Monday, October 22, 2012

No Cost Stencil Project

Happy Monday everyone!

Hope y'all had a great weekend. 
We spent Saturday working on organizing the basement. It still needs a lot of work, but the storage room is almost finished. Just scroll down to the previous post if you missed it.
Was hoping to get my new project finished this weekend, but  it morphed into something a little more complicated. 

Don't you hate it when that happens?

 Ever since we had the house painted, the sidelight windows near the front door have been, well, naked....
...and you can see in the Family Room when you are standing on the front porch. 
Don't know about you, but Mr. Fanatic and I have a thing about that. Maybe it's just us, but we like a little more privacy than that. 
Which brings me to my no cost project...
A few months ago, I purchased 2 sets of curtain panels for my Master Bedroom from Ikea. Since the 3 windows in that room are narrow and the curtain panels are wide, I only needed one panel for each window. That left me with one curtain panel left over. I thought the sidelights would look a little more dramatic covered with the leftover curtain.
A super easy project: cut the panel in half lengthwise and sew the edge. 


Or so I thought. Once up,  they needed a little something and remembered the trellis pattern stencil. Of course I have some extra paint hanging around too.

Thought I'd show you of  the two stencil projects that were done for my daughter's room. 
The first project turned is a stenciled burlap jewelry organizer and matching bulletin board. You can see the tutorial HERE.
 Believe it or not, her stenciled jewelry organizer looks just as organized today as it did when I took this photo. (wish her room did, as well)


The second stenciled project was a pillow. This was also a no cost project.
I stenciled some burlap and made her a pillow, as well. Note to self...next time stencil on prewashed drop cloth fabric or soft cotton...
it's much cuddlier.
I'm excited to get to use this stencil another time because it's so pretty. I'm also happy that this project will cost zero, zip nada...
Now I just have to come up with a no cost way to hang the panels on the sidelights.

Any suggestions?

16 comments:

  1. Pam I had panels on our sidelights before we replaced them with shutters. I used a magnetic curtain rod and it worked great.
    I love the jewelry organizer you made for your daughter!

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  2. Excellent idea. I have no idea on how to hang though, curtains are never my strong point.

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  3. The stencil will be perfect. Love that pattern. Hugs, Marty

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  4. Great to find ways to reuse what you already have for no cost decor Pam!! I wonder what the glass would look like if you stenciled the glass, vs the panels for your entry??

    Your jewelry display with the stenciled burlap was one of my faves <3

    xo Lynda

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  5. Hi Pam and you are just the smartest one! That's a great idea. You could use little spring rods. Love your stencil and how you've used it.
    Thanks for popping in to see me.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia :)

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  6. I love the jewelry holder. I cannot wait to see how the curtains turn out. I've seen people use the small tension rods and even a few who used a great big rod over the whole door and hung the curtains on each side for a very dramatic effect. Either way I am sure yours is going to be so pretty!

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  7. Totally love the jewelry organizer! What kind of paintd did you use? And may be a silly question, but where do you find burlap? Can you get it at Michaels?

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  8. Great idea! We also have naked side light windows but it's not our most used door (we have two front doors) so privacy isn't a problem. Can't wait to see how they look when they're up.

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  9. I bet the new panels will look great! I have no ideas how to hang them without buying something to do the job. I've seen some rods that swing out which might be a nice option.

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  10. I never knew that you could paint fabric until I started reading your blog. I have absolutely no idea on how to hang them but I know you'll figure out some super creative way!

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  11. We have the same door sidelights issue. I'm planning to hang burlap curtains there eventually. It's on my project list. I saw it done in the 2012 Idea House in Southern Living. Check it out. They just used a rod. Love that stencil...can't wait to see the panels.

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  12. Pam...great projects and i love that color...
    As far as the sidelights are concerned, can you used stencils and glass etching to make a great pattern and it would block most of the clear glass...

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  13. Pam, I love the blue color too!! Love your foyer:-)

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  14. The stenciled panels sound like a great idea. We bought short rods to hang curtains inside J's gun cabinet. The doors have plain glass...we needed a coverup. These are just small rods that fit flat against the inside of the cabinet doors.

    Would a tension rod work for your sidelights?

    I have the center of the dining room curtain rod wired to the window lock with silver florist wire. Necessity is the mother of invention.:-)

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  15. Love the colors and the designs how they go across the chair slats! Beautiful!

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  16. I've used PVC pipe spraypainted with a rusty metallic finish and even stone to hang curtains in the various apartments and houses, we've lived in over the past 12 years.

    --We've moved 8 times in 7 years then moved back to NC two years ago in January, and we're planning on moving again in January to a nicer, larger apartment closer to dh's work and shopping areas.

    Copper pipe also works well as a curtain rod. You can get finials for the ends of the curtain rods in the woodworking section of Home Depot/Lowes, use decorative drawer pulls, and check out Big Lots for tension rods and finials.

    All those places might also have large wooden or metal decorative curtain rods, but for most applications, you only notice the finials and the ends of the rods, and no one will get so close to your diy faux finished pipe rods that they realize they aren't wood... and those who love your projects will just be amazed at what you did and think you're brilliant for making rods so inexpensively.

    I also love the idea of putting a large decorative rod above the door and hanging the side curtains on that with nice finials, some tassels on rope, and even put contrasting borders onto your curtains to make them stand out. The plain burlap would be gorgeous by itself.

    Or if you want to hang the individual curtains on tiny rods within the side panel, I think that would look very sophisticated as well. --Maybe do a bit of a bishop's sleeve look about 2/3 of the way down and tie the curtains loosely with a decorative rope and tassel pullback.

    I've dealt with those two story entry halls before, and yours could use some more height with a ficus tree or even doing a Thanksgiving, then Christmas vignette up there since we're getting close to the holidays would look fabulous.

    I also noticed those gorgeous trunks you had in your bin storage area with the drop in ceiling in your house tour. They would look awesome stacked up under the boxes you already have on that ledge. Love the birdhouse. --that could be a great focal point for a Christmas display with burlap semi covering the trunks for a decorative look, colorful, sparkly Christmas birds decorating the cage in and out (Michael's has some great, inexpensive ones) and a small white or very flocked Christmas tree decorated with Turn of the Century looking ornaments, post cards, the shabby chic Victorian look you're so great at.

    As for permanent decoration, I love the wood pieces you have on the wall about your front door. I just think you need more of those on the sides and larger ones on top.

    M in N Carolina

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