Yellow Chevron Curtains

I am beyond excited to finally get to share my yellow chevron curtains with you!  Chevrons and I have had a love affair for quite some time now.  Are chevrons still the "in" thing?  Or has that craze passed?  Obviously, it really doesn't matter to me.  I think chevron is a very classic pattern.

When I finally decided on a gray and yellow color scheme for our living room (after living here a year) I knew that I just HAD TO HAVE big bold chevron curtains.  I did some research and found that the chevron curtains that I liked were selling for about $125!!  YIKES.  I knew that was not going to fly. So I did what I always do. I found a way to make what I wanted for less.

Like what you see? You too can get these amazing curtains for cheap!  Wanna know how?

You will need a square, something to mark on your curtains, blue painters tape, paint, and of course, curtains.

This project takes some patience.  Trust me...stick with it.  It is worth it in the end.

Let's begin, shall we?

First, lay your curtain out flat and iron out all the wrinkles.  I used curtains from IKEA that we had hanging in our old house and had yet to use in our new place.

Beginning at the top of your curtain, lay your square where you want your first chevron to be.   Mark the top peak of your chevron.  I measured down 6 inches to mark the underside of the "peak". 

The horizontal distance between my chevrons was 14 inches.  Your measurements will be different  depending on you want your chevrons to look.  I continued to measure 14 inches between peaks and 6 inches down.  I then used my square as a guide to place the tape onto the curtains, making sure that the tape lines stay straight.  Finish taping one row of chevrons and then move down to the next row. Continue to tape across and down your curtain.  This is the tedious part.  You might want to give up but I'm telling you..don't.  It is worth it in the end.

Once you have your curtain taped, move it to a location for painting.  I took mine to the garage and placed a tarp under it.  The paint WILL soak through your curtain to the tarp so make sure you are ok with the tarp getting paint on it. Make sure the edges of the tape are pressed down to avoid any paint from seeping under the tape.  I used regular interior paint in a flat finish and applied it with a roller.

 The light in my garage was sooo not good this day!

I left some white space at the bottom of the curtain but you could paint the chevrons to the bottom.  It's totally up to you.

I would suggest a small roller instead of a larger one.  Also, to ensure that paint does not seep under the tape, roll from the tape toward the center of your chevron. Does this make sense?  If you roll from the middle of your chevron toward the tape, you are more likely to push paint under the tape which is not the result that we are going for. Give it a good coat of paint.  You may want to do two coats. I only did one and I had to do some touch ups after I put the curtains up and noticed some thin spots when the light shined through. You can see the thin spots in the picture below. 

Let the paint dry and remove the tape.

What do you think?  

I absolutely LOVE them.  They make such a bold statement in the room.  I love it because you see them right when you walk in the front door.  One of the problems that I find with renting is that you can't paint the walls.  I think these curtains add tons of color to the room and go well with the neutral {blah} walls. I was worried that the bold color would not work well in the Fall.  {I actually made these this past summer.}   I thought the yellow was more of a summer color but now that I see it with my Fall Mantel, I think it works well.  

Do you have a bold statement in your house?