My DIY Striped Painted Curtains

 We've been in our home about 5 weeks now and my bedroom was in a sad state.  I've been looking for all white bedding (which I finally found and will reveal that on Monday), but the room was bland.  I decided I wanted chevron striped curtains but couldn't find a bold enough stripe anywhere.  Then I switched to wanting large, bold horizontal stripes but couldn't find what I wanted under $200.  That is when I Googled DIY Painted Curtains and found many blogs with tutorials.  I am not posting a tutorial here, there are many much more talented people to learn from, but I did capture a few shots so you can get the idea of the lengthy process this is.

Below are the curtains I bought based on the many blogs I searched.  They are Merete from Ikea which are a canvas 100% cotton with grommets for hanging.  They are $24.99 for a pair.  I also needed Delta Textile Medium to add to the paint to make the paint one with the fabric rather than just laying on top looking crunchy.  Also based on reviews I needed a small foam roller.  And, I needed painters tape.  I went with the good ol' blue kind.  All in all this project cost me about $40.

You can see above my taping skills.  I'm not gonna lie, this project is VERY time consuming.  It requires a lot of measuring, then taping; each panel took about 2 hours.  I decided I wanted my stripes to be 8" wide.  I taped on the inside of all of my white stripes making them look narrower, but each stripe measures 8".  

Once my tape was securely down it was time to paint.  I added 1 part textile medium to 2 parts paint.  I already painted my bedroom walls a light, warm gray so I had plenty of paint leftover making my project cheaper.  Using my foam roller I rolled out the paint.  I was nervous about bleeding but the textile medium is supposed to prevent that.  After an hour I went back in for a second coat.  

At about 30 minutes after the second coat I peeled off the tape.  No bleeding!  The lines were so crisp and the paint did become one with the fabric.  I can still see the grain of the fabric but it's not as soft as a dye would be.  I let the curtains dry for about 6 hours but I couldn't wait any longer, I had to hang them to see if all that hard work paid off.  I was a bit skeptical until.......

Don't they look great?  They look even better in person.  Seriously, they look very high end and make such a huge impact on the room.  Now to change all of my bedding over, oh, and eventually take out the BLUE carpet.  We are saving for all new carpet upstairs but this will take some time.

So, all in all would I recommend this project to other people?  Would I ever attempt to do another painted curtain project?  Here are some tips:

1.  Really research the process.  One blog recommended satin paint because it has sheen like fabric while many other blogs said to stay away from satin and use matte only.  I unfortunately only had satin and while it looks good, in bright sunlight you can see some roller marks.  I would use matte next time.
2. Textile medium is a crucial step.  Git you some.
3.  Make sure you have a VERY large area to work.  I was praising God for my large basement.  Also, you must put a tarp or drop cloth under the curtain you are painting so it doesn't bleed through to your floor.
4.  For me?  I think I would try to find a freelance job so I could afford to BUY curtains next time.  While I am crazy about my curtains, they really are gorgeous, it was a LOT of work.  It feels good that I pulled it off and have what looks like $300 curtains for $40, but next time I would like to buy the $300 curtains!  ;-)