Stencil Me In

Ever since we moved into our home in February (that's almost a full year ago for all of you keeping track), I have wanted to put curtains up in our bedroom.  I feel like curtains are the shoes of the room; they have the potential to absolutely MAKE the room.  And without them, the room seems less complete.  Upon my request, my sister picked up a couple sets of IKEA Vivan panels for me waaaayyy back in March.  I was never sold on the plain white, though, and instead have been longing to interject a little pattern into our basic bedroom.  So for a long time, our bedroom sat like this:

I apologize for the mess, and  bonus points if you spot the preview of what's to come!

After patrolling my favorite stores and websites for 10+ months looking for reasonably priced, geometrical patterned (as opposed to floral or stripes, etc), that fit my color scheme (clay brown, not chocolate)...I was about over it.  One day, though, I was randomly watching "The Nate Berkus Show".  He featured a stencil to use as a wall-covering, and immediately I knew I had my answer...I would stencil my Vivan curtains (genius, I know...note sarcasm).

My project supply list included the following:

• set of curtain panels (I already mentioned I used IKEA Vivan)
• 3 inch **sponge** roller
• at one point in my project, I needed a new roller and attempting to avoid a trip to my craft store I went to Home Depot (more convenient) instead...BIG MISTAKE!  The wall rollers just pulled up my stencil constantly
• acrylic paint in chosen color (I went through approximately 5 bottles for 2 panels)
• stencil paper
• craft knife to cut stencil
• stencil tape to hold stencil down each time
• cardboard
• Nate's stencil

The process was really pretty straightforward.  First, I printed out the stencil and taped it on top of stencil paper.  Using the craft knife, I traced/cut out the lines of the stencil.

 After ironing and hemming the curtains, I just laid a panel down on the floor and taped the stencil to the top left corner. I used my roller to paint over the stencil.  I put a piece of cardboard under the part of the curtain that I was painting to make sure none bled through on to the floor.  Once done, I just lifted the stencil, taped it down at the first one's end point, scooted over my cardboard, and got my roll on again.  Here's a look at my work in progress:

And a close up in case you're like me and need lots of images:

After repeating that process about a bajillion times, this was my final result:

And hung in all their glory in our bedroom:

I'm pretty pleased with them.  The whole project cost me about $50 for 2 sets of window panels and all of the supplies.  Time wise, I spent about 2 hours per panel, although admittedly, I started to get a little less precise with lining up my stencil as the process went on.  Because the curtains were going to fold, I reasoned you wouldn't be able to tell, and for the most part, I think I was right. 

Overall, it really was quite the easy project (although  my back and knees were not so pleased with me after being hunched over for a good part of the weekend)...pretty mindless, fool-proof work (the kind I excel at).  A bigger stencil would certainly have helped (I couldn't find one in a pattern I like without having to spend beaucoup bucks...and at that point, I may as well buy the beaucoup buck curtains).  But I got curtains that met all of my criteria, so I think it was worth it. 

What do you think?  Ever attempted stenciling anything?  I am already trying to come up with other things I can stencil!!!