Striped Curtains {How To}

 I have received a lot of emails about the striped curtains I made in my son's bedroom and decided to share a little more info about how I made them. First off, I envisioned long floor length bold striped curtains for this space since day 1. I figured I could find some online, but after quite a while I couldn't find the right shade or thick enough stripes. I even considered painting plain curtains. At that point, I didn't know how the paint would look. Would it make the fabric crusty looking? Would it flake off? Could I even make the stripes even and would they look bad close up since this is a small space? After mulling that over, I decided my best bet was to sew my own curtains. So I headed off to the store and picked my fabrics. I measured my sons room from floor to ceiling to make sure I would make them tall enough (and ensure room to hem them). I also knew I wanted to do a grommet top panel. I chose a plain blue cotton fabric, but for the white I went with a thicker weave fabric. Almost like a light canvas. I didn't want the sewn seems to show through the white when it was all said and done. I was worried how the two fabrics would go together when I started sewing...but they stayed straight and worked well together. 

 I got my cutting mat, roller cutter, and measuring stick and went to cutting! I cut out all the stripes and laid them out to make sure they were long enough. (FYI, I did my strips 39" wide, 10" tall allowing a 1/2" seam allowance.)

Boy Bedroom Reveal

Well, this is a long time coming! We have lived here for over a year and a half and I finally started working on my son's room. My son has a "Cowboy" bedroom, and he wanted to keep it cowboy themed so we just gave it a modern flair. Here is how my son's room was looking before we started this makeover:

 Yep, its a mess in these pictures...I knew I was going to be redoing everything so I let things go this week. Normally I tried to keep some order, but its difficult with no storage! We are fresh out of college so our furniture is quite sparse. While I love my beige walls...the way the sunlight hit his room for most of the day with the painted beige ceiling as well, created an almost peach cast. This didn't seem very "boy" so after I took everything out of his room I went paint shopping. Not gonna lie...it was a painful experience. I got my go to white ceiling paint...but choosing the perfect wall shade was tough! I bought so many samples before I finally found 'the one'.

So I got to work painting, white ceiling and grey walls. The wall color I chose was from Sherman Williams and it is called repose grey. I noticed an instant change in the feel of the room, in a good way. I was worried because grey sometimes seems so cold...but with all the warm accents in the room it balances well. Those of you who follow me on facebook already got a sneak of this a while back!

Here is the mostly finished product. It included a dresser that was gifted to me by my sister which I repainted and added new knobs, hand-sewn thick stripe curtains(my favorite!), painted shelves and signs, reclaimed headboard and toy chest from salvation army, and new bedding. Let me know what you think!

 I wanted the bedding to give a "pottery barn" feel, without the pottery barn price! I got this set on overstock for $100. I love the hand-stitched look.

I looked everywhere for thick striped white and navy curtains...and after looking and not being impressed, I decided to make my own. It took me a while, but I was able to add blackout fabric to the back lining which is so helpful to keep the light out of my son's room while he is sleeping since his room faces East. Loving the white ceiling too!

 Loving the bold lines and patterns!

Here is a close-up of some of the details. I am still working on the shelves...but overall I wanted to include his favorite things.

 Easy, cute storage.

And there ya have it...I'll post a few more in depth details about the room, but I hope you enjoyed this before and after. We just love how it turned out! Let me know what you think!

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