A Possibility For My Living Room – Painted and Stenciled Curtain Ideas

A Possibility For My Living Room – Painted and Stenciled Curtain Ideas

I’m still in a quandary over what to do with my living room windows.  I simply cannot find a fabric that I can get excited about — one that I love AND that’s in my budget.  So, as several of you suggested, I’m really considering stenciling my own fabric to create a pattern that I like in just the right colors.
Painting curtains is something that I never thought twice about in the condo.  I painted the curtains to hide the  washer and dryer in the hallway, and then just last week I painted some curtains to go in the bedroom.  But those were cheap and easy ideas for a condo that has a much more lighthearted look and feel to it than my house.  The idea of putting painted fabric draperies in my house, where I’m trying to focus on higher quality items (still on a budget), just never occurred to me.

But the other night, I started searching Pinterest and Google for some painted/stenciled curtain inspiration, and I realized that so many of these don’t have that “painted curtain” look at all!  They look just like printed fabric…and quite expensive fabric at that.  So I’m really giving it some serious thought.  At this point I’m about 80% sure that I’ll end up with stenciled draperies in my living room.  Here are a few examples that really won me over.

These were done using an allover damask stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.  I never would have guessed just from looking at them that they’re stenciled.

via From Gardners To Bergers

This is one of my favorites simply because I love, love, love a good trellis design.  This was done using the Trellis stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.

from The Sweetest Digs

And then these were done using a different type of trellis design.  This is the Tea House Trellis stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.

from Decor Adventures

This one shows what a difference it can make just using different colors.  I’m pretty sure this is the same Allover Trellis from Cutting Edge Stencils that was used on the one above (two photos above — the white and gray), but I really love these softer colors.  At a glance, that looks very similar to Kelly Wearstler’s Imperial Trellis fabric from Schumacher that retails for just under $200 per yard.

from City Farmhouse

You can also use several colors of paint which makes the fabric look much more like printed fabric.  These curtains were done with the Julia Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils…

from Lolly Jane

Of course, there are more stencil companies out there other than Cutting Edge Stencils.  That company just really loves to work with bloggers, so if you read blogs regularly, you’ll see their stencils used quite a bit.  But here are some curtains that were stenciled using an Ikat stencil from Olive Leaf Stencils.  I really love the wide band of solid fabric at the bottom.  That gives them a much more custom look to me.

from Our Fifth House

And then these curtains were stenciled using a stripe stencil by Tulip…

from Southern Revivals

You can also make your own stencil if you don’t want to purchase one.  These curtains were done using a small DIY stencil.

from Apartment Therapy

These were also done using a home made stencil cut out with an X-acto knife.

from Crazy Wonderful

And then there’s my favorite option (just because I generally like striped designs)…good ole painters tape.  This design, which was much more labor intensive than my go-to quick and easy stripes, was created with painters tape.

from Owen’s Olivia

So this is definitely the direction I’m leaning for my living room.  I think I’ll purchase some really cheap fabric and come up with three or four design and color combos to test out.  If they look promising, I’ll share them with y’all and you can give me your thoughts!