DIY Painted Curtains

Curtains. They’re not an easy thing to find and love. I’ve bought my share of panels, thought I would love them, and turns out I didn’t. Not only was that a bummer, but often they didn’t fit my windows right in length. That in itself is frustrating, but then there’s the fact that buying those extra length curtains practically means you won’t eat for a month. Those things are expensive.

So, I decided to make my own DIY painted curtains. I’d been on the hunt for something in our master bedroom, but since I needed a total of 6 panels, I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap. And then, I ran into this tutorial. I absolutely loved her curtains, the light pattern and the neutral colors. Now those, those I could do. And just in case you haven’t looked at her blog yet, please do so now. You’re welcome.

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To start, I used the same drop cloth fabric as our outdoor cushions. Sometimes dropcloths can be a shade or two off from a light cream, and these are perfect! Plus, all the flecks in the fabric, are neutral. Win and win. In total, I used 3 . I did wash the first panel, and that was a mistake. I lost about 2 1/2 feet in length. After I saw that, I decided not to wash the other two. Since it shrunk so much, I ended up cutting a little extra fabric from the other dropcloths and sewing it on the top of the two panels that were too short.

With that, I ironed the washed dropcloth, and cut it right in half (I did the exact same thing with the other two panels, then cut them to length for our windows).

Then, I laid down a strip of plastic so the paint wouldn’t bleed through onto our floors…

With that, I started painting. I used , and basic white paint right off the shelf…

For the stencil, I made sure I kept the pattern straight on the top, then I kept working my way down the panel. On the sides, I did overlap the stencil, that way the pattern continued off the curtain. See the right side of the picture below…

Once the panel was finished, I let it sit for a second, then I carefully transported them to our bedroom to hang on the curtain rod. Since I didn’t want to sew a pocket at the top, I just used clips…

They took a bit of time to dry, but it was worth it…

Up until now, we’ve only had curtains hanging on our large window, and they were too short. I decided to live with them for a while, but once I found what I wanted to do, I knew the days of short curtains was over.

These curtains are much, much fuller than the original set I had in there, so I had a bit of time getting used to them…

Our room is still very much a work in progress, but I felt safe going forward and making these. I’ve finally decided what I want to do in our bedroom, and these curtains bring in the soft pattern I wanted.

Honestly, I’m really, really, really excited to get started in here. I have a birthday coming up and I already know what I’ll be asking for… More on that later!

But, back to the curtains, here’s a few little bits I picked up from doing them…

-At the top of the curtain, start with the stencil hanging over the edge. Instead of the pattern looking like it starts at the top, it will seem like it was cut to size, just like regular printed fabric.

-Hang the stencil over on the left side, it will give you the same look as the top, and you will most likely end up having a partial pattern on the right side as well.

-Keep your stencil straight as you move across the panel. You definitely don’t want to have the pattern crooked.

-I used 1.5 gallons of paint on 6 curtains.

-Use a thin, smooth foam roller.

-I spent a solid day painting 6 of them.

-If you make a mistake with the pattern, or have any overlap, you can’t tell when they’re hanging. Trust me, I speak from experience.

-The curtains are stiff, if you don’t want them to feel stiff, try adding an additive for washing. I don’t mind them being stiff, but you may.

-Patience is crucial. It’s a time consuming job, and probably better if broken up over two days. My legs, neck, shoulders and back were definitely tired.

Overall, I am so happy I made them. They have completely changed the look and feel of our bedroom, and they are really, really, making me anxious to get started on the rest of the room. 🙂