Curtains and Shades

* This is part of our 2017 Renovation Series

We have an Airstream / Argosy that has a rear bedroom. We actually bought this Argosy specifically because of the back bedroom. They are rare!

When we were comparing buying new vs Vintage, a very nice salesman gave us great advice: whatever you buy, make sure the back has a full view. This seemed odd to us because 95% of the new trailers/campers have a wall for the back. The reason is because most of the time you back in to a campsite and that is where your view is! If this is such an important tip, why are so few made with a back view?

A treehouse view!

It ended up being a fantastic tip! Look at the view out the back of our Argosy during a 2014 camping trip!! Can you imagine if this was a wall or a super tiny bathroom window?!?!

The back bedroom windows

Curtains in an Airstream / Argosy are not easy to make or hang. Airstream has a “track” for the curtains to hang off of. These tracks with specialized “hooks” are designed to keep the curtains hugging the curved wall.

These curtains hang on a track at the top & bottom.

You sew the curtain tabs into your fabric and then hang the curtains. This laborious, tedious and I can’t believe no one has come up with a quicker way!

Sample Airstream Curtain Tabs.

We were lucky that our Airstream / Argosy came with a full set of curtains upfront. The back bedroom had homemade curtains with a really wild red pattern. The previous owner took a lot of time and care to create them. It wasn’t our style so we instantly removed them.

Read How We Made Pleatless Curtains for the Back Curved Windows

Curtain Tabs on the track.

Read about all of our 2017 Renovation updates.

——-

An easy fix for smaller Airstream / Argosy windows is to install quick shades. We have two small side windows in the back bedroom that needed something as a quick fix.

We were strolling through IKEA on a Saturday and on an end cap was a display of Schottis shades for the bargain price of $2.99. What sold us, besides the price, was the claim that it was easy to install with no hardware.

Schottis Shades from IKEA.

The shades are hung by a peel and stick tab and hang down. There is not a pull cord or hooks. With the curved wall, it is not perfect but it is an easy quick fix. We didn’t need it to keep light out but more for privacy. I’ll add two cords to use as a roll up shade.