How To: DIY Chevron Curtains
Thanks everyone for your sweet comments, facebook messages and emails about our new place! I've heard from a lot of people that they want to know how I made the Chevron Curtains and I am happy to share! Below is my How To post on my Chevron DIY!I really can't take much credit for this project, as it was inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest. I then googled "DIY Chevron Curtains" and found a bunch of helpful links which inspired and instructed me on the entire project. The links are as follows:http://craftiliciousness.blogspot.com/2011/06/panels-part-ii.htmlhttp://thehuntedinterior.blogspot.com/2011/12/hot-trend-of-2011-chevron.htmlhttp://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/how-to/how-to-make-perfect-chevron-stripes-every-time-139609http://kfddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/10/chevron-curtain-diy.html (this link was the one I found the MOST helpful)http://www.greenyourdecor.com/8209/chevron-curtain-tutorial/Materials Needed
- Curtains in Cotton or Linen
- Latex Wall Paint
- Small Paint roller and tray
- Blue Painter's Tape
For me, step one was picking out the curtains. I agonized at Ikea for seriously 30 minutes! There are a lot of similar options at Ikea that will all work well for the project with different price points. I couldn't really understand what the difference truly was or which one would look better. I ended up choosing the Merete Pair of Curtains in Bleached White and they worked PERFECTLY! I am really glad I chose them! They are so affordable too, at $25 for a pair. I needed 6 panels for my room, so I bought 3 packs. $75 for 6 curtain panels is not bad at all considering that the West Elm panels I bought for my office were nearly $75 PER PANEL! I also love that the Ikea curtains are extra long, because I wanted to hang them at ceiling height to make the room look taller and the windows look even bigger. My mother in law was able to hem the panels, before we painted, so they were the exact right length!
Step two is buying the paint! My mother in law and I went back and forth on what would be the best way to paint these. She was thinking a fabric paint would be best because she worried regular wall paint would make the curtains look crunchy. BUT all the DIY instructions I read had suggested wall paint. So that's what I decided we should do. I am happy to report that the curtains really aren't crunchy or too stiff, even with wall paint on them! We bought the black latex wall paint at a home improvement store on sale, $25 for a gallon. With 6 panels, we nearly used the full gallon!Step three is the hard part. DOING THE MATH! Yep it turns out chevrons are very mathematical and to make each panel the same you are going to need to figure out some measurements. Unfortunately so much of the measurements are dependent upon the width and length of your panels, and your personal taste... so any measurements we found online didn't work! The basics that I remember of what we decided on was that each Chevron would be 14" wide and that from the high point to the low point of the chevron was 18". The measuring and taping was a real pain in the butt. There is pretty much no way to sugar coat it. That is the point in the project where you may want to quit, or kill yourself or go pay one million dollars for a designer curtain in a fancy store! But don't give up! You will get through it... or rope someone else in to help you. Like I did. Thanks to Sharon, my mother in law, for crawling on the floor taping and measuring! I would have gone insane without her!
Step four is the fun part! Painting! Once we had the chevrons all taped off we got to work on painting! One tip is to press hard on all your tape lines to make sure you will get a clean and even edge. Secondly, I did two coats of paint because I thought it looked better more even. Make sure to pull the tape off the panels when they are still a wee bit damp! And then hang them up!And then you're done! Woohoo!!
Here are some additional tips/thoughts on the project:
- Enlist help! This project is fairly easy, but it is a whole lot easier and quicker if you have help! Try to do this with some one and you will enjoy it so much more!
- Unless you are only doing 2 panels, don't expect to be done in one day. With 6 panels to do, the project took us about 4 or 5 days from taping to painting!
- Expect to play around with the measurements and placement of your first chevron on your first panel. It took us 3 tries to get it how we liked it. But once we figured it out we were able to apply the same measurements to each panel!
Hope this post has been helpful and inspirational!!!! Xoxoxoxo