Privacy with a Punch!

This post is looong overdue. I worked on it in July and just haven't had the time to share it with all you lovely folks :)
In our living room, we have a big wide window that lets in a lot of natural light. But it also gives our entire neighborhood a sneak-peek into our living room. OR we could shut the blinds, giving us no light at all. The goal for this project was to add some window treatments that not only added the much needed privacy screen, but also allowed all the light to come in.

Our living room walls are a light tint of gray, with one dark gray accent wall above the fireplace. I was pretty sure that I wanted curtains that had a light-airy feel to it; nothing heavy or too ornate. I am a big fan of those sheer panels and I bought a pair of white, 84" linen sheers from Bed Bath and Beyond. Even though the material was sheer, they had a very rich look and feel, perfect for the living room. To tie the curtains with the rest of the living room decor, I decided to add a custom stencil motif on the curtain. Let me break it down for you, this project needed:

1. An awesome assistant - my mom :)
2. Two 84" sheer linen panels (white)
3. Black fabric paint (~$3/bottle at Michaels. I used less than half of the contents)
4. Plastic stencil (~$5 at Michaels)
5. Paint brush
6. Painters tape (to adhere the stencil)
7. Music and lots to gossip with mom (this entire project took 6 hours to complete, you will need some background noise to get you through it. Don't let this discourage you, the outcome is totally worth it, I promise)

Awright! let's get started.

First, we found an empty surface in the house that was large enough to spread a panel, we just used our office/craft area. I gathered my paint, brush, stencil and tape. Mom and I spent some time to visually design how we wanted to add the print. We did not want to fill it all up, so we decided to start at the top and make three vertical strings (left edge, center, right edge) of the motif. The panel was 84" tall and the motif itself was 5". We did some math and worked our magic - we made some markings so that each motif would be 6" apart. Now remember, this is a DIY project and it depends on how perfect you want your markings and measurements to be. For mom and I, we prefer eyeballing vs. tape measurements...but thats just our style.

*Key take-aways:

• the painters tape helps you to adhere the stencil to the curtain. but you will still need to hold on to the stencil as you paint around the area
• each time, remove all the excess paint from the brush before you start smudging away on the stencil. If it helps, practice this move a couple of times on a different surface till you feel like you got the hang of it
• use an extra pair of hands to hold the rest of the fabric nice and tight
• insert a sheet of cardboard or thick plastic under the area you are about to paint. This will protect your work surface from any stains
• clean the stencil with a wash cloth after a few uses to remove any paint stuck on the surface

We kept adding one motif at a time and saw the transformation right in front of our eyes.

The 1st panel took 4 hours to complete and then our patience ran out. We wrapped up for the day and decided to tackle the 2nd panel later. The 2nd panel was done in half the time; with the measurements and technique in place, we knew what we were doing. We temporarily hung these in the office to allow it to dry...but mainly because we wanted to put it up and OOOH and AAAH at our hard work! You may also notice that we added 6 extra motifs between the 3 vertical strings...just to break up the design and fill in the emptiness.

The next day, these panels were ready to go up in the living room. We had to coax Amit to help us with putting up the curtain rods. We indulged in some swanky rods that matched the hardware of the curtains.

*Key take-aways:

Hang the curtain rods a little higher than the window. We purposefully bought longer curtains that almost reached the floor, to give the illusion of a larger window.

Be aware that painting on sheer panels can be tricky. The motifs look light gray when the light passes through them during the day, at night, they become black. Works for my space because those are the colors that I have on the walls and amongst the decor.

Here are some different angles for you:

We love how it turned out and the fact that it met all our criteria. You will be amazed at what a stencil and paint can do! If you have any fun window treatment projects from your home, do share...