STENCIL PAINTED CURTAIN PANELS

Custom draperies are one of those items that can get very costly...especially when you want a cool pattern instead of your typical solid color panels.  So here's a curtain DIY I've done for a couple of past projects.

Olive Leaf Stencils sells some great large-scale stencil patterns that work well for curtain panels.  I usually use the linen Ikea Aina panels that I wrote about here.

I used this Ikat stencil on curtains for my sister's house...

 

Sorry for the low light "after" pic...but the curtains looked fabulous!  We just used a standard paint roller with watered down latex house paint.

This geometric stencil coupled with a little coral pink spray paint turned plain white drapery panels into something completely fun...

To keep the paint lines crisp and clean we sprayed the back side of the stencil with a bit of repositionable spray mount glue, just to make it slightly tacky to stick to the fabric.

Very reminiscent of this coral diamond Duralee fabric...

Or the ever-popular La Fiorentina by David Hicks, don't you think?  And with spray paint you have so many colorway options at your fingertips!

Speaking of color options, have you ever used these Design Masters spray paints?  I guess they're intended for painting silk flowers, but the array of colors they offer is far greater than your standard hardware store spray paints.  I've only tried them out on fabric, but they worked great for us!

Look how excited this girl from my random Google image search is about her paint choices!  (I wanted to show you all the subtle shades they offer.)

One client needed giant curtains to hang on the enormous windows of her downtown loft space, so we created these large-scale chevron panels using these huge (and economical) canvas painter's drop cloths.

Again, watered-down latex paint applied with a roller.  I'm not gonna lie to you though....taping off that zig zag pattern was super labor intensive...the stencil route is far easier!  We just needed a very large scale pattern in order to work with the scale of her lofty loft.

I don't have a good "after" pic with these curtains hanging in the loft yet, but I hope to soon, once the space is all finished!

CUSTOMIZING INEXPENSIVE LINEN CURTAINS: DIY TUTORIAL

There is one (and only one) style of curtain panels from Ikea that I routinely use in my design projects when the budget prevents expensive custom-made drapes.  They are the 100% linen Aina curtains for$50 a pair, and they are a remarkably versatile drapery option for a whopping $25 per panel.

First off, they come 98" long which makes them usable even for tall windows or for hanging them all the way up at ceiling height.  It's a decorator's trick that you should always hang your drapes up near ceiling height, even if the window opening is lower...it's draws the eye up and makes your room feel taller and the ceilings higher!  

rule one: 

hang curtains all the way 

up at ceiling height...

 

via

 

via

Secondly, the Ainas have this hidden loop hanging method which doesn't require any curtain rings or hooks (big $$ savings) but still allows them to stack and hang quite prettily.   You can add curtain rings (pictured further down) if you're going for that look, but it's nice that you don't need them in order to have pretty stacked folds.

I am totally over the integrated ring curtains like this, and rod pockets and tab tops are both just cheap looking.  Don't go there.  Just don't.

rule two: 

don't fool around with any 

of these 3 drapery styles...

INTEGRATED RINGS

ROD POCKET

TAB TOP

  Most often I use the Aina curtains in "white" (which by the way shows up as a very bright white on the Ikea site, but it's actually a much softer,  creamier white. Trust.)  Here they are in my "One Room Challenge" project.  I trimmed them (no sewing involved, just a bit of fabric glue) with greek key trim tape, and they look so lovely.  

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

 rule three: 

add trim for a custom touch...

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

In my own Silverlake home (which was featured on Domaine Home before I sold it and moved a little ways down Sunset Blvd to Hollywood) I trimmed my Aina curtains with basic black cotton twill tape ...

 

 

  (If you want to dive into the story of how I bought an ugly little "fixer" house and re-did it room by room, it's all here, have at it!  nitty gritty remodel // kitchen // dining room // living room // bath // nursery // bedroom // patio // my design studio)   In my client's Larchmont Bungalow project (featured in Rue Magazine!) I hung a total of 4 Aina curtain panels across the entire bed wall to camouflage the fact that that our window was not centered on the bed (you can catch the rest of the Larchmont Bungalow tour here, here, here.)

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

 rule four: double up 

on wide windows...

When I have a wide window (anything over 4'-5') I'll make sure the drapes look full enough by pairing two Aina panels together on each side, meaning 4 panels total on one window.  They're such a bargain to begin with that with this little trick can dress even quite large windows for about $100.  That's what I call a deal people!

We played around with styling this bedroom a couple different ways, and my client settled on this look, with the curtains trimmed in 4" of dusty lilac linen fabric.

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

In this fun cobalt and coral bedroom I embellished the curtains with burlap greek key trim ...  

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

I love this space by Hommemaker Orlando Soria.  He added curtain rings to light grey Aina panels and it looks really good with the traditional architecture and moldings!  

ORLANDO SORIA

COASTAL LIVING

The Aina panels are not black-out curtains, but they're not sheers either, by any means.  Personally I prefer the look and feel of a little light filtering in through my curtains.  In my opinion these let in just enough light, while also providing total privacy.  (And if you wanted to bring them to a seamstress to have them lined it would still probably cost you a fraction of the price of most retail linen drapes.)   Hope this helps you navigate the world of costly window treatments armed with a little more knowledge and inspiration!