pinspired: diy striped curtains

If you're a renter [like I will be for the rest of my life], it's hard to figure out the best way to make your house "yours." For me, I feel like it's impossible sometimes because I don't have the money to buy all new decorations and furniture to make a place really nice.

The house I'm in right now left us some drapes that were the most boring of boring, but when I looked online to buy nice ones, they were too expensive for my brain to handle. I found this pin of DIY striped curtains that were temporary and knew I needed to give them a try!

Yes, the stripes come off and no harm is done to the curtains I'm renting!

So, I gave it a whirl. I bought cheap, light, black fabric for $3/yard [had to get 6 yards] and the temporary fusible bond, cut the fabric into even strips, measured it out on the curtains, and started bonding!

As you probably know by now, I tend to take the easiest route with crafts, so mine aren't perfect. I also decided not to put ribbon on the edges of the stripes to cover up the cutting imperfections. I'm hoping no one will inspect them, but knowing me I'll point it out whenever someone comes over and I show off my latest project. I also didn't iron them out before hanging. I'll let the sun do that.

They really make a huge difference. I figured I'd like the added touch, but I think they bring a new feel to my whole living area! Here's a picture from the week we moved in and then today:

[I'm not showing the whole room because a- it's a mess and b- I wanna do a lot of revamping this month! Hopefully the official after picture will be awesome.]

Now it's time for some honesty: Doing these myself were totally not worth it. Besides the pride of finishing a project that I really like, nothing adds up. 

• It was far more expensive than buying curtains that I won't have to take apart when I move. I ended up spending around $50 thanks to a mess-up in measuring.
• It took a lot of time for such tedious tasks. 
• They're not perfect, nor are they *really* unique. I coulda gotten similar ones from ebay for $40.

If I were you, and you didn't have to salvage the original curtains, I would opt for getting some cheapies in any color at Walmart or wherever, then using tape and fabric paint to get your stripe on. Who knows... I might even try that technique for the master bedroom.

But for now... I'm going to try and forget about how much money I spent, be proud of my creation, and devise a way to steal these whenever I have to move out. 

love,

elizabethany

PS: This is the beginning of my Month of Pinspiration! I'd say it's a good start.

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