Learn how to make your own drapes! Finding curtains you love can be a real challenge. Make your own by learning how to make DIY stenciled curtains!
Hey y'all! Well, I've got a project for you that I've been working on slowly for almost a month.
I've been searching for the perfect curtains for my living room for a while now. And while I've found a few fabrics I like, my ceilings are 12 feet high, so it's expensive to buy fabric for four 12-foot panels. Yikes!
I knew I wanted curtains with a pattern, so I decided to buy plain curtains and stencil them myself!
I had used the shorter IKEA Lenda curtains in my master bedroom and loved them. So I bought the bleached-colored Lenda curtains in the 118" length. At $29.99 for two panels, you can't beat that!
Then I went hunting for my stencil. I'd been eyeing Moroccan trellis stencils for months. I have plans to use a stencil on a wall in the future, so I bought one I could use on both my curtains and my wall.
I finally settled on the Marrakech Trellis Allover Stencil. These Moroccan trellis stencils are so on trend right now, and I just love them!
What You Will Need to Stencil Curtains:
- 8 oz. of craft paint per panel
- Fabric medium
- Curtains - laundered and ironed. I used the IKEA Lenda curtains.
- Stencil - I used this Marrakech Trellis Allover Stencil
- Foam stencil daubers
- Large drop cloth or sheet
DIY Stenciled Curtains: How To
Alright, now on to the actual stenciling.
1. Select the Paint
First, let's talk paint. I used craft acrylic paint mixed with Martha Stewart's fabric medium. I was naive and didn't realize how much paint I would need. You need a LOT of paint because the fabric soaks some of it up.
I mixed several paint colors together, along with the fabric medium, to get the perfect shade of medium gray/beige. If you mix paints to get the right color, be sure to write down the formula! I ran out right before I finished the first panel. So glad I had the formula!
Here's the formula I used:
2 oz. gray
1 oz. silver
1/2 oz. burnt umber
3 oz. fabric medium
That barely covered most of one panel, so in the end I'd say you need 8 oz. of paint per panel. I had to go back to the store for more paint.
The color I was after was a greige, and I love it! It looks like gray in liquid form, but once it dried on the curtain, it read more brown. So it's exactly what I was trying to create. Yay!
2. Prepare the Painting Space for Stenciled Curtains
You'll need a large space for stenciling. I cleared a space in my living room so I could stencil after Miss A went to bed. (And it'll be dry by the time she wakes up in the morning.)
You'll need something to cover your work area ... unless you want paint on your floors. I used a queen bed sheet, and it worked pretty well. No paint got on the floors.
The sheet shifted around some, which made it hard to keep the curtain straight and even. So a canvas drop cloth would probably work even better!
3. Stencil the Curtains One Section at a Time
Lay the stencil squarely over a section of the curtain. I started at the top to make sure it stayed even across the width of the curtain. Use the foam daubers to pick up a little paint and dab it through the stencil. It's important to use an up-and-down motion, not side to side.
Once the paint is dry, lift the stencil off and line it up with the next section.
Repeat until the whole panel is covered in the stencil pattern.
One of the biggest challenges was keeping the stenciling in a straight line. The Lenda curtains have several seams running down them, so it helps a lot to use those to keep everything lined up.
It only took me about an hour to paint one panel. I highly recommend putting something soft under your knees. My knees ached the next day from crawling around on the hardwood floors.
I love how this one turned out and can't wait to finish the project and see them all hanging in my living room.
I've only finished one panel so far, but I finally made it to the store today to buy more paint. So now I can paint the rest of the curtains. I plan to reveal them all when I reveal my Christmas mantel! You get a little peek here, but there's more to come.
(Update: Check out all of the stenciled curtains in my Living Room Reveal!)
Have you ever stenciled anything? If not, what would you stencil?
Update in 2022: We've since moved out of this home, but over the years these stenciled curtains were one of the most popular things in my home. I got questions about them constantly, and they're still one of my favorite DIYs to date!
More Posts You Will Love:
