New curtains to break from the monotony of cream

I'm so proud of my new bedroom curtains made by me! Well I purchased them as curtains (in a sale) but as I wanted them lined with blackout lining I had to unpick them, which took ages!!! The new ones are the black ones the photo is to compare how they block out light compared with the old curtains, which is important as we practically live on a dual carriageway (not ideal) and totally littered with street lights. The blackout material said it would reduce noise from the window but I don't think it has made much, if any, difference.

They are tab top curtains but the tabs are hidden behind the curtain, I got the idea from here at 7LayerStudio where she has written a tutorial how to do it! It was very helpful I used her suggestions for the spacing between the tabs and instead of ribbon for the tabs I used some of the left over curtain sewn into a tube. I also sewed the tabs about an inch from the top of the curtain so that maybe they would block out more light?!

I have quite a bit of fabric left over as the curtains were two meters long when I purchased them and I needed about one and a half for the drop, then I used some to make the tabs. I have plans for the left overs already, I'm hoping to buy a cheap lampshade and cover it with the fabric and also I was thinking of making a canvas of the fabric that way my bedroom would be all coordinated! But as I'm always trying to do everything on the cheap I think I will need to wait to the spring/summer for the local bootfairs to start before I can find a cheap lampshade!