised ceiling?

Lin
I will take a stroll through HD and see what I can find. I have curtain tracks above all my windows and don't really want to switch horses. My windows are the stock MCI windows so I'll probably have to shorten what ever I get.

Dallas
The stitch witch sounds interesting. I am not much of a seamstress either. I can cover an aircraft with fabric good enough for display in the Smithsonian (I have one there) but I can't sew worth a darn. 

[Dallas]

Rick,
Here is a link to the pictures of the curtains I made.
They don't look real good now, but I've found I can take them down and run them through the washer with no problem.

In the pictures you can see I cut a lot of thin strips of the bonding web to make the seams.. next time I'm gonna make the seams widerso they don't appear so thick.

I used cotton sheets for the liner and these things are able to block 100% of the light from inside and from outside. I was going to go line them with a piece of mylar, and may do that on the next set to see if they are any better at heat rejection.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22639&id=1113096112&saved#/photos.php?id=1113096112

[busshawg]

Wish I had a pic, I'm terrible with taking pics, but what I did was put up curtain rods in my window frames and then used my vinyl. Everybody here probably thinks I'm a vinyl freak. What happened was I wanted to glue vinyl on my plywood lined walls so I wouldn't have seams etc. Well I asked the fabric store how may yards on a roll and she said 10. So I ordered what I thought I needed by the roll. Well when I got all this special order vinyl in, there was 20 yards on a roll and I had twice too much , not to mention I was gererous with my measuring to be sure I wouldn't run short. They would not let me return it so I have vinyl curtains too, and probably enough to do another bus. Don't think that would go over too well with the bride! They seem to work and look good but not sure how long they will last.

Grant

[Singing Land Cruiser]

Hey Airbag, Christi have found some shades on sale/close out at Hom depot in sierra Vista, AZ. We are going to get them tonight. They will cut them to fit of free. They are running less then $30. per 5'x 4' window. Hope this helps. M&C

[NJT5047]

JR
That bus looks great I could live in that with no problem looks very comfortable and warm. You have raised ceiling?

Rick, I doubt seriously if you would live in my coach for very long.  The drapes are pretty cool.  But the rest is sort've of a 'curb-appeal' thing.  Looks good at 100 feet!   
Regarding hanging the curtains, we used RV tracks and slides.  Very cheap, and they slide like a bandit.  You can grab the curtains and about throw them to the other end of the track.   
Terri made the things (does that make her a 'stitch witch'? Nah!)...heavy lined material.  Really improves the ACs ability to keep the bus cool on 100 degree days.   
We priced RV shades and they were pretty expensive with the night backing.   RV pleated shades will cause a lot of grief with broken hardware/strings, and ight colors get dirty the first weekend you camp with the windows open.
I've also installed panel foam under the OEM ceiling.  That was a huge improvement.   All these things add up. 
My roof is not raised.   I couldn't get the bus inside the barn if the roof was raised...not with rooftop ACS. 
I'd like a taller interior.   Taller isn't so much the issue as a more square interior roofline.  My next bus (E or D model...that's a joke) won't have rooftops.  Even though, the roorftops have done a remarkeable job so far.

JR
 

[John316]

I'd like a taller interior.   Taller isn't so much the issue as a more square interior roofline.  My next bus (E or D model...that's a joke) won't have rooftops.  Even though, the roorftops have done a remarkeable job so far.

JR

JR,

Really D's aren't all that expensive. The daunting task is just converting them (as with any bus).

God bless,

John