DIY Painted Drop Cloth Curtains

*Update* You can check out our Fresh Living segment HERE

 

My kitchen has come a long way since we moved into our house 4 years ago.  We have painted the cabinets, replaced the flooring, re-finished a  yard sale table,  added a sliding barn door, and replaced the blinds with some painted drop cloth curtains.  Some of these projects have made it to the blog at this point, and I could have sworn these curtains were one of them.  Nope!  Never posted them.  Better late than never.  You can find our $150 kitchen cabinet makeover HERE, the farmhouse table re-finish HERE, and as an extra bonus – that cute arrow centerpiece can be found HERE.  We have yet to post about the new kitchen floor, and the sliding barn door- which is so super cool – we need to get on that post ASAP.  But today we are excited to share these cheap DIY painted drop cloth curtains.  We made these curtains before we replaced our broken tile floor, which means they’ve been hanging pretty in my kitchen for over a year now!  Like I said, better late than never. 🙂   Here’s how to get the look.

What you need:

• Canvas drop cloth (we got a 9 by 12 foot one at Harbor Freight for about $15, THIS one is a great option too.)
• Latex paint
• Foam roller
• Paint tape
• Chalk
• Measuring tape
• Straight edge (like a large level or a yard stick)

First step is to measure your window(s).   We measured my windows and cut the drop cloth to the right length before painting.  We left it as one big piece while we painted so the stripes would all match up perfectly. 

Next, iron the drop cloth.  We put a towel under ours and ironed it on the kitchen floor.

Now it’s time to measure the stripes.  The width of your stripes may vary based on the size of the window and length of your curtains.  We did 10 inch wide stripes.  Measure and mark 10 inches down,  then use a long level or yard stick and draw a line all the way across.  Now measure 10 inches from that line, mark, and draw the next line.  Repeat until you reach the bottom of the drop cloth.

Next, tape off the stripes.  Make sure to place the tape along the top of the first line and along the bottom of the next line; then top of the next line and bottom of the next.  Does that make sense?  You can see in the first picture below that the 2 stripe sections look wider than the other section, so the painted stripes will be 10 inches.  (In between each stripe is also 10 inches.)

Once it’s all taped off, start painting!  First though, make sure to use some sort of drop cloth under the drop cloth-ha!  It will soak through a bit, we don’t want any ruined floors.  Okay, use a foam roller and roll the paint on.  Roll in the same direction of the tape rather than up and down to get nice, clean lines.

Let the paint dry and pull the tape off.  Beautiful!!

Here’s a little real life shot.  Ha ha.  DIY’ing is not always pretty.

Okay, now  cut the painted drop cloth to the right widths.

 

And hem the edges.  Make sure to keep the already hemmed edges of the drop cloth so you only have to hem a couple edges.  

We used curtain hooks like THESE to hang them.

Ta-da!

 

What do you think?  I love the light, neutral look of them.  Not a single person who has come to my house would guess they were made out of a $15 drop cloth.  Such an inexpensive way to get exactly the look I wanted.  Now wait till you see the barn door my husband built-another money saving DIY coming soon. 🙂

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