The Curtain Solution {DIY Painted Curtains}

This curtain situation in my kitchen stumped me for the last month or so. I showed you the brownish-gray drapes I bought from Ikea first:

And after living with them a day or two, (and asking for your advice. Thanks, BTW!) I decided to take them back because they made the room look dark.  Then I bought navy drapes, also from Ikea, that made the room look even darker, so back they went.  And so, it's like I always say, when all else fails, go for the DIY! Well, maybe I never said that, but I'm going to start. Here's what I ended up with:

I loooooooove them. Color-blocked drapes for only 25 bucks! DIYing it lets you do your own thing and create something totally custom. Now for the break down:

The curtains came from.....Ikea! Surprise. :) These things are so awesome because they cost $25, and that's for 2 panels. Woohoo! The panels are 96 inches long, but come with fusible webbing to hem them without sewing. (Another plus in my book!)

It's a good thing they provide the stuff to hem them because they were way too long when I hung them up. I also felt like they were just a little too uninteresting and, since this is a high-traffic area (we let the dog in and out through the slider, go out to the deck to play, and close the drapes at night), I knew that white would get soooo dirty really quickly.

Then the idea of color-blocking them popped into my mind and I knew that that was the solution! It would hide the dirt on the bottom of the curtains, while still allowing the room to feel airy, bright and clean. Yesss!!!  I ironed, measured, hemmed, ironed some more, measured some more and then got to work painting them using this method. It worked like an absolute charm.

While painting curtains might just be the bane of my existance- don't ask me why, I really don't have an answer- I am so happy with the results and the fact that it was so inexpensive. I already had the paint on hand from our first Nate Show episode, which was super convenient, and so it really was only 25 dollars for a pair of custom drapes!

They totally compliment my fabric-colored pendant light and bring a little more color to this side of the room.

And now, I think, I'm taking a break from kitchen stuff. We'll see how long that lasts....

Oh yeah, I added a picture of my hubs and me eating souvlakis from our favorite place in Athens, Greece (which is where we met!) right next to my "People who love to eat are always the Best People" quote. Makes me smile every time I see it.

And did you know that if you put a penny in the water with your tulips they will *supposedly* stand up straight instead of drooping? Just a little tip I picked up from Emily that I thought I would pass on to you. You're welcome. I'll let you know if it works. ;)

One last thing: lest you think my kitchen is darn near perfect, here's the other side of it: one of the doors to our laundry area, that never actually fit properly, ripped off the doorframe last week. Sadly, it is always that disorganized. *Sigh*

My daughter told me today that she does not appreciate me painting everything (she's four!), but man, I sure appreciate how you really can paint everything!

What unusual things have you painted?

*Monica once spray-painted a pillar candle. Hilarious!*

 P.S. Did you hear about the awesome new Pinboard we've started with five other amazing bloggers? You'll definitely want to check it out for loads of home decor and crafting inspiration.