Custom Curtains for My Boys

My boys share a room and one of the beds, unfortunately, has to be up against a window.  We've tried every which way to arrange the beds and nothing works that doesn't involved someone next to the window.  We've even bunked them and with a 4 yr. old and 7 yr. old........that's a bad idea, ya know?  So, long story short, the oldest one is next to the window and he has this funny thing he likes to do.....he likes to lay in bed and look out the window.  I know, crazy!  Until now, I've had basic shades up in the room.  Only....it's my boys.....so I buy the cheap ones.  Once upon a time, I had the pricey ones, and they met with the same fate as the cheap ones, so why spend a ton for the same outcome, right?  They get shredded...........not just shredded, but SHREDDDDDDED.  Every time he pulls aside the blind it bends and eventually creates little cracks along the plastic and rips.......then.......oooooo...you can pull on the pieces and the rips run all the way up the blind......fascinating! (to a boy, yes).  He doesn't dare pull on the blinds to open them correctly because of the inevitable jack-in-the-box-like reaction when the spring catches......and it's terrifying.....so we don't do that.  

I've replaced those darn things so many times!  This last go around, I was done.  D-O-N-E.  There has to be something better.  I didn't really want to do blinds in the room because........well, you should see the blinds in my family room near where the boys' toys are.........nope.  Next idea, please.  So, I started thinking........a vertical blind convenience (for easy outside viewing) with a shade function (black out) and bedroom curtain feel........hmmm........my solution was narrow lines curtain panels that overlap.  I looked around to see what others had done and couldn't find anything, so, I will claim these as my own creation (amazing!) since if had to do the math and such myself.

Brief 'how to':

 I purchased twin size flat sheets at Walmart. (Hind sight, buy the full size) $5 each.  You can't buy that much fabric for even close to that.  The boys each got to pick out a color and I bought white.  Then I cut everything into 10" strips.  Backed all of the colored panels with the white, added tabs to the top, and then hung them up.  Sounds easy, but this took me most of the day and I had to go back to Walmart for more fabric.  The windows could probably use an additional panel or 2 but if was freaking tired.  I have plenty of fabric leftover, though, so maybe I'll get to it eventually.  For the 36" windows, if used 7 panels on each.  

The first two pics were during the day.  Not totally blacked-out, but a nice soft light that doesn't hinder nap time.  The third is a nighttime pic of the other window.