Hand Painted Wall Art & Custom Curtains

Young House Love is at it again, sharing more great home decorating ideas. This time, the topic is no-sew curtains for their soon-to-be baby girl's room. I made some no-sew curtains, over a year ago. I certainly wasn't the first to think of this, but it sure boosted my creative confidence to see a project featured on their site, that I have already tried. And without a how-to guide at the time. Thank you very much.

When my husband and I decided to re-decorate our bedroom, I wanted to design a window treatment that would add visual interest and a little bit of luxury. The odd sized window, on the down-slope of our cape-cod style roof, took up so much of the wall, I figured I might as well make it a focal point and something that I would enjoy looking at. Because the wall is so short, the curtain rod looked a bit odd,  butting right up against the ceiling. I really like the tidy look of a cornice (a.k.a. window box), so I recruited my husband to help me build our first ever project together. We used pieces of pine, nailed together, to form the box. I wrapped the box with a few layers of cotton batting, secured with a staple gun. Then I wrapped it with pale blue fabric with a nice sheen. We hung two curtain rods underneath the cornice. The back rod held the leaf printed sheers (purchased at Sears, years ago). The front rod held the brown satin-like taffeta fabric, which was on clearance at Jo-Ann's. I used Heat-N-Bond iron on hem tape to hem all of the edges, and it worked like a dream. No sewing! Especially since it was somewhat delicate fabric, and I was afraid of snagging it with my sewing machine. I love how the whole piece turned out. Lacey cat loves it too. This is her favorite place to nap.

 

Here is a BEFORE picture of our former red bedroom. The room was red when we moved in, so we just went with it for a while. See the white blinds and tan curtains that used to be there? I wish I had a better picture. It just wasn't very appealing. I always wanted a red room, but now I have a red kitchen (which I love). I like the "Nuthatch" brown we painted our room, with light blue accent walls. I say "we" painted, but it was really all Andrew. Thanks Honey, for painting every room in the house! 

The other side of the bedroom, with a walk-in closet, was missing a door. At first, I planned on installing a door, but I liked the idea of hanging a curtain much better. There was enough fabric left over from the window box, so I "no-sewed" another curtain, and hung it on a cute little rod with decorative ring clips. Instant decorative closet coverage.

I couldn't wait to hand-paint my own wall art. Have you seen those wall decals you can purchase? I was inspired by Apple Pie Design and miraentuinterior (I think that site is in French) to create my own wall art. I printed out a branch with some birds that I liked, and copied it onto a transparency. Using an overhead projector, as well as free-handing additional leaves, I drew the design onto the wall in pencil, then I painted it. I love how personalized and fun it looks!

There you have it. My version of how to create a window treatment, closet curtain, and custom wall art. What do you think?