After learning that a friend of mine had to undergo a double mastectomy, I wanted to do something special for her.  Her office has two large windows that let in a ton of natural light.  However, this was becoming a curse for her since the chemo made her very sensitive to heat.  While she was out recovering from surgery I decided to jazz up her office window as a surprise.  I wanted to give her something practical that would filter out some of the harsh sun, but also beautiful, because she soooo deserves a stylish new office window!

Since the window is in a sterile-looking office building I was limited to what could be done. Fortunately, her boss was lenient with me, and as long as whatever I did could be removed without damaging the window or walls, he gave me full creative freedom. Perfect. 🙂

I started with some Pinterest inspiration and frosted window film by Gila that filters UV light.  I found an iron lattice pattern online that I printed on heavy card stock to make a stencil.  Using an X-Acto knife I cut out my shape.  (Right click on the image below to save and cut out your own stencil.)

Once my stencil was ready, I traced the shape with a fine tip Sharpie onto the backing of the window film.  I made sure to trace on the backside so my lines didn’t show. (The backside of the Gila brand film is smooth and clear; it peels away from the adhesive frosted film.)

After cutting out about 5 gazillion little lattice patterns I was ready to apply them to the windows.  Well, first, I actually had to clean the windows…they were pretty filthy, lol.  Then it was time to apply the pattern. This is a tedious process, but oh-so-rewarding to see it finished!  Here’s a photo about halfway through the process (my apologies – all photos were taken with my iPhone).

Luckily, the windows were square, so it was safe to start in the corner and use the edges as a guide for the pattern.  To apply each little cut-out pattern I used Windex instead of the formula sold by Gila – essentially it does the same thing.  The Windex allows the cut-out piece to slide on the glass as it’s positioned; it kind-of neutralizes the adhesive stuff on the backside, but allows the piece to cling to the window.  Another tedious part of this process is smoothing out the air bubbles (with either a credit card or vinyl application card) from each little pattern.  I found that allowing the Windex to settle and dry a little gave me better results when I went to smooth out the bubbles.  Doing this kept the pieces from sliding around so much.

Below you can see that along the sides of the windows I had to trim the pattern with my X-Acto knife to get it to fit against the edge.

I found some inexpensive drapes at Walmart in the same pattern. So awesome.  I also picked up a curtain rod, but ran into some probelms removing the old hardware… As you can see it was a bit rusted and those screws were not budging.

I also didn’t want to start drilling new holes into the concrete block wall and have Mr. Boss look at me like I was a crazy lady.  So..another trip to the local Wally-Mart and I found a solution.  Velcro.  Okay I know you’re thinking I probably ghetto-fied this window, but really it’s not that noticeable.  Sorry, but I wasn’t trying to stay there all day getting this rusted screw out of the wall, patching, painting, and then drilling new holes.  Remember, this isn’t MY office…and my friend’s boss probably already decided after the first row of window film lattice that I was nuts.  I had to work with what was available or risk wearing out my welcome completely.

Okay, so back to the solution.  Yes, velcro.  I decided to use some industrial strength velcro to attach the new curtain rod, which was very lightweight (bargain grade) to the existing metal hardware.  I did this twice (you can see my first attempt in the rusty picture above) and decided on the 2nd version below because it allowed more movement of the curtains. Sorry it’s kinda blurry – iPhone again…oh, and that particular bracket wasn’t rusted, but the screws were nicley rounded out and still wouldn’t budge.  Surprisingly, the vecro held everything in place like glue and the curtain rod was secure enough to allow adjustment of the curtains.

Since my friend likes to see who comes and goes from her window I used two command hooks as tieback holders.  A simple cutting of ribbon tied in a bow served as my tieback.  This way it would be easy for her to close the drapes when the sun was too intense and hold them open when she needs to see out.

However, I noticed that the sunlight did make a very pretty pattern on the floor. 🙂

Finally finished after many hours of cutting and assembling this pattern, here is her newly stylish office window.  I wish the photos weren’t so back-lit by the sun coming in, but since I wasn’t planning to post this the iPhone was all I had. 🙁  I do love that the curtain pattern is so much larger than the window pattern; it looks very layered and textural.

View from outside:

I hope she likes the surprise when she returns to her office (or sees it here, lol) and I hope that it takes some stress away as it blocks some midday sun.  They say cancer treatment is the worst part of cancer due to all the side effects, and although she has undergone the worst of it, anything I can do to help her feel a tiny bit better during her recovery, I am willing to do.

Linked Up At: From the Farm Blog Hop, Endlessly Inspired, Thrifty Thursday, Blog Stalking Thursday , Redoux Interiors