DIY: Painted Black Trimmed Drapes

This photo created quite the buzz on Instagram last night, so I thought I'd make it my duty to get this post up today.

Let's start with a little before pic, shall we?

This pic is a way-before before picture, but you get the picture. Plane old canvas drapes...pretty boring. I finally hemmed them to their proper length and then got to work on adding the black stripped detail.

Here's what you'll need to trim out your drapes:

*DRAPES*

Mine are just canvas drop cloths from Home Depot.

1. Paint in your choice of color. I chose a black acrylic paint that I got from Michael's for a couple bucks with their 40% off coupon.

2. Textile medium to keep things from being too crunchy. Just mix it with your paint; I did a 1:1 ratio. This is available at any craft store.

3. A container to mix and hold your paint and something to stir with. I just used a plastic tupperware bowl and a bamboo skewer.

3. Painters tape. Frog Tape is perfect for a project like this. The tape is special made to stop bleed-through, which is very important for this project.

4. Your painting tool of choice. I liked using my 2" synthetic hair paint brush; lots of control. You can try a foam roller, but from my experience, you use way more paint with the roller.

5. A ruler or some other measuring device.

6. Something to protect the surface that you're working on. There will be a little seepage to the back of the drapes so keep that in mind.

First, tape off your stripe. Mine is 3" wide. I placed the tape closest to the edge first. I just used the seam of the manufacture's hem as a guide. Then, I measured 3" towards the center of the drape and placed my second piece of tape. Keep your ruler handy to be sure that your measurement is consistent all the way down. Also, be sure that your tape is completely secured in the areas that your going to paint. The no-bleeding technology won't work if the tape isn't properly secured to the drape.

Mix your paint and textile medium in a bowl in a 1:1 ratio. That just means for as much paint you put into your container, put that much textile medium in the bowl as well.

Next, get to painting! Just stay inside the lines.

Also, try not to load up your brush with too much paint, and work in small 4-6 inch sections at a time.

See how I stayed inside the lines?

Once you're done painting, remove all of the tape BEFORE the paint dries. This will help insure super crisp lines.

Leave your drapes flat to dry. Thanks to the acrylic paint, mine were dry in about an hour.

Now, you're ready to hang. Here's a detail shot of how I hang all of the drapes in my house.

Each end gets it's own clip.

I, then, pinch the center of the drape and then clip it. After that, pinch equal spaces and clip each pinch so that the roll of the drape is in the front.

This is the look of the finished product. Its not really for operable drapes (drapes that you open and close often), its just for aesthetics.

This little project was super simple. The hardest part was the taping and even that part is a no brainer (as long as you have a ruler). Total time for this project was about 3 hours. I'm completely in love with mine, so I'm hoping some of you guys decide to tackle painting your own drapes. I'd love to hear all about it!