Hey y’all! Well I’ve got a project here for you that I’ve been working on slowly for almost a month.
I’ve been looking 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 used the shorter IKEA Lenda curtains in my master bedroom, and knew I loved them. And so, I bought the bleached-colored Lenda curtains in the 118″ length. At $34.99 for two panels, you can’t beat that!
And then I went in search of my stencil. I’ve been eyeing the Moroccan trellis stencils for months. I have plans to use the stencil on a wall in the future, so I bought something I could use on my curtains and on 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!
OK, now to the actually stenciling. First, let’s talk about 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. I mixed several paint colors together, along with the fabric medium, so definitely write down your formula in case you need more. 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
And that only covered almost a whole panel, so in the end I’d say I needed 8 oz. of paint for one panel. I had to go back to the store and get more paint.
The color I was going for was a greige, and I love it! It looks like a gray in liquid form, but once it dried on the curtain, it looked more brown. So, it’s exactly what I was trying to create. Yay!
You’ll need a large space for your stenciling. I cleared a space in my living room, so that I could stencil after Miss A goes to bed. (And it’ll be dry by the time she wakes up in the morning.) You’ll need something to cover your work space … unless you want paint on your floors. I used a queen bed sheet, and it worked pretty well. No paint got on the floors. But it did move around some, which makes it hard to keep the curtain straight and even. So when I stencil the rest of my panels, I may make something out of old cardboard boxes.
That is one of the biggest challenges – stenciling the curtain in a straight line. The Lenda curtains have several seams running down them, so it helps a lot in trying to keep everything straight. And you just paint the curtain. It only took me a about an hour to paint it. I highly recommend finding something soft to put under your knees. My knees hurt the next day from crawling around on the hardwood floors.
I love the way this one turned out and can’t wait to complete this project and see them all hanging in my living room.
I only have one panel finished so far, but I finally got 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?
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Becca says
Looks great! I don’t think I would be able to keep them straight. Thanks for sharing! Stop by my Friday’s Five Features tomorrow and link up this post (and others)!
Laura says
Hi Becca, the seams down the fabric definitely helped! They aren’t perfect, but you can’t tell when they are hung up. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!!
carissa says
looks great! i have high ceiling problems too:) i tried stenciling them with that exact stencil, but it just wasn’t turning out how i envisioned. love the gray!
Laura says
I definitely had moments where I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. And it’s not perfect by any means! 🙂 Have a great weekend, Carissa!
Lauren @ The Thinking Closet says
Holy awesomesauce, Batman! I’m pinning this because we have the exact IKEA curtains that you do, but they’re in a box in the basement because I needed a change. Um…hello! I can change them myself with stencils! Pinning and tweeting this post, immediatamente.
Laura says
You’ll love that they have seams down them to keep your stencil on the straight and narrow. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
lisa says
Gorgeous! I can tell that this took a lot of time and effort but the end result is fabulous!
Laura says
Thanks so much, Lisa! I hope you have a great weekend!
Kim (TheKimSixFix) says
These came out beautiful. I totally want to do this now!
Laura says
Hi Kim, I’d love to see them if you do tackle this project! Thanks for stopping by!!
Jenn @ We Do Fun Here says
I LOVE THESE, so cute! These would be perfect for our master bedroom, I am thinking I am going to need to make these ASAP! Thanks for sharing, I am so glad I found you at the Inspiration Exchange Link Party!
Laura says
Thanks Jenn! I love them still, so much! I hope you do end up doing them. Let me know if you post them!!
Kylie Helm says
Your home is just so beautiful. Everything you post has me drooling! I have several panels of plane white “sheet” curtains in our home, and I would just love to stencil them like this! Thank you for the inspiration!
Kylie @ Absolutely Arkansas
Laura says
Oooooh, your curtains sound like the perfect candidate for a stencil makeover. I have some plain curtains in my bathroom that I’d love to makeover as well! Thanks for taking time to comment!
Val @ Home Made Modern says
They turned out absolutely beautifully! Kudos to you for tackling such an ambitious project!
Laura says
Aww, thanks Val! They were definitely worth the effort and the sore knees. 🙂
[email protected] of a Serial Do-it-Yourselfer says
These are gorgeous!! They really make a statement. I always stick to solid panels, but I’ve been thinking about painting mine for awhile. I love how these turned out so perfectly with a stencil! I think my pattern would be all over he place 🙂
Laura says
Thanks Christy! Mine aren’t perfect, which is why there aren’t any close-ups. 🙂 But nobody sees the imperfections except for me. You could so do this DIY! 🙂
Sarah says
These look great. I started stenciling some curtains using the same paint and fabric medium. I kept ending up smudging my paint when I moved the stencil. Tricky business. But these look so good I think I need to revisit this plan.
Thanks for sharing.
Sarah
Creative Ramblings
Laura says
Hey Sarah! It is super tricky to make sure you don’t smudge the paint. And my curtains aren’t perfect by any means. I was VERY super careful when I moved the stencil, though. I tried to make sure I was setting it in the right place, and didn’t move it around once it was on the fabric. And every so often, I would wipe the bottom of the stencil to make sure there wasn’t any paint on the under side. Definitely give it another try! And I’d love to see the final product!
Kayla @ Home Coming blog says
These look great! Don’t forget to link up to The DIY’ers!
Laura says
Thanks Kayla! Have a great week!!
Carrie This Home says
Your curtains turned out so beautiful! I’m stopping by from Give Me The Goods Monday.
I would love it if you’d link this post (and any other craft, DIY, recipe posts) to my blog hop. I’d love to see you there!
Laura says
Thanks Carrie … I’ll be sure to stop by!
noorain says
wow great idea, you are truly very talented…loved your website keep up the good work..I plan to stencil one of my old curtain too thanks for the great idea 🙂
Laura says
Thanks so much! I hope you do try it – such an easy way to spruce up a space!!
Cara says
This is such a great idea!!
Laura says
Thanks so much, Cara!!
Jen @ Girl in the Garage says
The curtains look amazing with the rest of the room! I just bought some similar blue and beige curtains from Target, I didn’t think of stenciling them myself. Great job.
Cindy says
I saw your curtains in your living room reveal. You did a great job and your room looks fabulous!
Autumn B. Brown says
So – how long did you wait between stenciling and then moving the stencil to another spot? I’m worried that I’ll end up with a smudgy mess. :/
Laura says
I didn’t wait long, but tried to be careful. If I noticed the paint was getting under the stencil I wiped it off. And I did end up with some smudges. But I was too impatient to wait. 🙂
Amanda says
Hey, found your blog! This is way cute! You are so crafty 🙂
Laura says
Thanks Amanda! Love your blog … so fun!!
Jennifer says
love it Laura! great job on this!!
Laura says
Thanks!!