I just finished DIY-ing some curtains for my little girl’s room and I thought I’d post the project. I am pretty happy with how these curtains turned out and you can’t beat the price- $13 total for (2) panels.
I have been loving the gold polka dot trend lately. Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen have the most gorgeous bedding for babies, children and teens in gold polka dot- if the sheets came in King size I probably would have purchased them for my own bed.
I have had plain boring drapes in my 5 year old’s room for awhile now and I decided to embrace this trend by adding in some sparkle with gold. I looked around and couldn’t find any plain panels in the gold polka dot so I figured it would be easy enough to just make them myself.
And since the sheer panels I was using for the project were only $6.50 each, no big loss if the project went pear shaped.
I found some plain white sheer panels at Walmart for about $6.50 each, I also bought some metallic gold Martha Stewart paint and added some little polka dots to the curtain panels. The entire project took just a few hours- and was so easy. I just turned on the Voice and started dotting away.
To create the polka dots, I just took an eraser end of a pencil, dabbed it into the paint and then dotted that directly on to the panel. It is really simple but I have a few tricks for you to make the process easier.
–First these are sheer panels so if you bump/tug/stretch the panel at all before the paint dries it will smear. So you want to be sure to lay this out on a table or surface that won’t be disturbed while the paint dries.
–You also want a large surface so you can spread out as much of the panel as possible as the painting really goes very fast. The slow part is waiting for the paint to dry.
–Initially I had the panel on the coffee table which didn’t give me very much room to spread out so I moved onto the kitchen table and was able to finish the dotting really quickly.
–Once you find a large surface to spread the panel out, you want to tape down paper, wrapping paper or something else that will protect your table from the dots. I taped down an old plastic tablecloth left over from a party- just a cheap Dollar Store one. Once I got going I remembered I had a Spritz wrapping paper from Target that was very cheap and had polka dots all over it! Since my panels are sheer I can see the polka dots through the panel and you will get a perfect pattern. You don’t need to seek out that wrapping paper- you can absolutely freehand the dots but the wrapping paper does make the panel look a lot more professional and uniform as your dots will be perfectly spaced.
–I found I got two dots per dab of paint- so just dot dot, dab in paint, dot dot and so on… If you do get a little smear here or there it isn’t a big deal. Just make sure the spacing on the dots remains as consistent as possible on both of your panels.
And now these are up and in my little girl’s room and I really do think they look great. I am very happy with how the project turned out and it adds just a little something to her room.
Another look:
And here are some other DIY projects you might like:
DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispensers (these hold my children’s shampoo and body wash near the tub)
The curtains look so cute with the gold polka dots! You did a great job!
Thanks so much Jamie!
Those curtains are so cute. I want to do those in my little girl’s room. How do you think the paint will hold up when you have to wash them?
Beautiful!!
Thank you so much Khadija!
Hi Brenda- I will dab a bit on an old rag and wash it and let you know 🙂 I don’t wash the curtains that frequently- especially these light sheer panels- but in the past when I have painted on shirts and such the paint can be a tiny bit thick on the garment and then as you wash it sticks together. So I’ll test it and let you know.
Do you happen to know the name of the paint color you used in your daughter’s room?
Hi Jessica- I wish I did! It is my favorite color ever- a perfect apricot. We actually had our house painted when we bought it 8 years ago and the painters did not leave samples of that room or the kitchen. We have been kicking ourselves ever since because I have no idea what the colors were.
Where did you get the lamp shade in your daughter’s room?
Hi Britt- It was from Target 🙂
Thank you!! I am taking this idea. The only curtains I can find that I like are from Pottery Barn Teen and for my daughter’s room, it would cost almost $300. Can’t wait to try this out!!