painting curtains

Alas, here is what I am talking about when I say that I "painted curtains".

My camera does not really do them justice...

I had seen some friends' projects where they pained striped on curtains...and then I saw some Pintrest posts of others stenciling designs on curtains...and I decided, I wanted to go for it. I have had a package of Ikea curtains unopened for over a year...and I knew they would be perfect for what I wanted...I didn't want curtains that took over the design of the entire room...and I didn't want drab curtains that were almost the same shade as the wall color in our bedroom...so painting them was the PERFECT compromise!

I started with these, simple RITVA curtains from Ikea...I have a kind of burlap color which is not available online...

I also have one small window and a double window in my bedroom...so I needed three curtains. Ikea curtains are made where you cut them to the length you need for your window and then use iron-on binding to make a hem at the bottom...so, I just used the access from both curtains to make a third. It worked out perfectly (and may have been a Divine blessing :))

So, once I sewed and cut the appropriate pieces, I made a stencil. I am a HUGE fan of clover shapes...and since I will probably never get the Van Cleef clover I so desire, 

I decided that the print of my curtains should look like it :) So I searched Pinterest until I found this:

I went into Photoshop and enlarged the image so that one clover would take up an entire 8.5 x 11 page...and that gave me these:

The hardest part of making these stencils was figuring out what to cut out and what to leave...I guess my brain just doesn't work that way :) The stencil on the left was the best.

Then I gathered my supplies...painters tape, a drop cloth, stencil sponges and acrylic paint...I ended up using two 8 fluid oz. bottles of white paint for all three curtains.

Then I got to taping. I would do this inside if you can.

And then I got to painting...making sure to fill in any blank spots on the clover outline left by the stencil.

After letting each curtain dry, I hung them up in our room...and absolutely adore how it looks! When it is day time, the light comes through and the design is a dark outline. 

At night, the white stands out, letting me dream about one day getting a Van Cleef clover. Hey, a girl can dream!

Now we just need my quilt on the bed and some decor on the walls...it's coming together...verrryyy slowly...but I like that it is all very intentional.

Another small design element that I really wanted to try was to use matte and gloss paint to create a design on our night stands.

It didn't work quite like I thought...but that is a story for another day...

Thanks for sharing my fun with curtains...let me know if you have any questions!

Much love,
Emily Elizabeth