Over the weekend I tackled my window treatments as part of my continuing bathroom and dining room makeover projects. For the dining room, I started with two off-white roman shades I purchased online, from J.C. Penney. The quality is surprisingly good for the money.
I purchased this stencil, Endless Moorish Circles, just before Christmas when Melanie was having her fabulous 50% sale, highlighting a different stencil each day. I bought it in two sizes, the large and small and am sure this design is going to be seeing a lot of use!
Originally, I thought I’d put this design on my bathroom window shade, but once my dining room started to come together, I decided this pattern really belonged in this room.
I put a drop cloth over my dining room table and went to work. Because the fabric is a bit slippery and there are rods inserted in the folds of the shade, it was a bit tricky to tape it down. I probably should have used spray adhesive but a)the only can I have left in my studio is defective and b) I hate gucking up a brand new stencil with glue, so I opted to tape and just be careful.
I found it best to use a stencil brush vs. a small foam roller for this project.
For paint, I used the left over wall paint from this room, mixed with a little textile medium. I’m not sure I even needed the textile medium, because I’m not ever going to be throwing these shades in the wash. I think they would just be spot cleaned, should something happen.
Here they are, finished and hung. This project took about 1 1/2 hrs to do, then about 20 minutes to hang. Quick and easy! Of course, I made one mistake when ordering the blinds… you have the option which side you want the cord to be on, left or right. I thought I ordered one of each, but instead ordered two "rights". I did not notice this until after they were both stenciled and I began to hang them. I can live with this error. I also read that the "proper" length for Roman Shades, when all the way down, should be just hitting the sill. The length is not custom on these blinds, so I would have to shorten, if I want that look. Again, I decided I could live with this longer length. The plus side is, the longer length keeps out some of the drafts in this colder weather.
Here’s another view.
The valance is detachable, secured with velcro, which was great to remove and stencil flat on the table. I used the smaller version of this same pattern here, to mix it up a bit.
Unfortunately, when the shades are up, I have only this lovely dumpster to view until our construction is complete… which should be very soon! Even without the lovely dumpster, my view is dismal from this room, just looking out at the driveway and the neighbors house. I am thinking of frosting the bottom windows. I did buy a can of spray frost some time ago and will experiment on some sample pieces of glass to see what that looks like.
I also stenciled a shade in my bathroom, which I will show you in my next post. For all you DIYer’s, these are inexpensive and quick ways to customize your windows.
Buffet Makeover
