In my oldest son's room the curtains weren't even dark enough for him to sleep - or block out the hot sun. This is a before shot. (If I were to have taken a picture of the whole room, you would see our tub, vanity and toilet that went into our "new" bathroom.)
The curtain rod really was fine to keep. The curtains needed to go. This window faces east and the first half of the day the sun cooks this room. 
After:
I used a sheet! Honestly. It was cheaper to buy a set of twin sheets from Target and use for fabric than buy the yardage of fabric I needed for three windows in this room. I sewed blackout fabric behind the sheet. It's amazing what blackout fabric does. It really does live up to its name.
(This picture shows a little too much of the messy room)
A close up of the blackout fabric sewn into the curtain.
I used simple drapery hooks to attach to the wooden rings. this tutorial showed me exactly what I wanted to do.
A closer view of the fabric (i.e sheet ;)
These curtains cover 2 of the three windows in the room. I finished the third window's curtains last night, but need to buy a new matching curtain rod. They are hung on the old rod now, but can't open and close yet. The old rod is a pull cord and one panel can't exactly split in half to open.
I am also planning on making some pillows for my son's bed using some of the extra curtain fabric and a navy blue fabric to match his new bed spread and sheets. That will probably take me another 2 months the rate things are going over here. . .
