Sunday, April 22, 2012

These ain't your mama's stencils....

Good morning and I hope all of you lovely people are enjoying your weekend. I must be honest, I am so tired of this weather trend we have been having the last several weeks here in the Ohio Valley. It goes like this....Monday-Thursday: beautiful weather! Friday: cold front moving in with rain! Saturday/Sunday: CHILLY and either cloudy/chilly or sunny/chilly.

Couldn't once be the other way around? We need some rainy weekdays for my personal sanity and also to keep the kiddies at school from losin' their minds too soon.

I know what would make me feel better...a good, old DIY project. This one was pretty high-impact! In light of my recent goal in doing projects (using stuff I have around the house), I was able to do this using materials I already had. My objective? To make patterned curtains.

I started with a brushed nickel curtain rod that used to be my sister's. The finials were blue glass, so I painted them brushed nickel to match the rod.


I made the curtains out of a white cotton muslin that my mom gave me when she was cleaning out old fabrics. I put a seam on each side and created a place for the rod to go. I've held off on hemming them for now, since I'm not sure if I want to add another fabric at the bottom or lower the rod. They ended up being a few inches too short.....my first time sewing curtains. : )


I used a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils that I won in a giveaway that was hosted by Shelley, over at Crazy Wonderful. Thanks so much, Shelley!!! I am loving my new stencil and my new curtains, too! Her giveaway was for one stencil from Cutting Edge and also included was a little paint roller with a foam roller, perfect for this project.

If you've never been to their website, it is just amazing. I love that these stencils look like patterned wallpaper, but it's totally low-commitment, since it's just paint and so easy to paint over. : )



I have also bought a stencil from CES and they send you a little stencil, too. I used my little stencil to practice a bit before getting started. If you were doing a wall, you would probably want to practice a bit on a piece of cardboard. It tells you this in the instructions....which are very thorough!


I cut off a tiny piece of the muslin. The paint I used was leftover from painting the room where the curtains are going.


Since I was painting fabric, I wanted to get an idea of how much paint needed to be on the brush and how many times I needed to go over each stencil. I didn't want to use too much paint and have it bleed out beyond the stencil.


Although it was a fairly pleasant day, we worked in the garage with the door shut so the breezes wouldn't disrupt our stenciling. Plus, I didn't want to get paint on my floor inside.


I picked started in a corner and held tightly onto the stencil as I rolled.


I worked my way across, left to right. Here you can see at the end, I used the stencil to finish the remaining part to take it over to the edge of the fabric.


Here is curtain #2. And my six year-old helper, who was doing his own stenciling on paper.


Here they are, hanging up. They did not take long to dry!


They turned out pretty well! If you look closely, there is a bit of variation in the paint saturation in a few spots, but not unless you examine closely. I think with practice, I would get better at that. There is also a paint drip or two that came (while I ducked inside for a minute) courtesy of said six year-old. Who did not 'fess up right away.


Here you can see how my finial turned out. Not too bad, using brushed nickel spray paint.


Here they are, pictured with the chair I redid and recovered.




All in all, it was a success. I was surprised at how easy it was. 
If you have experience painting with a roller, I think this would be especially easy for you. I was able to finish the painting while my three year-old was up for a nap. : ) My kind of timeline. 

Now I have beautifully patterned curtains.

Party Time......
Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage
Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life
Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating
Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming
Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime
Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles
Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection
Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill
Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation
Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing
TDC Before and After

16 comments:

Danni@SiloHillFarm said...

Oh my! That turned out gorgeous!

Artsy VaVa said...

Wow! Your curtains turned out great!

Crazy Wonderful said...

Jennifer, they turned out gorgeous!!! I love the pattern you chose! Also totally digging how they look with the sun coming through them - beautiful :)

Dee ⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️ said...

Your curtains are beautiful.

Dee

Rachel said...

These curtains turned out great! I'm your newest follower:) I also nominated you for the Veratile Blogger Award! Go to my blog for the details.

Rachel (absolutelylovingmylife.blogspot.com)

Andie Jaye said...

wowsa! those are absolutely amazing! they look store-bought! will you link this up on tuesday also?

Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

I really love the way these turned out! I have a stencil that is waiting for me to use and I might just try it on fabric instead of the wall now!

Which brand of spray paint did you use on the finials? I have some but it looks more gray then brushed nickel. I wanted to use it on the kitchen hinges but it's not matching the knobs.

Rose Jesky said...

Looks awesome. Thanks for sharing this great idea with us at The Sunday Round Up.
Rose
@ http://www.arosiesweethome.com/

Unknown said...

Love how your curtain turned out. I am featuring this on my blog this Sunday, at Sunday Round Up Link Party. Please come by and grab a feature button.
xoxo
Heather
www.HeatherlyLoves.com

Roeshel said...

So pretty! This is something on my DIY list too. I love the stencil you chose and the pattern is awesome! Great job!

Jen said...

They turned out beautiful!
And love the pattern!

Anonymous said...

These turned out so good! Wonderful pattern and the "extra drips" make them one-of-a-kind. :-) Visiting you from Addicted 2 Decorating. I'm now following and look forward to seeing more of your creative projects! Have a great weekend.
Sharla

Janis@All Things Beautiful said...

Very very pretty! I so want to do that! I'm worried I'll make a big mess, and extra paint on the stencil will get on the fabric when I reposition it? How did you do that part? I love the stencil design you chose, too! Well Done!!!

Tara @ Tales of a Trophy Wife said...

Awesome! I just did my bathroom wall w/ a stencil that I won too.

Tara @ Tales of a Trophy Wife said...

Loved this so much I featured it: http://trophyw.blogspot.com/2012/05/winners-and-features.html

Cassidy said...

In love with that stencil! Your curtains turned out gorgeous!

http://fitcraftystylishandhappy.blogspot.com/