DIY Stencil Curtains!

We knew when moving to New Orleans we wanted to live in an old home with beautiful architectural details - including high ceilings. Even the couple of months we rented we were living in a gorgeous old house converted to a 4-plex near the French Quarter - which is where I first made this DIY project!

 (Our first place - aside from my parents house - in New Orleans! Awww...)

Since we were renting and trying to save our pennies for buying a home, I knew I had to get creative on window treatments. We had 12' ceilings and four windows that needed privacy. Do the math on that and figure hundreds of dollars on window treatments! In come DROP CLOTHS!

 Notice the dimension on this particular drop cloth - 9 X 12! Soooo I cut them in half and got 2 panels - each being 4 1/2 X 12. Now these aren't by any means fancy, black-out lined curtains with  2 1/2 times width or anything. (yeah I worked at Calico Corners for a stint!) BUT they do look good - at least I think so! and they are super inexpensive to make and the possibilities are endless!

I have loved John Robshaw's textiles for years but of course way out of my price range. I want to experiment more with block printing and this project was a great stepping stone!

Some of his textiles...

I love how the fabric above does not have any definite pattern - it's so fun and playful. 

For my first attempt at anything like this - here's what I did:

 I found an interesting design from a book that I blew up to the size I wanted at Kinko's. I then traced the design with carbon paper onto a thicker poster board and cut out the negative space. I will say, it gets tricky trying to remember which spaces you want to keep and which to cut out!

But here's a shot of everything I needed.

- Stencil (you can buy one online or at a craft store if making one isn't your thing)
- Scissors
- Canvas drop cloth - be sure to check the size and color you want. I bought mine at Lowes and noticed there are 2 different colors - a grey white and a yellow white
- Paint
- Sponge brush or stencil brush ( I now use the mini sponge rollers - they are MUCH faster)


 Now it's time to start stenciling! I just eyeballed the pattern I wanted but you can do anything you want to customize yours.

 

Drum roll please.... 

 Here's how they look hanging in our new house!

The rods came with the house (I just spray painted them white to blend in with the walls) and I used chrome shower curtain rings.

So the grand total to do 6 panels (3 windows) for our bedroom was about $65!! You can't beat that!

 - BOO